OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Santander's Strategic Operations Management

Table of Contents

Introduction2

Strategic Impact3

Business Strategy3

Operations Strategy4

Critical Assessment of the Linkage5

Critical Appraisal7

Layout7

Process Type8

Technologies9

Value Chain and Quality11

Conclusion13

Santander's Strategic Operations Management

Introduction

Santander started its operations as the first ever bank in the Eurozone and has now been established and recognised as having a customer base of more than 1 million. Its key point is their stability in the international banking market having largest network of its branches across the world. It is pre-dominantly a retail bank with the headquarters of Santander being located in the country of Spain, having presence in ten of the dominant markets catering to the customers in the arena. It is ranked among the top 15 financial institutions of the world when compared on the basis of Market Capitalisation, recorded at end of the year 2011 as to be more than 50 billion euros (http://www.santander.co.uk/).

Banco Santander was founded in the year 1857 and now it has shareholders more than 3 million in numbers. It is now involved in managing billions in funds for its clients; who exceed 100 million in scale currently stand at more than 102 million, through its highly defined network comprising of around 15,000 branches or offices worldwide. With 193,000 employees and shareholder base of around 3.3 million, it is regarded as one of the most prominent financial institutions in Spain and Latin America ((http://www.santander.co.uk/). It enjoys respectable position in the North-eastern United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Poland and in Portugal. With its shares being listed on the major stock markets and featured on around 62 disparate indices, Santander harbours significant position.

Strategic Impact

This significant position in the international banking segment is difficult to achieve and requires careful strategic planning which Santander did by employing the element of diversification and strong retail business and foothold in the retail banking market; so as to position itself differently. This triggered growth and consistent increase in the value it delivers to its customers. Value increased as Santander achieved differentiation in the global financial sector through registering an increment of 24 billion euros in the last five years in the return to its shareholders. In addition to diversification and its significant performance in the retail banking sector, Santander is seen as continuously realigning itself with the changes in the dynamic environment it is operating in. In the year 2011, Santander improved its balance sheet by introducing changes into its capital account and strengthening its credit quality. This step was taken so as to comply to the new capital requirements standard enacted by the regulatory bodies, national as well as international. Although it was mandatory for all the banks, Santander, using the proactive approach implemented the steps earlier so as to avoid any kind of discrepancy and to straighten out its operations through greater alignment and compliance Lamb et al., 1984).

Business Strategy

The business strategy followed by Santander is to fuel their business model that pre-dominantly encompasses Retail Banking activities. Santander has defined their business strategy around the provision of retail banking services and retail banking activities through the ...