Innovation strategies adopted by Equity bank ltd

Abstract

Innovation is management discipline, which focuses on the organization's mission, searches for unique opportunities, determines whether they fit the organization's strategic direction, defines " the measures for success, and continually reassesses opportunities (Gaynor, 2002), Gaynor (2002) commented that innovation does not require genius, but it does require a system-wide dedication to pursue unique opportunities. Drucker (1998) is very explicit in stating that innovation is work rather than genius; successful innovation requires hard, focused, and purposeful work. This study sought to establish innovative strategies adopted by equity bank, to determine organizational and technological factors affecting adoption of innovative strategies at equity bank and to establish the Challenges and key success factors to adoption of innovative strategies at equity bank. The study used a case study design. This was because study seeks to identify the innovative strategies at Equity Bank, a case study design was deemed the best design to fulfill the objectives of the study. primary data was collected using an interview guide and the respondents targeted were senior managers and heads of finance, risk management, information technology operations, human resources, marketing, product developemnet ,treasury ,admisration , communications ,Credit ,alternative delivery channels ,compliance and audit,special projects and trade finanace departments. Data was then analysed useng content analysis. From the findings, the study found that for Equity Bank to improve its performance, it adopted ~ some innovative strategies use of technology to break geographical barriers [ATM, Points of Sale, Eazy2417, Agency model -HSNP] , use of staff wh~' understand culture, language and values of the people they serve to break cultural and language barrier [posting staff to their native areas], creating and nurturing strong customer tailored products, environmental analysis and response to changes, aggressive marketing campaign ,creating loyalty of the stakeholders and leveraging on technology to create innovative delivery channels. Vlll The bank also faced some challenges in adopting these innovation strategies but the bank had some coping strategies to these challenges. Therefore the study recommends that for successful adoption of innovation strategies in Equity bank, the bank should ensure that the top management fully supports the adoption of the strategies, the staff should also be encouraged and the benefits of innovation strategies should be made clear to all staff, the bank should invest in regular training of its staff so that they can offer the best services to the customers and also so " that they can possess the necessary knowledge and skills for the adoption of innovation strategies and also there should be co-operation between the seniors and the general staff and also between the departments for successful adoption of innovation strategies in the bank