Identifying the best practices in banking operations strategy in developing economics: the case of Jordan

The aim of this paper is to identify the best practices in traditional and electronic banking operations strategy in developing economies over the period 1999 to 2008, Jordan is used as a case study. The operations practices of all domestic banks in Jordan were investigated. Different questionnaires were used to collect data from top operations managers, tellers, credit employees, branch managers, and technical specialists in electronic banking. Further, annual reports were analysed and websites reviewed. Two data-analysis approaches were used to identify the key strategies: rank analysis (competitive position analysis) and cluster analysis. Eight best practices of traditional banking and four of electronic banking were identified in Jordan. The best practices are presented as indicative models. The indicative models developed in this research should help managers in Jordan and other developing economies in making decisions, as they continue to develop their banking operations. This paper is based on a large scale survey of all domestic banks in Jordan over a period of time from the first implementation of e-banking to the recent. Most previous research into operations strategies has focused on manufacturing organisations whilst this paper focused on banking operations in developing economies.