Competitive Intelligence and Strategic Response among Commercial Banks in North-East, Nigeria

Abstract

The seeming neglect of competitive intelligence among banks in the Northern part of Nigeria necessitated this study to examine the relationship between competitive intelligence and strategic response in commercial banks in North-East, Nigeria. Two specific objectives and hypotheses were formulated for the study. The research was anchored on the Knowledge Based View (KBV) postulated by Johan S. Majkgrd and Mats Lexén in 1996. Survey Research Design was adopted for the study. The population of the selected banks was one thousand and ninety-seven (1097) employees across thirty-three (33) commercial bank branches in the study area. Krejcie and Morgan's 1970 formula was used to arrive at a 285sample size while Bowley's proportional allocation formula was used to determine the instrument sharing proportion. The data source for this study was primary data and the instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Face and content validity were deployed in the study while the Cronbach Alpha technique was used to determine the reliability of the instrument. The data were collected with the help of two trained research assistants. The test of hypotheses was done through the application of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) at a 5% (0.05) level of significance. It was discovered from the test that strategic alliances and competitive edge have a statistically significant positive relationship among commercial banks in North-East, Nigeria (r = is .925, p-value < .05), that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between market intelligence and customer responsiveness among commercial banks in North-East, Nigeria (r = .897, p-value < .05. It is against this backdrop that the study concluded that competitive intelligence is crucial for organizations to respond strategically to changes in the operational environment. The study therefore recommends that the studied banks need not shy away from collaborating with other banks and firms of similar interest in areas such as sharing power source, internet broad bands connections and security as it will go a long way in saving cost  and improving their competitive edge in the banking sector.