CHAPTER ONE

1.0    INTRODUCTION

1.1    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The manufacturers of consumer products in Britain were the earliest to prosper. This was necessitated by their firm believe and adherence to their Business Philosophy which says: ‘‘You must give people what they want; the right product at the right price, in the right place at the right time and with the right promotional tools”.

The Institute of Marketing defined marketing as satisfying customer requirements profitably. Kottler defined marketing as “customer orientation backed up by integrated marketing, aimed at achieving organization goal”. According to him, the purpose of business is to create and keep a customer. The objective of the marketing process is profitable sales of services that satisfy customer financial requirements and need. The organization should learn to stop looking inwards at the company and concentrate on the outward aspect which is the customer’s with the sole aim of satisfying the customers. Organisations should stop thinking only about producing goods and services and selling them to satisfy customers’ needs.

Drucker, one of the world leading writers on business management made the importance of the customer and the marketing very clear when he said that, ‘‘it is the customer who determines what business is”. His statement cannot be over-emphasized, this is because the maxim says that “the customer is always right” has its origin in the writing on economic and social theory.

Adam Smith who was known as one of the earliest writers on economics, recognized the importance of the marketing concept as far as 1770’s when he stated that consumption is the sole and only purpose of all productions and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to only so far as it may be necessary for promotion.

Therefore, the essence of marketing concept is to eradicate:

(a)  The business or organizations or firms with production as the over-riding and main business activity. Production is only necessary in order to facilitate the achievement of marketing goal.

(b)  The communication gap that form the mass production of foods and employment of intermediary organization for example, wholesalers and retailers. The marketing concept services in this contact a set link, that is to bring the suppliers (company) and the buyers (customers) together in so doing, the customer’s knowledge about the company and its products is enhanced. And more importantly, the company

operates with a better knowledge of its target market and market requirements.

Drucker concluded by saying that, the purpose of a business or company has only two fractions and these include:

(a)  Innovations;

(b)  Marketing

He is therefore of the opinion that marketing and innovation produce result while all the others are regarded as cost of the company. Marketing as a concept and a discipline is undesirably a central function of management at all levels, and for the specialist such as market researcher or advertising executive that might be found in marketing department.

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Nigeria has actually been characterized by a limited number of banks since 1892 when the first Nigerian bank, the African Banking Corporation was established. This exposed the public to only a few banks, where the problem is not selling but producing because anything and everything sells, therefore, leading to the total neglect of customers’ needs, which has 40 incessant condemnation and criticisms from people in all walks of life. The most notable condemnation came from the former President of Nigerian/American Chamber of Commerce, Chief Ogunbanjo, who accused Nigerian banks of financial terrorism.

But it has became pertinent that banks should move away from the sales orientation which hitter has characterized the marketing of financial services in Nigeria and change over to the practicing marketing concept, because of the increasing rate of competition in the banking industry. The increasing number of banks in Nigeria in recent times has made the environment in-patient for stagnant banks that are hamstrung with age-long tradition.

The day is now being carried by the progressive and dynamics bankers improving his skills at all times and is constantly scanning the environment and developing customers’ needs. Marketing for banks therefore, is the creation and delivery of customer oriented or satisfying services at a profit to the bank.

Some banks consider marketing as essentially advertising and public relations, which are only two tools of marketing out of many. Banks should try as much as possible to revise their parochial idea of marketing and start practicing marketing with all its components, and all techniques it embodies.

It is also necessary to stress that the tools of modern marketing, however elaborate and scientific are in the end no more than levers, inert and even dull artifacts when not in use, but are capable of reducing dynamics result when they have a point where they can be forced and an agreed direction in which the leverage should be exerted.

Finally, while marketing may not be the most important aspect of the banking industry, it serves as a major adopted and applied function every banking environment.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Adequate emphasis have not been laid by banks in terms of promoting a favourable corporate image and this attitude has affected their performance in the market, more so, in the face of the prevailing staff competition among banks.

The environment in which banking business operates is in constant change and it constitutes an important factor in that it affects management decision and actions. For any business, two types of environment exist. The operating environment which may be classified into external forces comprising economic, social, political, cultural, governmental, technological; internal forces comprising the top management, the employees, and the task force; and the public environment which is made up of the bank's several policies. The environment within which banks operate today does not help matters of all due to the negative issues emanating from the business environment. One example is the moral decadence that has pervaded the entire society. The society now place great emphasis on money without any concern for the source or the mode of its acquisition. This has bred corruption.

Therefore for a bank for remain in business, it has to adopt to or help to shape its environment. This can be done by forecasting future states of these forces for the bank. Forecasting as a business technique is important because of the rapid change that the operating environment undergoes.

Aside from the influence of the environment, the image of the bank is another factor that requires consideration. The type of image which the bank projects, is an important determinants of its long run existence and performance. Most banks portray negative image to the public. According to Alabi (2002), he posited that the general public particularly the principal actors in the other sectors of the economy perceive the banking sector as a parasite on the national economy. He noted that people with this type of perception believe that the banks are there to milk their customers dry through high interest rates and high multifarious service charges, interested in collecting and not giving, do not give enough support to the productive sector, such as manufacturing and small and great emphasis on money without any concern for the source or the mode of its acquisition. This has bred corruption.

Therefore for a bank for remain in business, it has to adopt to or help to shape its environment. This can be done by forecasting future states of these forces for the bank. Forecasting as a business technique is important because of the rapid change that the operating environment undergoes.

Aside from the influence of the environment, the image of the bank is another factor that requires consideration. The type of image which the bank projects, is an important determinants of its long run existence and performance. Most banks portray negative image to the public. According to Alabi (2002), he posited that the general public particularly the principal actors in the other sectors of the economy perceive the banking sector as a parasite on the national economy. He noted that people with this type of perception believe that the banks are there to milk their customers dry through high interest rates and high multifarious service charges, interested in collecting and not giving, do not give enough support to the productive sector, such as manufacturing and small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) and also using the female bankers as individual whose gender is exploited for cheap commercial consideration in the guise of marketing banking service and products. Also the public see the sector as a place for fraudulent practice as a result to their levels of involvement in fraud and forgeries. These are to mention but a few.

Another issue here, is that corporate image management is not well promoted as a result of poor managerial functions. "Planning for instance, which contains the image programmes are taking for granted in many banks. This has been responsible for the poor performance in the Nigerian banking sector. Most bank's emphasis is placed more on profit objectives ignoring modern philosophies of management such as social responsibility which is crucial to the projection of the desired corporate image.

There are however, a number of factors that have contributed to the poor image of banks and they are summarized below:

a)The general atmosphere of moral decadence, which the Nigerian business environment presented

b)The greed of many players in the sector.

c)The liberalization of the sector and the corresponding upsurge in the number of banks led to the over stretching of the limited number of qualified personnel in the industry.

d)Pressure from managements in haste to impress their shareholders with impressive results. Such pressure results in the setting of unrealistic and unattainable targets for staff who are often forced to meet such targets by any means under the guise that "the end justifies the mean".

e)The stiff completion in the sector has led to practitioners cutting corners in order to outwit each other thereby paying less attention to ethics and professionalism.

f)Boardroom squabbles which sometimes end up in courts and earn the bank negative publicity in the media.

g) Inadequate attention to the good corporate governance. h)Flamboyant lifestyle of bankers which make the public look at

most bankers with suspicion.

i)Lack of information on banks contribution to social responsibility.

j)Reluctance by banks to prosecute fraudsters due to delays in the judicial system and possible adverse publicity.

k)Bank failures and the culpability of senior members of the profession

l)Bad performance and inefficient management

m)Undue publicity given to infractions by banks and to the penalty imposed by the regulatory authorities by the mass media.

n)Low level of financial literacy by media practitioners: This has resulted in wrong interpretation of reported financial performance by banks.

o)Dearth of knowledge of the activities of banks by the general public.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

For any banking business to successfully survive, it must recognize the importance of portraying and managing good corporate image. Also owing to the fact that every aspect of the environment is undergoing accelerated change, and no function of management is changing more rapidly than public attitudes and reactions, the corporate image itself should be constantly and effectively promoted.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the problems of building, managing and projecting effectively a favourable image in the banking sector, but with particular reference to Diamond bank, focusing on:

a)To find out if the banks are involved in image management. b)To determine the strategies for building, managing and

promoting a favourable corporate image.

c)To   determine the effects of corporate image on its performance.

d)To identify the factors which contributes to the declining image of banks and to proffer solutions and recommendations to these problems.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following are the research questions:

a)What is corporate image management?

b)To   what extent has the banking sector laid adequate emphases on good corporate image and advertisement

c)What are the strategies adopted by banks in building, managing and projecting a good corporate image and advertisement