IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sol/wpaper/2013-101475.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

WHAT IS STRATEGY? The case of retail finance and English Building Societies

Author

Listed:
  • Manuel Hensmans

Abstract

Strategy is the entrepreneurial quest to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. Firms’ dependency on States during systemic economic crises underscores the need to redefine “sustainable”. At periodic intervals, States have to tackle the democratic deficits that spill over from market failures. States hereby support those entrepreneurs that propose democratic solutions most sustainable from the viewpoint of power holders. State support changes the long-term structure of competitive advantage. Accordingly, I redefine strategy as the quest to provide State-sanctioned entrepreneurial responses to democratic deficits. Drawing on historical evidence of English building societies, I demonstrate how entrepreneurial responses that befit State power holders most in face of democratic grievances, are structurally advantaged, be it through fiscal, regulatory or political means. A combination of strategically and fortuitously accumulated State support allowed building societies to leave behind other members of the friendly society movement during the period 1875-1945, only to reproduce this feat with clearing banks in the 1960s and 1970s. I analyse how building societies’ competitive advantage foundered as they failed to adapt to the changing geopolitical framework of British State sanction.

Suggested Citation

  • Manuel Hensmans, 2011. "WHAT IS STRATEGY? The case of retail finance and English Building Societies," Working Papers CEB 11-049, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/101475
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/101475/1/wp11049.pdf
    File Function: wp11049
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ronald L. Jepperson, 2000. "Institutional Logics: On the Constitutive Dimensions of the Modern Nation-State Polities," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers 36, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    2. David L. Levy & Daniel Egan, 2003. "A Neo‐Gramscian Approach to Corporate Political Strategy: Conflict and Accommodation in the Climate Change Negotiations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 803-829, June.
    3. Margaret Reid, 1988. "All-Change in the City," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-07005-3.
    4. Joppke, C, 1996. "Nation-Building after World War Two : Postcolonialism, Postcommunism, and Postfascism Compared," Papers 96/06, European Institute - Political and Social Sciences.
    5. Knapp, Georg Friedrich, 1924. "The State Theory of Money," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number knapp1924.
    6. Laura Albareda & Josep Lozano & Tamyko Ysa, 2007. "Public Policies on Corporate Social Responsibility: The Role of Governments in Europe," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 74(4), pages 391-407, September.
    7. Thompson, Steve, 1997. "Takeover activity among financial mutuals: An analysis of target characteristics," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 37-53, January.
    8. Jay B. Barney, 1986. "Strategic Factor Markets: Expectations, Luck, and Business Strategy," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(10), pages 1231-1241, October.
    9. Freyer,Tony, 1992. "Regulating Big Business," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521352079.
    10. J.Cook & S.Deakin & A.Hughes, 2001. "Mutuality and Corporate Governance: The Evolution of UK Building Societies Following Deregulation," Working Papers wp205, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Archel, Pablo & Husillos, Javier & Spence, Crawford, 2011. "The institutionalisation of unaccountability: Loading the dice of Corporate Social Responsibility discourse," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 327-343.
    2. J Neill Marshall & Richard Willis & Ranald Richardson, 2003. "Demutualisation, Strategic Choice, and Social Responsibility," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 21(5), pages 735-760, October.
    3. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/4vc7skecu3q7u7s984pi2eaan is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Robert P. Garrett Jr. & Jeffrey G. Covin, 2015. "Internal Corporate Venture Operations Independence and Performance: A Knowledge–Based Perspective," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(4), pages 763-790, July.
    5. John M. de Figueiredo & Brian S. Silverman, 2017. "On the Genesis of Interfirm Relational Contracts," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(4), pages 234-245, December.
    6. Carlos Pestana Barros & Zhongfei Chen & Peter Wanke, 2016. "Efficiency in Chinese seaports: 2002–2012," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 18(3), pages 295-316, September.
    7. Kim, Jongwook & Mahoney, Joseph T., 2008. "A Strategic Theory of the Firm as a Nexus of Incomplete Contracts: A Property Rights Approach," Working Papers 08-0108, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    8. Colombo, Massimo G. & Garrone, Paola, 1998. "Common carriers' entry into multimedia services," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 77-105, March.
    9. Claudio Vitari & Elisabetta Raguseo, 2016. "Big data value and financial performance: an empirical investigation [Digital data, dynamic capability and financial performance: an empirical investigation in the era of Big Data]," Post-Print halshs-01923271, HAL.
    10. David G. Sirmon & Michael A. Hitt, 2003. "Managing Resources: Linking Unique Resources, Management, and Wealth Creation in Family Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 27(4), pages 339-358, October.
    11. Luís Cabral, 2018. "We’re Number 1: Price Wars for Market Share Leadership," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(5), pages 2013-2030, May.
    12. Akram Hatami & Jan Hermes & Anne Keränen & Pauliina Ulkuniemi, 2023. "Creating Social Sustainability Through Distributing Leadership and Co-Responsibility in Corporate Volunteering," South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases, , vol. 12(1), pages 81-96, April.
    13. Sanchez, Ron, 2004. "Understanding competence-based management: Identifying and managing five modes of competence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(5), pages 518-532, May.
    14. A. Heene & N. A. Dentchev, 2004. "A strategic perspective on stakeholder management," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 04/253, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    15. Martin Watts & Timothy Sharpe & James Juniper, 2014. "Reformation or exodus: Assessing the future of the Euro," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 25(3), pages 465-483, September.
    16. Gordon G. Sollars & Sorin Tuluca, 2012. "The Optimal Timing of Strategic Action – A Real Options Approach," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 8(2), pages 78-95.
    17. María Lourdes Arco-Castro & María Victoria Lopez-Pérez & Sara Rodriguez-Gomez & Raquel Garde-Sánchez, 2020. "Do Stakeholders Modulate Philanthropic Strategy? Corporate Philanthropy as Stakeholders’ Engagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    18. Andrea Lučić, 2020. "Measuring Sustainable Marketing Orientation—Scale Development Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-22, February.
    19. Bianchini, Stefano & Pellegrino, Gabriele, 2019. "Innovation persistence and employment dynamics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1171-1186.
    20. Jörg Bibow, 2013. "Lost at Sea: The Euro Needs a Euro Treasury," IMK Studies 35-2013, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    21. Aspara, Jaakko & Tikkanen, Henrikki, 2013. "Creating novel consumer value vs. capturing value: Strategic emphases and financial performance implications," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(5), pages 593-602.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/101475. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Benoit Pauwels (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cebulbe.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.