CITIBANK

Citibank



Citibank E-Business Strategy Review Report

Task 1 - E-Business Strategy Review Report

Introduction

E-business relies on the development of new business strategies based on networks. The world has become increasingly inter-connected via telecommunication networks and computers. These offer fast, flexible, and cost-effective ways of doing business.

Citibank is a subsidiary of Citigroup, a strong financial brand with more than 100 million customers, 5.9 million online relationships and a global reach spanning 100 countries.

Citibank started its retail business in 1987 in a very highly competitive environment offering a comprehensive line of high quality financial services targeted to the affluent and middle income segments. Citibank has been perceived, as at the edge of innovation leveraging its global expertise, it was the first bank in the world to introduce innovative e-business solutions like:

1) Citiphone - 24 hours Phone Banking Service

2) ATM's Automated Teller Machines

3) CitiAlert - GSM notifications service

4) CitiDirect - Corporate Internet Banking Service

5) E-card - Internet Shopping Card, and

6) Citibank Online - Retail Internet Banking Service.

Situation Analysis

SWOT-analysis of the company

Analysis of internal environment

Analysis of the internal environment of the firm aims to identify strategic opportunities, strengths and weaknesses in relation to major competitors. It should include: • assessment of existing policies; • assess the capacity of the firm; • analysis of the economic portfolio of the company; • identifying strengths and weaknesses of the firm and overcome the dangers and threats to the environment. Evaluation of existing policies

For running the company analysis of existing strategies to show how effective they are for the current market situation. For the analysis can be used the following indicators: • effectiveness of the organization, degree of achievement of its objectives; • efficiency - the degree of resource utilization; • profitability - the ratio between revenues and costs; • Productivity - the level of profitability; • changes in market share, etc. Analysis of external environment

Analysis of the environment serves as a tool by which policymakers monitor external to the firm factors in order to anticipate possible risks and the newly emerging opportunities.

The necessity of such an approach is clearly manifested in the mid-70's, when followed by a chain of unpredictable events, which allowed P. Drucker defined the modern era as the era of free patterns. West European scientists call this phenomenon the market turbulence.

In analyzing the totality of environmental factors, its form, can be divided into two groups. The first group, or to the microenvironment, are the factors of direct action, factors directly affecting the operations of the firm. These factors include suppliers of all kinds of resources, customers, intermediaries, competitors and so-called contact audience: financial institutions, media, local authorities and public administration, public, etc., all with whom the company is contacted in the course of ongoing activities. (Al-Mudimigh, A. S. 2007 P.15-18)

The second group of factors includes indirect factors, factors that cannot show a direct immediate impact on the activities of the company, but nevertheless affect it in more general terms. Macromedia includes six main groups of factors:

• Political factors ...