Bank loyalty of business customers in the Baltic States
Ranta, Toni-Mikael (2009)
Kuvaus
Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.
Tiivistelmä
Bank loyalty has been studied quite comprehensively among retail customers, but not very often with a focus on business customers. Insecure atmosphere in the global economy and bank market emphasizes the importance of knowing why business customers choose to be loyal to their business banks. It is essential for banks to hold on to their customers in every situation, but losing customers during the current financial crises can be decisive for any bank\'s future.
The main objective of this thesis was to form a bank loyalty model, which would consider national differences and point out the most important reasons for bank loyalty in chosen target group. The model was tested with small and medium size enterprises in the Baltic States, more specifically in Estonia and Lithuania. This target group was selected because of the large number of such companies in the Baltic States, which have not been a target for previous bank loyalty studies. Last of the objectives was to measure the level of bank loyalty and to describe bank - client relationships of the target group. These countries experienced market liberalization during the 1990\'s, and it was possible to see how actively companies are changing banks at the moment. Empirical part of the thesis was quantitative, as the data was gathered with an electronic questionnaire which was sent to company managers in Estonia and Lithuania by e-mail.
Results of the study indicate that loyalty is formed in several areas of the banks complete offering. Trust, satisfaction, functional service quality, commitment and technical service quality were main sources of bank loyalty according to responses of 150 company managers. Companies have long main bank relationships and they have not changed their main business bank actively, but changing the bank now is more likely than before. Most companies prefer a long relationship with one bank, however bank services could be concentrated more to the main bank. Currently bank services are acquired from many service providers.
The main objective of this thesis was to form a bank loyalty model, which would consider national differences and point out the most important reasons for bank loyalty in chosen target group. The model was tested with small and medium size enterprises in the Baltic States, more specifically in Estonia and Lithuania. This target group was selected because of the large number of such companies in the Baltic States, which have not been a target for previous bank loyalty studies. Last of the objectives was to measure the level of bank loyalty and to describe bank - client relationships of the target group. These countries experienced market liberalization during the 1990\'s, and it was possible to see how actively companies are changing banks at the moment. Empirical part of the thesis was quantitative, as the data was gathered with an electronic questionnaire which was sent to company managers in Estonia and Lithuania by e-mail.
Results of the study indicate that loyalty is formed in several areas of the banks complete offering. Trust, satisfaction, functional service quality, commitment and technical service quality were main sources of bank loyalty according to responses of 150 company managers. Companies have long main bank relationships and they have not changed their main business bank actively, but changing the bank now is more likely than before. Most companies prefer a long relationship with one bank, however bank services could be concentrated more to the main bank. Currently bank services are acquired from many service providers.