Strategies Used By Kenyan Banks In International Business Expansion The Case Of Equity Bank Ltd
Strategies Used By Kenyan Banks In International Business Expansion: The Case Of Equity Bank Ltd.
A MANAGEMENT RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
AbstractThe last five years have seen rapid growth in the operations of banks in Kenya especially in the move to establish units in the East African region. This is in spite of the much proclaimed economic crunch that hit most western banking and other financial institutions. The period has seen banks such as Equity Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank move to Tanzania, Uganda, Southern Sudan and Rwanda. The Impetus for the growth and strategies used in this expansion has left many questions unanswered. For example, was it really an economic melt down or was it a paradigm shift of economic development to the African continent? Has the African continent finally awakened to take over economic development from the western hold?
The trend has bought an end to the assumption that banks are meant for the upper classes in society. The inclusion of low income earners in the banks is seen as the main stimulant to the rapid expansion of banks in Kenya like Equity Bank Ltd. The move has forced other leading banks to rethink their stance and develop products and services for the lower market in order to keep up with the competition. In so doing, the rate at which financial assistance has hit the market in the country has brought about a business boom never experienced in the region before.
The diversity of credit ranging from small businesses, jua-kali sector, low-income groups, down to financing of farmers is a new move in as far as banking is concerned. The process of banking for the unbanked in Africa has seen millions of people previously considered being un-credit worthy operate accounts with banks and not micro finance institutions.
This new market is what has brought the move to new territories by banks in the region. Branches open continuously across the region in a bid to tap resources and avail facilities to people who could not be reached. In so doing we have seen emergence of new joint ventures, partnerships, mergers, acquisitions and other market entry strategies being put into play by banks as the scramble for customers continues. Besides, there are urgent bids for the creation of customer specific products depending on the peoples economic activities e.g. for fishermen, tourists, florists, cash crops etc. Merry-go-round groups have quickly been transformed by banks to groups financing creating a wider reach.
With all these the move to embrace technology has also been put to play with the onset of mobile banking and partnering with mobile service provider to use mobile shops as banking centers. The just embraced agency banking model has further seen to the almost establishment of village banks at every corner. Financial services are now provided from the supermarkets to canteens with much ease. With all that is shaping the banking sector in the country it is hard to know what the next move may be but what is clear is that Kenyan banks are taking financial empowerment to another level. And not just within Kenya but in region as a whole. There are many strategies that are used by banks to expand in their quest for international expansion. The common ones are acquisitions, start-ups and joint ventures. Although this is the case, there is only limited consensus and banks, Kenyan banks for that case, in which the best option can be represented. Most banks choose the same or varying options when they are expanding across the borders.
Table of Contents TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856715” Declaration PAGEREF _Toc286856715 h ii
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856716” Abstract PAGEREF _Toc286856716 h iii
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856717” Table of Contents PAGEREF _Toc286856717 h v
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856718” List of Figures PAGEREF _Toc286856718 h viii
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856719” List of Tables PAGEREF _Toc286856719 h ix
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856720” List of Abbreviations PAGEREF _Toc286856720 h x
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856721” CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION PAGEREF _Toc286856721 h 1
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856722” 1.1Background PAGEREF _Toc286856722 h 1
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856723” 1.1.1 Importance of banking in Kenya PAGEREF _Toc286856723 h 1
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856724” 1.1.2 Concepts PAGEREF _Toc286856724 h 2
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856725” 1.1.3 Market entry strategies PAGEREF _Toc286856725 h 2
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856726” 1.1.4 Kenyan banking business environment PAGEREF _Toc286856726 h 4
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856727” 1.1.5 Banking potential in the neighbors PAGEREF _Toc286856727 h 6
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856728” 1.1.6 Equity bank PAGEREF _Toc286856728 h 7
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856729” 1.1.7 East Africa Banking Environment PAGEREF _Toc286856729 h 11
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856730” 1.2 Statement of the problem PAGEREF _Toc286856730 h 12
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856731” 1.3 Specific objective of the study PAGEREF _Toc286856731 h 13
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856732” 1.4 Significance of the study PAGEREF _Toc286856732 h 13
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856733” 1.5 General objectives of the study PAGEREF _Toc286856733 h 14
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856734” CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW PAGEREF _Toc286856734 h 15
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856735” 2.1 Existing international business theory PAGEREF _Toc286856735 h 15
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856736” 2.2 Internationalization Models PAGEREF _Toc286856736 h 15
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856737” 2.2.1 Own, Localise and Internalise (OLI) Model PAGEREF _Toc286856737 h 15
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856738” 2.2.2 The transaction cost theory PAGEREF _Toc286856738 h 18
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856739” 2.3 Market entry modes for business internationalization PAGEREF _Toc286856739 h 19
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856740” 2.3.1 What determines entry mode in a new market PAGEREF _Toc286856740 h 21
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856741” 2.3.2 The Brownfield Mode of Entry PAGEREF _Toc286856741 h 23
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856742” 2.3.3 Mode of market entry in relation to the degree of involvement PAGEREF _Toc286856742 h 24
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856743” 2.3.4 Modes of entry for doing business in Africa PAGEREF _Toc286856743 h 25
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856744” 2.3.5 Greenfields investments PAGEREF _Toc286856744 h 26
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856745” 2.3.6 Mergers and acquisitions PAGEREF _Toc286856745 h 27
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856746” 2.4 The East African Community PAGEREF _Toc286856746 h 27
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856747” 2.5 Emerging markets PAGEREF _Toc286856747 h 30
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856748” 2.6 Operational challenges and the strategies for companies doing business in emerging markets PAGEREF _Toc286856748 h 31
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856749” CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY PAGEREF _Toc286856749 h 34
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856750” 3.1 Research objective PAGEREF _Toc286856750 h 35
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856751” 3.2 Population of relevance PAGEREF _Toc286856751 h 35
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856752” 3.3 Size and nature of the sample PAGEREF _Toc286856752 h 35
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856753” 3.4 Research method PAGEREF _Toc286856753 h 36
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856754” 3.5 Interview guide PAGEREF _Toc286856754 h 37
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856755” 3.6 The Interview process PAGEREF _Toc286856755 h 37
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856756” 3.7 Data analysis PAGEREF _Toc286856756 h 38
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856757” 3.8 Potential limitations PAGEREF _Toc286856757 h 38
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856758” References PAGEREF _Toc286856758 h 40
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286856759” Appendix I: Interview guide to be used for data collection PAGEREF _Toc286856759 h 45
TOC h z c “Figure”
List of Figures HYPERLINK l “_Toc286593463” Figure 1: A figure of entry mode choice PAGEREF _Toc286593463 h 24
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286593464” Figure 2: Net FDI inflows to Tanzania 1990 – 2000 PAGEREF _Toc286593464 h 26
TOC h z c “Table”
List of Tables HYPERLINK l “_Toc286593477” Table 1: Mode of market entry in relation to degree of involvement PAGEREF _Toc286593477 h 25
HYPERLINK l “_Toc286593478” Table 2: Regional integration schemes in East and Southern Africa PAGEREF _Toc286593478 h 27
List of AbbreviationsCOMESACommon Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
CSACountry Specific Advantages
EACEast African Community
GDPGross Domestic Product
IMFInternational Monetary Fund
M&AMergers and Acquisitions
MNCMultinational Corporation
NGONon-Governmental Organization
OLIOwn, Localise and Internalise Model
PESTLEPolitical, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental framework.
SADCSouthern Africa Development Community
WBWorld Bank
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTIONBackground1.1.1 Importance of banking in KenyaThe banking industry in Kenya plays a very important role to the economy. Banking and the country economy are closely related. The soundness of the banking industry affects the status of Kenya’s economy. Even though banks create no new wealth, their borrowing, lending and other activities help to facilitate the process of production, distribution and consumption of wealth. For this reason, banks in Kenya are very important partners in economic development. Currently, modern banks are very useful in utilizing the resources of the country. What is more, their effort of mobilizing the savings of their clients for investment purposes shows just how important they are to the economy. Without the banking system, a big portion of the country capital would remain idle. The loans that banks provide work as incentives for producers to increase their production.
The Kenyan banking system is under the supervision of the Central Bank of Kenya. The system consists of 43 commercial banks. This number is a decrease from the 48 the country had in 2001. Other banking institutions include non-banking institutions, mortgages, and four institutions for savings and loans. The six major banks in Kenya include Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), National Bank of Kenya (NBK), Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered, Cooperative and Equity Bank. The first two are partly owned by the government. Equity Bank is becoming popular with many Kenyans.
1.1.2 ConceptsThe paper will use banking industry to refer to the banking industry that is seen in Kenya. All banking information that is not referenced will refer to Equity Bank.
Banking the unbanked is another concept which will be used to refer to the clients, real or potential, from areas where banks have not yet covered.
Greenfield is a concept used to infer to a situation where an organization starts operations in a foreign country by starting from scratch.
1.1.3 Market entry strategiesGiven the saturation in the domestic markets, the urge to internationalize the banking operations is something that is bound to happen sooner or later for many banks and the service industry. In order to survive, banks are forced to seek and make use of opportunities in newer markets. The process of gaining penetration to these new markets is the challenge that most of these banks experience. It is laborious and entails a lot of research. Laborious for the fact that they have to get a lot of information concerning the new markets they are entering. What is more, there are no sales to base their decisions on and no marketing infrastructure. They also have little knowledge concerning the markets they are looking to dive in.
Major entry modes are found in the product industry. These include exporting, licensing/franchising, full ownership and joint ventures. The mode of exporting entails a company selling its physical products which are usually manufactured outside the intended country to a foreign country (Tallman, & Shenkar, 2004). On the other hand, licensing and franchising entails an arrangement where technology or some information systems are transferred to the host party (Shane, 2004). Joint venture is an arrangement where the firm is required to share the equity and control with the host. There is another alternative to this, called full ownership where the parent company takes 100 percent equity stake in the operation in the foreign country. It can take two forms: one is acquiring the existing business and secondly is bringing in new facilities to the company. In evaluating the entry mode that a firm should take, there are options that should be considered. One is the level of control that the firm will have in the overall operation. Control is the ability to influence systems, methods and decisions (Anderson, & Gatigno, 2006). In a general note, when a firm moves from licensing/franchising to joint venture to full ownership, the level of control increase. When Equity bank preferred full ownership of Uganda Microfinance, there must have been some benefits that they would get over if they had licensed. They even went ahead to rebrand the microfinance. There is no way that we are going to compare exporting mode of entry and full ownership. Exporting deals more with the product industry while licensing and franchising deals with service industry. In this report, therefore, I will not delve so much on exporting as a market entry mode that is used by Equity bank in their expansion.
Given the success that Equity Bank are getting in the neighboring countries, attention is now focusing on the strategies that this bank is using to enter into a foreign country. The bank uses strategies like use of global marketing strategies, level of market orientation, using practices of developing new products, getting involved in marketing research practices and using strategies of sourcing. The remarkable performance of Equity Bank in the last five years, a period in which the bank established its position as the choice bank for low class Kenyans prompted this high level of interest in the neighboring countries.
While Kenya has experienced economic turbulence in the recent years contributed largely by instability in political system, it has had continued success in the neighboring countries. This success is largely attributed to the adoption of effective planning in selecting the institutional arrangement through which the foreign markets will be served. However, the process which banks use to select the institutional arrangement and the entry mode has not been studied widely.
Business acquisition is among strategies that companies have used to beat the competition and also to leverage their growth. They can benefit from acquisition by way of getting new customers and markets, reduction in costs by way of synergies and getting new products or technologies from these firms. According to a study done by Boston Chapter of the association doing research on growth of the corporate sector in New York, USA found out that mergers and acquisitions is one strategy that is gaining popularity in the corporate world. Equity bank has had a series of acquisitions in their quest to increase their customer base. This is one strategy that the bank has used extensively in their aggressive plans to enter the neighboring countries. They have not ignored possible acquisitions in Kenya as well. One of the internal acquisitions include the acquisition of retail business in Industrial Development Bank in the year 2005 and that of Housing Finance from CDC group in 2007. Across the borders, they have had 100% acquisition of Uganda Micro Finance Ltd for KES. 1.66 Billion in 2008.
1.1.4 Kenyan banking business environment
The politics in Kenya is quite risky for the banks. The quest for the banks to cross the borders is not only a good one but strategic also. The political rating of the country was not an impressive one give the general election in2007. For this, the credit rating for the country has really gone down. It has received bad ratings from international organizations like Standard and Poor’s (S&P) who downgraded Kenya credit from ‘BB-‘ to ‘B+’.
The banks in Kenya operate in a monopolistic market structure where long serving banks include Kenya Commercial Bank, Standard Chartered, National Bank of Kenya, Barclays, Citigroup, and Cooperative Bank. Equity is a new entrant and it is thriving real fast. Another entrant is CFC Stanbic. The new entrants, more so Equity, are gaining popularity for their effort to reach the unbanked in the society. It is making the giants in this industry to rethink on the strategies and work on ways of getting to the low-income group in the society. With this, we are seeing banks competing in the remote parts of the country, a thing which was initially unheard of. Monopolistic structures may be beneficial to the society. This is seen in small firms which were initially low in performance getting more credit and having better rates of interest.
The strategy of reaching the unbanked in the society to gain more clients has hitherto been regarded as not competitive one and has been sidelined by many. One would have expected that the strategy to lure the unbanked in the society and in low income areas would fail. This did not happen. The current Kenyan environment brings to fore the many economic challenges which are affecting the banking industry. The Minister of planning said that the challenges that have affected the banking since 2008 include disruptions due to post-election violence, political disturbance which were very unfavorable, continued upsurge in prices. This makes it even harder to trust on the local markets alone. It requires that the banking industry look for other markets so that they depend on these markets when the local markets are not doing so well.
1.1.5 Banking potential in the neighborsWith the East Africa Community (EAC) in the offing, there are many to be desired to achieve this. What is more, with the other countries in the East Africa Community having many people who are unbanked, perhaps this is what is driving Equity Bank to get these people. Starting with Rwanda, it is one country of great concern for Equity Bank. What is fanning this interest is the fact that there are many reforms that are done to the business environment of the country; it recorded 11.2% growth rate in the year 2010 making Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) an activity that has been found to be common. It is these reforms that are part of the confidence instilled in Equity Bank to enter this new market. The strategy that is seen to be used in this new market is that of the coming together of the East African Communities to have a free market in the region. Perhaps that will make it easier for Equity Bank to penetrate the community. In the recent conference for the East Africa Community which was held in Nairobi, the Rwanda delegation approached the managing director of the bank, James Mwangi, and discussed on the population of the Rwandese who remained unbanked. Banking on this information, Equity bank is aggressively looking for new markets in East Africa. This will not be enough for the bank for they are looking to have penetrated 10 countries by the year 2015.
The plans to expand into Rwanda and Tanzania are part of the bank’s plan to have operations in the larger COMESA region in the next 10 years. The bank has not elaborated how they are going to enter these new states. It is most likely that they will enter into the markets through acquisitions, the Ugandan way. They acquired Uganda’s Microfinance Ltd in the year 2008. This cost them KES. 1.66 billion ($25.3 million). In this acquisition, the bank took over 100% share capital. The bank launched a subsidiary of the bank in the year 2009.
One of the strategies that is used by the bank, and that is really successful is entering into the rural markets. Apart from their intention of getting a huge money transfer market that is coming in the EAC, has its sight set for the rural areas and the vision of getting the youth and the women to bank with them. They are also setting their sight in the agricultural sectors. It is one of the strategies of the bank to double their numbers of its accounts in the fifteen months to come; currently, they have 5.7 million accounts. The need for the bank to enter into Rwanda follows the recent announcement that Rwanda is the top nation in the world to adopt business regulations reforms. The success they experienced in Southern Sudan and Uganda gives the, an impetus to go for these new markets.
1.1.6 Equity bankEquity bank was in 1984 started as a building society in Murang’a with the goal and target in the mortgage sector. They later converted into a bank due to their expansion, rapid for that. The conversion took place in the year 2004. Equity bank is the largest local banks in Kenya. This status has been attained is a span of 25 years only! The initial target market was Murang’a tea zone. They were an easy target for the bank as the farmers did not have a strong cooperative that they could rely on. The bank has been focusing on the small farmers, individual customers and small and medium scale businesses. The bank has since diversified to other segments like corporate banking, mortgages, and investment banking.
The bank has had a steady growth rate in Kenya. In August 2010, the bank had 3 million customers and a branch network of 106 branches. Chiou (2009) argues that the branch network of any bank helps them to grow as the services are closely taken to the people and therefore brings with it convenience. Other banks have adopted the growth and the expansion strategies that are used by Equity Bank and they are also found in rural areas; this is a trend that has not been seen in the past of the other banks. Other banks which have duplicated this trend include Barclays, Cooperative Bank, Ecobank, Bank of Africa, and Family Bank.
As the bank expands to the neighboring countries, it is expected that it is highly likely to adopt the same strategy of penetrating to the rural areas and banking the unbanked in the rural areas. It is planning to increase its share value in the Housing Finance by acquiring the stake of the government, 23%, in the National Bank. If this will go through, it will mean that the banking industry in Kenya will be led by two banks which is Equity Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank.
The board of directors of Equity Bank has been instrumental in steering growth and expansion for the bank. Effective board members have been known to help institutions and organizations to realize their effort. There are six main tasks of an effective board which include service (advice, networking and strategic participation) and control (behavioral, output and strategic control). The board of directors should therefore evaluate actively evaluate and select the alternatives developed by the top management organ and supply suggestions to improve the decision making organs and strategy choice and implementation. The board of Equity Bank is well position, coupled with experience they have to be able it handle all the tasks that have been listed.
The bank has 7 board committees that are tasked with guide and governing the strategies. The committees include Audit, Credit, Risk management, Strategy and investment, Tendering and procurement, Governance, board nomination and staff remuneration, and board executive. The Chief Executive makes sure that the day-to-day running of the bank is smooth and he is assisted by full-time executive directors.
On of the bank’s mission is to mobilize savings, term deposits and other funds so that the provision of the loans is effected. They fill the gap of the middle sector in that they provide loan facilities to the microfinance. In so doing, they improve the welfare of the members and the national economy in the whole is uplifted. Their scope of coverage, strategic focus and market advantage helps this bank to achieve competitive leadership. The bank has ensured that every Kenyan get access to banking services and that the low-income earners get access to banking services and all the benefits that are associated with it. This includes the salaried, wage workers and commercial farmers and all the eligible individuals.
The management is strongly convinced that the bank will continue to experience growth and still remain to be financially sound, strong, and competitive in the rendering of products and services. The bank has an intention of reinforcing the structures of institution by ensuring that the information technology, human capital, financial resources are in competitive level that will enable them to compete and respond to both internal and external challenges. The bank intends to come up with services in the current market and expand this service provision to East Africa and Africa as well.
The bank has experienced growth by acquiring the retail business arm of Industrial Development Bank (IDB) in 2005, 20% of Housing Finance in July 2007 and acquiring 100% of Uganda Micro Finance Ltd. It has since increased its stake in Housing Finance from 20% to 24.9% through a rights issue. What is more, the bank has plans to expand to Southern Sudan. The bank, with Kenya Commercial Bank, has used a “first mover” strategy to expand to Southern Sudan. There are challenges to this strategy, as pointed by Tu and Sullivan (2009). They use the Carrefour in china to point out that for a firm to succeed in this strategy, they should exploit its external and internal environmental factors that are usually specific to the firm.
Although there are challenges that are seen with the use of “first mover” strategy, there are benefits as people will always remember the first timers like Columbus, Armstrong, and Speke. Eisenmann (2006) states that for this to be realized, the firm should be in a position to create entry barriers and enjoy the “winner take all” benefits. He sounds a warning that if this is not the case, then they will experience rivalry in the foreign country and will adversely affect the profits it there are any.
From the initial services it offered, there are new services that have been seen to be included in the services they offer like trade finance, treasury services, personal banking, mobile banking, corporate e-banking, cash back services, business loan, ATMs, insurance, overdrafts, asset financing, collateral management, cheques discounting, and “fanikisha” loans for women.
Although the competition has been high in the financial services, the bank has continued to experience impressive performance in many parameters. The five-year financial summary of the bank indicates that the profits before tax increased from KES 218 M in 2004 to KES 5,022 M in 2008 which is equivalent to 2304% increase. The banking sector yearly profits before tax of the bank increased from KES 20.5 billion in July 2007 to KES 27.4 billion in July 2008, which indicates a 34.6% increase. Equity bank alone recorded 111.10% increase in the same period, that is had 2.643 billion profits.
The bank can be classified as an international business due to its continued effort to expand to the neighboring countries like Southern Sudan, Uganda, and now Tanzania and Rwanda. It has also got involved in foreign exchange and trade credit services and also has many shareholders who are international in nature. These include British America Insurance (BAICl), Helios Capital and AfriCap. AfriCap is a group of international investors and is led bi International Finance Corporation and European Investment Bank. This active participation of foreign investors is believed to be optimism that they have for the bank in the future growth. The bank is believed to bear attractive image as a fast growing bank in the region.
1.1.7 East Africa Banking EnvironmentThe role of foreign banks in developing countries – and associated policy implications – has been hotly debated. Some argue that foreign banks and particularly large international banks should be allowed to operate in developing countries because they increase the capacity of local banking sectors to lend and support development and introduce international practices and know-how, which spills over to domestic banks and increase in efficiency of financial intermediation. Others maintain that international banks are too powerful and this presence deprives the domestic banking industry of a chance to develop. At the same time, several observers note that international banks typically favor large and foreign-owned corporations at eth expense of local entrepreneurs. Equity bank is taking advantage of this notion to enter into the African market. It has been regarded as an international bank in the argument that was given in the previous section. It has been regarded so given the international interest that is found therein.
I analyzed bank behavior in five East African countries which are Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Southern Sudan. Three of these – Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania – are part of the East African Community. In Kenya, foreign bank entry have been encouraged as they have been seen to play an important role while in other countries, the entry of foreign banks have been adopted as they are seen to bring revolution to the sector. For all the five countries, systematic evidence on the role of various strategies used by banks to enter to their neighboring countries has been developed.
I studied the behavior of international banks as compared with the domestic banking sector and examine some of the potential problems that may be caused by the entry of international banks. These include lower financial intermediation due to limited and only short-term lending by large foreign banks, increased risks for domestic borrowers due to a preference of international banks for lending (and taking deposits) in foreign currency, and large lending spreads due to the large market power of international banks.
1.2 Statement of the problemThe main aim of the research is to find out the ways Equity bank uses in their market expansion endeavors. There is competition in the banking industry with banks making sure that they get a share of the market. There is a lot that has been said concerning strategies used by Equity bank in their business operations but less has been researched on the mode of entry in gaining new markets by this bank. There are two researches that have been done about Equity bank so far which include that done by Munga (2005) about the resistance to change and its management in the banking industry and then one by Abishua (2010) which dealt on strategies that Equity bank to counter competition. Other similar researches include that done by Ohaga (2004) which dealt on Strategic responses of commercial banks in changing environments and Karambu (2004) which dealt on strategic responses to change of environment by Co-operative Bank. The research that I am doing is different from the researches above because it delves more on the market entry strategies used by Equity bank to gain share across the borders. The two countries that are discussed here are Southern Sudan and Uganda. So far these are the two countries Equity bank has established its operations.
1.3 Specific objective of the studyThe objective of the study is to find out the international market entry strategies that are used by Equity bank. It will also look at the rationale for these strategies.
1.4 Significance of the studyThere are many beneficiaries for this r
