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A decade ago the threat posed to branch networks by emerging alternative distribution channels was largely perceived of in terms of the eventual effect they might have on the size and number of operational branches. Although still a valid concern, this consideration has proved to be of less significance and certainly of less academic interest than the innovative approaches of banks in seeking to preserve branch networks as important components of their distribution mix. Examines the different strategic responses of the banks to the problem of what to do with their branches and concludes that these responses all have one important characteristic in common, namely, that they are all market focused and profit based.

The study here responds to the view that the crucial problem in strategic management (research) is firm heterogeneity – why firms adopt different strategies and structures, why heterogeneity persists, and why competitors perform differently. The present study applies complexity theory tenets and a “neo-configurational perspective” of Misangyi et al. (2016) in proposing complex antecedent conditions affecting complex outcome conditions. Rather than examining variable directional relationships using null hypotheses statistical tests, the study examines case-based conditions using somewhat precise outcome tests (SPOT). The complex outcome conditions include firms with high financial performances in declining markets and firms with low financial performances in growing markets – the study focuses on seemingly paradoxical outcomes. The study here examines firm strategies and outcomes for separate samples of cross-sectional data of manufacturing firms with headquarters in one of two nations: Finland (n = 820) and Hungary (n = 300). The study includes examining the predictive validities of the models. The study contributes conceptual advances of complex firm orientation configurations and complex firm performance capabilities configurations as mediating conditions between firmographics, firm resources, and the two final complex outcome conditions (high performance in declining markets and low performance in growing markets). The study contributes by showing how fuzzy-logic computing with words (Zadeh, 1966) advances strategic management research toward achieving requisite variety to overcome the theory-analytic mismatch pervasive currently in the discipline (Fiss, 2007, 2011) – thus, this study is a useful step toward solving the crucial problem of how to explain firm heterogeneity.

Outlines previous research on the efficiency of financial institutions and builds on an earlier study of the relative efficiency of 190 UK bank branches by the authors to determine their size efficiency relationship and their determinants of relative inefficiency. Explains the data envelopment (DEA) method used, the data set and the input/output configuration; and summarizes the results of the previous study. Shows that size is related to efficiency and suggests that the pattern is an asymmetric U‐shaped average cost curve, with an optimum branch size of ine staff and a lending range of £3.0‐£5.25 million. Analyses the sources of scale and technical inefficiency in an individual branch and across the sample to show that diversification reduces efficiency while use of technology and management control improves it. Concludes that DEA can provide the means to raise efficiency, reduce cost income ratios and increase profitability.

Reports on empirical survey of six major players in the house mortgage market and determines elements of customer service that are indicative of both good and bad practice. Compares and contrasts the customer service of the financial institutions comprising the sample. Concludes by identifying a number of positive initiatives in the market and suggests some development needs which would increase overall levels of service in the market.

Demand‐side changes, stimulated by higher levels of consumer awareness and sophistication, have combined with supply‐side changes, mainly induced by legislation, to create a difficult climate for banks. Lacking clear strategic direction and being undifferentiated, they find themselves competitively disadvantaged, particularly in cost terms, against the building societies. There is a difference in the way in which consumers perceive banks and what they expect from banks – i.e. a convenient money transmission service ‐ and the aspirations of many banks to be one‐stop providers of financial services. Suggests that relationship banking may offer a way forward but this requires a better understanding of marketing, organizational flexibility and a clearer customer focus. This poses major organizational, customer and employee challenges.

Having finally embraced the concept of marketing, banks enter the new millennium in a increasingly competitive and fragmented marketplace, consisting of financially literate consumers and direct low cost competition from recognised high street brand names. As customers increasingly interact with banks through remote technological channels (e.g. phone, Internet, etc.) the implications for bank‐customer relationships are important. This paper, accordingly, reports on an international research study which explored the perceptions of senior bankers in the UK, Sweden and the USA with regard to the use of the Internet as a relationship marketing tool. There was unanimous agreement that the Internet had a key role to play in relationship management but there was far less agreement about the rates of customer adoption and the extent to which this could or should be influenced by bank strategies.

Suggests that the competitive threat faced by banks and building societies from direct banking and other technology‐driven distribution channels has serious implications for the future viability of their comprehensive branch networks. Costs associated with any significant reduction in branch networks are likely to be too high, at least in the short term. Focuses on the less radical policy of adapting branch networks to the changing needs of the marketplace. As such it attempts to identify an appropriate strategy which will increase the effectiveness of branches by delivering a wide range of relatively complicated financial products traditionally associated with financial institutions without comprehensive branch networks. These objectives are facilitated by a questionnaire which examines the attitude and behaviour of customers towards financial products.

The paper uses a questionnaire and a theoretical model of bank‐customer interaction preferences as the basis for examining the perceptions of retail bank customers regarding the use of remote delivery channels and the extent to which they still value traditional branch‐based face‐to‐face interactions. The empirical evidence suggests that despite the increase in remote banking, retail bank customers still place significantly greater emphasis on face‐to‐face contact. The implications of this finding are that if banks want to encourage widespread customer adoption of remote banking they must better understand customer attitudes towards alternative delivery channels and use this information to educate their customers on the tangible service benefits which emanate from remote delivery.

The purpose of the paper is to explain how and why strategic alliances, in the form of clubs and consortiums, played an important role in the internationalisation of banks.

A longitudinal analysis, commencing in 1964 with the emergence of the Eurocurrency market and culminating with the creation of the European single market in the early 1990s, is used to provide an insight into the creation of clubs and consortium banks. The authors adopt the Lawson realist methodology and identify broad structural changes in the markets in which banks operate, i.e. “mechanisms” and relate these to major trends, i.e. “events” such as the creation of strategic alliances.

It is generally recognised that banks became international in response to the globalisation strategies of their multinational customers. However, the paper reveals that banks were also internationalising in response to structural changes in the financial services markets.

A criticism of the Lawson methodology is that it is not always possible to discern causal linkages between mechanisms and events. This explains why research of this kind is typically retrospective because it is only with the benefit of hindsight that the causal linkages can be fully understood.

The study provides new insights into the emergence of international banking and the role of clubs and consortiums in this process.

Technological advances have made a significant impact on the banking sector in recent years, with a key development being the introduction of technological and remote channels of interaction. While some research has been undertaken to establish the level of acceptance by customers of these channels, most of this research has examined retail banking customers’ attitudes to, and adoption of, remote interaction channels. This paper reports the findings of a study which has investigated channel preferences amongst corporate customers of a leading retail and corporate bank in the UK. Specifically, it seeks to differentiate between smaller business customers and larger customers. The key findings are that all customers prefer personalised interaction and that smaller customers, who are generally less profitable for banks than large clients, show relatively less willingness to embrace technological means of communication and to insist on personal interaction with their bank.