Schmid, F. T. D. (2019). Banks need to rethink their approach towards strategy - an agile focus strategy approach for established companies to survive in an uncertain world [Master Thesis, Technische Universität Wien; Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien]. reposiTUm. https://doi.org/10.34726/hss.2019.68527
This master thesis examines questions around a new kind of strategy development and implementation for established, traditional and not particularly agile companies as they face new challenges in the future. Due to the accelerated changes regarding market, competitors, customer behavior and technology, many companies have trouble finding a strategy to be successful in the future - or simply to survive. This Master's thesis should be an approximation to a new way in overall strategy through an agile focus strategy approach. The framework "Business Model Navigator" by Marc Gruber and Sharon Tal will be taken as a starting point, however adapted and supplemented for the needs of established companies. The difficulties to recognize and analyze the core competencies detached from possible applications of a company, will be discussed in order to build a strategy on those. A radical shift in strategy means an enormous change process for a large company and is not easy to manage. Hierarchical barriers and a strong desire for security and control have to be overcome. For this reason, a possible process is presented that would serve a successful transformation process. The research questions aim at the combination of existing tools and methods to model an agile focus strategy in traditional business setups while also adressing the change process itself. Within a large Swiss retail bank, the need for an agile focus strategy and the model will be validated through qualitative interviews and the evaluation of existing documents. Further challenges in the area of a sustainable overall strategy will be identified and concrete obstructions in the transformation process will be identified. The necessity and the need for a new model for the development and implementation of a strategy exists, especially because the established processes erode over time and do not fulfill the desired ambitions. This work aims to contribute to the discussion about innovation in strategy and management and to rethink traditional strategy processes in top management.