What Caused the Bank's Products to Die? A New Zealand Perspective

Many financial service organisations are loath to eliminate products that have long life cycles and where existing customers expect these products to remain available. Whilst previous research has identified factors that cast doubt over the viability of continuing to supply a product, the existence of these factors does not necessarily mean that they will automatically lead to elimination. This study looks at the factors triggering product elimination in the New Zealand banking sector. It outlines the type of triggers that cause elimination, and places them into seven broad clusters that relate to the product management activities or the strategic functions of the organisations. The paper considers how an organisation’s response to the triggers influences the final decision on whether to eliminate, rejuvenate, or leave untouched the reviewed product. The study concludes that where an organisation takes a proactive stance in managing the end stages of the product life cycle, options, other than elimination, become possible.

[1]  R. S. Alexander.  The Death and Burial of “Sick” Products , 1964 .

[2]  N. Marr,et al.  The identification of weak products revisited , 1998 .

[3]  Scott G. Dacko,et al.  The role of retentions in how marketing managers change their strategic orientation , 1995 .

[4]  M. Colgate,et al.  Customer defection: a study of the student market in Ireland , 1996 .

[5]  A. Everett.  Strategic management of international business relationships with New Zealand: a primer for executives and investors , 1996 .

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

[7]  George J. Avlonitis.  Project Dropstrat: What Factors Do Managers Consider in Deciding Whether to Drop a Product? , 1993 .

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

[9]  Philip Kotler,et al.  Phasing Out Weak Products , 1965 .

[10]  John Saunders,et al.  Product Replacement: Strategies for Simultaneous Product Deletion and Launch , 1994 .

[11]  Product elimination: A barrier to successful financial service sector company mergers? , 2001 .

[12]  John A. Quelch,et al.  Extend Profits, Not Product Lines , 1994 .

[13]  Leonard L. Berry,et al.  Marketing for the bank executive , 1975 .

[14]  Financial system design in the Asia Pacific context: costs and benefits of universal banking , 1996 .

[15]  G. Prendergast,et al.  Towards a Branchless Banking Society , 1994 .

[16]  Kwaku Atuahene-Gima,et al.  Adoption of New Products by the Sales Force: The Construct , 1997 .

[17]  T. Cox,et al.  Marketing Approaches in Bulgaria , 1993 .

[18]  Robert D. Buzzell,et al.  Product, service, strategy , 1978 .

[19]  Mark Colgate,et al.  Retail financial services: transaction to relationship marketing , 2000 .

[20]  S. Hart.  The causes of product deletion in British manufacturing companies , 1988 .

[21]  George J. Avlonitis,et al.  Some Dangerous Axioms of Production Elimination Decision‐making , 1982 .

[22]  R. L. Steiner,et al.  The Prejudice against Marketing , 1976 .

[23]  Yoram Wind,et al.  Planning Product Line Strategy: A Matrix Approach , 1976 .