Quality, innovation, differentiation (QID) management and competitiveness in the financial sector: a tool for overcoming financial and banking crises

The purpose of this paper is to examine the integrated role of quality, innovation, and differentiation (QID) on the competitiveness of a financial organization in circumstances such as the current global financial crisis. It is a conceptual paper adopting a cross-disciplinary approach that proposes an integrative model of QID and considers its components as essential factors within a total relationship management (TRM) concept. It shows that QID, competitiveness, and positioning are all linked and that QID and total relationship management are strongly related to the competitive advantages in the hyper-competitive financial and banking sector. The paper depicts a professional implementation of a service market orientation, quality improvement, as well as development of banking services differentiation and innovation functions. The paper proposes a holistic, cross-disciplinary model of QID. The features and essentials in connection to the attainment of such an approach are tentatively constructed through total relationship management (TRM) and 5Qs (five qualities) models which could be a tool for responding to the current situation and anticipating future crises at an early stage. Thus, I argue that TRM can be seen as an administrative and process innovation that facilitates the technological innovation of banking services. As the specific conditions found in one financial institution may not be present in others readers are cautioned that the conclusions may have different and limited applicability in different financial institutions. An empirical case study is recommended.