Santander Customer Finance Harvard Case Analysis

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“Santander Consumer Finance” Case Study Abstract An application of the material covered in course. This paper analyzes Santander Consumer Finance by Gunnar Trumbull, Elena Corsi and Andrew Barron, Harvard Business School (2010). It represents the evaluation of the challenges faced by a retail banking organization in the Global aspect. Santander Consumer Finance Question No. 1 Please describe and evaluate the Country/Political Risk faced by this organization and describe its successes and failures. At one point, organizations seeking to venture globally will face uncontrollable forces that will pose a number challenges that will vary with the country. SCF encountered many of these challenges in its task of expanding across-borders and such challenges were explained in the Santander Consumer Finance case study. The cultural and institutional risk is one that most company will encounter when venturing abroad. Before entering a new market SCF had to study the market and adapt their operational strategy to the local needs. Each country had different approaches to banking. For example, in Germany consumer tended to rely more on bank overdraft facilities than credit cards. In Italy and Belgium, people tended to buy less on credit and save more. In the UK, revolving credit cards were mainly used. Selecting the right type of services to offer the market was a risk. SCF needed to adapt to the needs of each country differently. SCF not only faced country-specific political risks outside of EU, but internally as well. Despite the 1992 Single Europe act, cross-border consumer lending remained low due to cultural, natural and regulatory barriers among borders. Consumers trusted and preferred national, proximate providers. There were also cross-country regulations that made it difficult for foreign banks to promote their own products. SCF and

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