MGMT 704 - Westpac Bank: Leadership, SWOT & Cascade Analysis

This report provides an analysis of Westpac Banking Corporation's current strategic position and future opportunities. It begins with an introduction to Westpac, highlighting its significance in the Australian and international banking sectors. The report identifies the bank's potential for expansion into developing economies as a primary opportunity. A SWOT analysis is conducted to assess Westpac's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, emphasizing its robust operational framework, global client base, and the challenges posed by economic downturns and increased competition. Furthermore, a Cascade of Choices analysis is performed to explore the strategic implications of expanding into new markets, focusing on goals, market selection, competitive advantages, and resource allocation. The report concludes that Westpac can enhance its long-term business prospects and profitability by venturing into less saturated markets in developing countries. Desklib offers similar solved assignments and study resources for students.

Running head: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
Management and Leadership
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Westpac Banking Corporation.........................................................................................................2
SWOT Analysis:..........................................................................................................................3
Cascade of Choices Analysis.......................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
In the contemporary period, with the global commercial scenario becoming more
complex and integrated, the business decisions of the companies have also become multi-
dimensional and dependent on many external as well as internal factors. These factors not only
influence the operating framework of the commercial organizations but also have implications on
their decisions regarding future expansion of their activities (Du Plessis, Hargovan & Harris,
2018). Keeping this into consideration the report tries to study the current situations prevailing in
the operational framework of one of the most dominant banks in the Australian as well as
international banking scenario, the Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac.com.au, 2018). The
report tries to discuss one of the primary opportunities of the bank in the current period, with the
help of SWOT Analysis and also tries to perform a Cascade of Choices analysis for the identified
opportunity of the concerned bank.
Westpac Banking Corporation
The Westpac Banking Corporation, Australia, founded in 1817, with the initial name of
the Bank of New South Wales, is currently considered as one of the big four banks in the
banking in Australia and is an influential bank in the international scenario. With more than
33,000 employees and branches across the world, the bank ventures in consumer sector, business
banking, institutional banking, financial and migrant banking (Brämer & Gischer, 2012). The
bank, with its operational base and primary activities concentrated in Australia and New
Zealand, has been expanding its operations in many other countries and has been exploring new
markets and domains. This, clubbed with the recent dynamics in the global economic scenario
with more and developing economies emerging as potentially progressive economies in the

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coming years, poses as one of the primary opportunities for the concerned company, in terms of
expansion of its commercial activities in these newly growing markets (Allen & Powell, 2012).
Keeping this opportunity in consideration, the following section of the report tries to
conduct a SWOT Analysis of the Westpac Banking Corporation, which is as follows:
SWOT Analysis:
Strengths
 One of the biggest and most trusted
banks in Australia
 Second largest of the lenders in the
country
 Employee strength of more than 35,000
with extremely skilled personnel from
all domains of expertise
 Serves to more than 12 million clients
across the world
 Number of global clients increasing
impressively (Shamsuddin & Xiang,
2012)
 Strong operational framework and
flexible banking infrastructure
 One of the most socially responsible
banks in the world
Weaknesses
 More competitors coming in the
banking industry of Australia as well as
in many other countries where the
concerned company operates
 Higher competitions especially in retail
and customer banking
 Losing out to many new supply side
providers as they are expanding faster
with more branches and more
responsive customer services
(Nagarajan, 2014)
Opportunities Threats

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 The company has obtained license to
operate in different countries other than
Australia
 Has scope of exploring the
comparatively newer markets of the
impressively growing developing
economies, which can help in
increasing their clientele as well as
business prospects and profitability in
the international markets (Cull & Peria,
2012)
 Has scope of innovating and using
better technologies in order to develop
new banking products which can
increase the appeal of the bank to the
customers
 After withering out of the positive
effects of the mining and industrial
booms of the economy of Australia, the
same has been experiencing
considerable downturn and stagnation
in the commercial activities
 The decrease in economic activities in
Australia is expected to have negative
implications on the profitability and
expansion of operations of the bank
 More and more competitors with more
efficient frameworks and customer
services are entering into the banking
industry in Australia as well as in the
international scenario
 Several banking scandals involving
several other members of the Big Four
Banks in Australia has affected the
customer loyalty of Westpac to some
extent
 Credit limitations and the recent
regulatory restrictions imposed in this
industry has been making operational

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expansion difficult for the concerned
bank in the coming years
From the above analysis of the overall strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities of
the concerned company it can be asserted that with the economy of Australia taking a backseat
and with the clientele in the country becoming divided as well as saturated, Westpac Banking
Corporation can venture in the unexplored yet impressively developing economies in the world.
This can be beneficial for the company in terms of profitability, sustainability and long term
increment in its global market share. To explore this opportunity of the company elaborately, the
following section conducts a Cascade of Choices analysis.
Cascade of Choices Analysis
This framework is one of the widely used strategic tools in business management, which
allows integration between strategy planning and implementation (Deloitte.com, 2018). For the
concerned company the same is as follows:

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Goals and Aspirations
Where to play
How to win
How to configure
Priority initiatives
The vision is to
increase banking as
an industry in
developing countries
Financial objectives
primarily include
increase in the share
of clientele and
profitability
Non-Financial
objectives include
the mission to build
up long term
bilateral
relationships with
clients all over the
world
The business portfolio will emphasis
on expansion of household and
investment banking. Financial services
can also be provided. Higher emphasis
and investment on the household and
investment banking to capture larger
shares of new markets
Customers will
primarily include
the banking
customers in the
emerging markets
of developing
economies
The bank will
primarily offer
banking and
financial services to
them
The company can
appeal to the new
potential customers
with their long-term
market dominance and
trust, which they have
gained over the years
The company has
robust capital base and
skilled employee base
can provide security in
banking
Competitiveness can be increased by
concentrating in the less crowded
developing markets, which also provides
skilled workers at cheaper wages, thereby
increasing the profit
The company has robust
infrastructure and can develop its
customer service and help lines even
more for exploring the new markets
Worldwide communication and
The company can focus more on
household demands of banking
and catering to their demand. It
can also promote small-scale
businesses in developing
countries

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Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be asserted that the new developing countries have
been emerging as the potential economies in the global scenario with the industrial and
commercial prospects increasing in these countries. The Westpac Banking Corporation, thus, in
this scenario, has the opportunity to venture in the banking industries of these comparatively less
crowded and less explored markets to increase their long-term business prospects, profitability
and sustainability.

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References
Allen, D. E., & Powell, R. (2012). The fluctuating default risk of Australian banks. Australian
Journal of Management, 37(2), 297-325.
Brämer, P., & Gischer, H. (2012). Domestic systemically important banks: an indicator-based
measurement approach for the Australian banking system. Univ., Faculty of Economics
and Management.
Cull, R., & Peria, M. M. (2012). Foreign bank participation in developing countries. In The
Evidence and Impact of Financial Globalization (pp. 213-222).
Deloitte.com. (2018). Strategy equals choice Corporate and Business Unit
Strategy. Www2.deloitte.com. Retrieved 20 February 2018, from
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/strategy/us-corporate-
and-business-unit-strategy-sales-sheet_012214.pdf
Du Plessis, J. J., Hargovan, A., & Harris, J. (2018). Principles of contemporary corporate
governance. Cambridge University Press.
Nagarajan, V. (2014). Banks as regulators of corporate governance: The possibilities and
challenges. Law Context: A Socio-Legal J., 30, 171.
Shamsuddin, A., & Xiang, D. (2012). Does bank efficiency matter? Market value relevance of
bank efficiency in Australia. Applied Economics, 44(27), 3563-3572.

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Westpac.com.au. (2018). Westpac - Personal, Business and Corporate
Banking. Westpac.com.au. Retrieved 20 February 2018, from
https://www.westpac.com.au/