CREATING SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN BANKING THROUGH TECHNOLOGY, CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT AND INTERNAL MARKERTING
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to establish the need of creating sustainable competitive advantage in banking through technology, customer relationship management and internal marketing.Methodology: The research was carried out through an explanatory research. The target population of the study was 3,193 employees of the Co-op Bank. A sample of 68 employees spread across the bank was selected. The researcher used descriptive and inferential statistics in this study. The study used primary data. The study used a questionnaire as the preferred data collection tool. This study used the quantitative method of data analysis which included inferential and descriptive statistics. Descriptive statistics included frequencies and measures of tendency mainly means and frequencies. Inferential statistics included correlation analysis. The tool for data analysis was Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17 program. The results were presented using tables and pie charts to give a clear picture of the research findings.Results: The findings indicated that information technology has significant positive effect on competitive advantage. The findings also showed that customer relationship management (CRM) has a significant positive effect on competitive advantage of banks. The findings further implied that internal marketing has a significant effect on competitive advantage. Further the findings implied that information technology has significant positive effect on competitive advantage.Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: Following study results, it was recommended that investment in Information technology be emphasized in the banks as it has an effect on the overall achievement of competitive advantage. The study also recommended that banks should emphasize customer relationship by investing in a customer relationship management system. It was further recommended that employees are central to an effective CRM and as such firms must manage its relationships with their employees if they have any hope of fully serving customer needs and that this is especially important in firms where employees are the eyes of customers.