SCOPING DIGITAL BUSINESS STRATEGY IN BANKING: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ITALY, SWEDEN AND SWITZERLAND

Abstract

Digitalization is profoundly impacting the banking industry. Banks are no longer the sole providers of financial services as they face competition from fintech startups and firms from other industries entering the financial services market. In order to meet this increased competition and uncertainty, traditional banks are being compelled to adapt by creating digital business strategies that enable flexibility and adaptability of their products and services. This paper aims to contribute to the digital business strategy perspective by making a comparative study on the scope of digital activities of nine leading banks in Sweden, Switzerland and Italy. The research questions guiding this paper are: What portfolios of digital activities do the banks conduct to build digital business strategy? and How do these portfolios of digital activities differ across markets? This paper answers these questions by first revealing areas of action within digital value disciplines through an inductive approach by studying the annual reports of the three banks in each country. The digital activities undertaken by each bank within these areas of action is then compared in response to the second research question. The results show that the banks are actively building portfolios within ten areas of action as part of their digital business strategy. The results also show that the focus of the portfolios of digital activities differ between markets as well as between each bank in each market. This paper concludes that in regards to the digital business strategy it is important to highlight the strong interplay between the the digital value disciplines. For example, if companies digitally reshape their customer experience, they might have to reshape their operations, which might also affect their digital innovation capabilities.