A Case Analysis
Cheryl Bluthardt, Brandy Church, Dawn Townley, and Amanda VanKoevering
Gaining familiarity with the
Citibank organization
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Global, multidimensional financial institution
Leaders include:
◦ Sanford Weill, Citigroup’s chief executive
◦ Jorge Bermudez, Citigroup’s executive vice
president
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Employed > 325,000 staff
Serviced > 200 million customers
Operated in > 100 countries
Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., & Hoskisson, R.E.
(2011). Strategic Management:
Competitiveness and Globalization
(9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western
Cengage Learning.
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
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Become the world’s leader in e-business.
Strategy – Connect, Transform, Extend
First priority – meeting customer needs.
“We are here to serve our clients: whatever
our clients want us to do we’ll do it for them.”
-
Caroline Wong, Head of E-Business Group (Cash &
Trade), Citibank Hong Kong (p. 105)
Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., & Hoskisson, R.E.
(2011). Strategic Management:
Competitiveness and Globalization
(9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western
Cengage Learning.
Indicators that something is
not as expected or desired

Citibank experienced difficulty:
◦ meeting diverse customer needs
◦ earning profit
◦ maintaining supremacy amongst intense business
competition
Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., & Hoskisson, R.E.
(2011). Strategic Management:
Competitiveness and Globalization
(9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western
Cengage Learning.
Goals for the future


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Provide customers with technology to
conduct secure business anywhere
Align with partner companies
New technology to streamline A/R, A/P, and
liquidity management
Reach new markets
Improve customer service
Cut costs
Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., & Hoskisson, R.E.
(2011). Strategic Management:
Competitiveness and Globalization
(9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western
Cengage Learning.
Models used to conduct the
analysis

Industry Trends include:
◦ Use of technology to increase banking efficiency
(Hitt, et al, 2011)
◦ Use of electronic payments (Hitt, et al, 2011)
◦ Increased number of consumers with credit cards
(Citibank, 2006)
◦ Preference of brand recognition and proven history
of financial security (Hitt, et al, 2011).
Strengths:
• Strong Brand Recognition
Weaknesses:
• Declining Capital
Opportunities:
• Expand Good Reputation
Threats:
• Continuous Investments in
Technology
• Global Presence
• Diversification of Products and
Services
• Improve Existing Web Features &
Expand Global Banking
• Increase Customer Service
• Offer Fresh Approach to Banking
• Debt Obligations Due to Subprime
Market
• High Customer Demands
• Complicated Products
• Lack of ability to keep up with
advancing technology
•
•
•
•
Competition
Heavy Investments in Technology
Regulatory Scrutiny
Weakening Financial Markets
Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., & Hoskisson, R.E.
(2011). Strategic Management:
Competitiveness and Globalization
(9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western
Cengage Learning.
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Profitability Ratios = acceptable
Liquidity Ratios = acceptable
Leverage Ratios = acceptable
Activity Ratios = acceptable
Shareholders’ Return Ratios = acceptable
Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., & Hoskisson, R.E.
(2011). Strategic Management:
Competitiveness and Globalization
(9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western
Cengage Learning.
Citigroup. (2006). 2005 Financial Information.
Retrieved April 13, 2011 from
http://www.citigroup.com/citi/fin/data/k05c.pd
f?ieNocache=353.
Discrepancies between
Citibank’s goals and actual
performance

Rapidly changing customer needs with limited
resources to provide technologically
advanced products.
Goal
Options
Improves
Quality
Cost to
Implement
Time
Required
Ease of
Staffing
Financial
Return
TOTAL
Points
Technology
enabling
customers
to conduct
business
anywhere
3
2
2
3
3
13
Partner
alignment
3
3
1
3
3
13
Technologybased A/R,
A/P, and
liquidity
mgmt
3
2
2
2
2
11
Reach new
markets
1
1
1
2
3
8
Customer
Service
3
1
1
1
2
8
Cut costs
1
1
1
1
3
7
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Align with Square to make their credit card
processing software/hardware available to
current Citibank customers, allowing
customers to conduct secure credit card
processing anywhere anytime at low cost.
How to improve Citibank’s
situation
• Collaborating with Square
to accommodate back-end
accounts receivable and
accounts payable software
•Negotiating terms
with Square
• Creating processes for
Sales Department once
marketing plan has been
implemented
Leadership
IT
Operations
Processes
(Sales)
Marketing
•Developing and
implementing
marketing campaign
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
Citigroup. (2006). 2005 Financial
Information. Retrieved April 13, 2011 from
http://www.citigroup.com/citi/fin/data/k0
5c.pdf?ieNocache=353.
Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., & Hoskisson, R.E.
(2011). Strategic Management:
Competitiveness and Globalization (9th ed.).
Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage
Learning.