Can Product Elimination Support Post-Downsizing Success Aspirations?

Organisations implement downsizing to overcome difficult and uncertain trading conditions, reduce complexity and gain strategic fit. Academic theory tends to focus on the human resource implications of downsizing. Whilst such articles may acknowledge the role of product elimination, there is limited understanding of either how it can be accomplished or of the customer retention benefits that may be derived. Service deletion theory promotes the use of partial or full elimination strategies as a means to gain positive outcomes. This study utilised interviews and questionnaires to examine product elimination success in the UK financial services industry. It identified that customer retention could be achieved post elimination if the desire to accomplish this was built into the removal process. The implication is that strategically aligning the objectives and implementation of a downsizing activity is more likely to result in positive elimination outcomes that can support the company's longer-term commercial objectives.

[1]  Elias L. Khalil,et al.  Managing Brand Demise , 2007 .

[2]  Niren M. Vyas.  Industrial Product Elimination Decisions: Some Complex Issues , 1993 .

[3]  George J. Avlonitis,et al.  Uncovering the keys to successful service elimination: “Project ServDrop” , 2006 .

[4]  Suraksha Gupta,et al.  A relational insight of brand personification in business-to-business markets , 2010 .

[5]  F. Mclean,et al.  Financial service elimination: Objectives and problem situations , 2001 .

[6]  Christian Homburg,et al.  A customer perspective on product eliminations: how the removal of products affects customers and business relationships , 2010 .

[7]  Carolyn Heller Baird,et al.  How top performers achieve customer‐focused market leadership , 2011 .

[8]  M. Wright,et al.  New competition in financial services , 1990 .

[9]  Kate E. Stewart,et al.  An exploration of customer exit in retail banking , 1998 .

[10]  Managing Strategy in Turbulent Environments , 2008 .

[11]  S. Hart,et al.  Dimensions of success in new product development: An exploratory investigation , 1993 .

[12]  David C. Arnott,et al.  Management of financial services marketing : issues and perceptions , 1991 .

[13]  Devanathan Sudharshan,et al.  A service effort allocation model for assessing customer lifetime value in service marketing , 2007 .

[14]  David C. Arnott,et al.  Priorities in services marketing , 1991 .

[15]  Zu-Hsu Lee,et al.  Operational restructuring: reviving an ailing business , 2008 .

[16]  Paul D. Berger,et al.  Adapt or adapt: lessons for strategy from the US telecoms industry , 2005 .

[17]  Rob Docters.  Improving profitability through product triage , 1996 .

[18]  Richard T. Hise,et al.  Product elimination: Practices, policies, and ethics , 1975 .

[19]  Tina Harness,et al.  The stages of financial services product elimination , 2007 .

[20]  D. Harness,et al.  Product deletion: a financial services perspective , 1997 .

[21]  Andrea Everard,et al.  Strategic downsizing: critical success factors , 1999 .

[22]  P. Argouslidis.  Determinants of the speed of elimination decision making in financial services , 2008 .

[23]  A. Carmeli,et al.  Downsizing strategies and organizational performance: a longitudinal study , 2009 .

[24]  Nina Reynolds,et al.  Product Deletion: A Critical Overview and Empirical Insight into this Process , 2011 .

[25]  M. Wright,et al.  Retail Banks and Organisational Change: Evidence from the UK , 1990 .

[26]  Paraskevas C. Argouslidis,et al.  Service elimination decision making: preliminary empirical evidence from the UK financial services sector , 2001 .

[27]  Nigel Waite,et al.  New entrants in the financial services sector: the case of Kwik‐Fit insurance services , 2001 .

[28]  Paraskevas C. Argouslidis,et al.  The evaluation stage in the service elimination decision‐making process: evidence from the UK financial services sector , 2007 .

[29]  Tina Harrison,et al.  Financial Services Marketing , 2000 .

[30]  Chris Storey,et al.  Success Factors for New Consumer Financial Services , 1991 .

[31]  K. Glaister,et al.  Strategic Responses to Environmental Turbulence , 1992 .

[32]  G. Avlonitis.  The Identification of Weak Industrial Products , 1986 .

[33]  M. Reeves,et al.  Strategies for winning in the current and post‐recession environment , 2009 .

[34]  S. Hart,et al.  Product Deletion and the Effects of Strategy , 1989 .

[35]  P. Papastathopoulou,et al.  The service elimination decision‐making during the service life cycle: Some pilot empirical evidence , 2012 .

[36]  Managing in Difficult Times: Lessons from the Most Recent Recession , 1992 .

[37]  Christopher J. Easingwood,et al.  New product development for service companies , 1986 .

[38]  N. Marr,et al.  A comparison of product elimination success factors in the UK banking, building society and insurance sectors , 2004 .

[39]  William H. Glick,et al.  Fit, Equifinality, and Organizational Effectiveness: A Test of Two Configurational Theories , 1993 .

[40]  D. Harness.  Product elimination: A financial services model , 2004 .