Christine Strobl
Product development and product management in retail banking
The results of a study performed in Switzerland, Austria and Germany demonstrate that many banks are re-appraising the strategic importance of their product management and product development capabilities. Major banks have initiated a range of measures, in terms of personnel allocation, organisational re-alignment and process design in order that the individual institutions can achieve maximum competitive positioning as well as achieving significant market effectiveness and at the same time tailor more efficiently the product offering to client needs and hence achieve process and infrastructure savings. The results re-ported indicate that this area of management in financial institutions that has historically been a second-priority area has already become a top priority area for management in several banks and it is anticipated by the participants in the study that Product Management and Product Development will become a critical issue in achieving competitive advantage in the future.
