Reference no: EM133166566

The case study

Sylvia is the CEO of a bank and has a high base salary and a generous allocation of share options for superior performance. It has become apparent that the bank's business has dropped from average to bottom-quartile performance in its industry segment. Initial performance reviews conducted by the Board with Sylvia involved approvals of several cost-efficiency strategies designed to cope better with a market that Sylvia said was driven by margin-based competition. 

In the last year, it has become apparent that while the bank's cost structure has been re-shaped, profitable growth opportunities have been missed. An independent industry analysis of the bank commissioned by the group's head-office strategic planning unit, and then debated at the corporate board, argues that the bank is neither innovative nor a fast follower in a market environment where it needs to be one or the other to survive. 

In her last annual review of business performance with Syvlia, the Board asked for her assessment of rising managerial stars in the bank. Unfortunately, it seems that nearly all key staff below the CEO level in the bank have been headhunted by competitors in the last two years. The most experienced members of Syvlia' senior management team have all left to join competitors in the industry. Her direct reports are now all young, internally promoted staff with no prior senior management experience. Her management team meetings are brief and almost administrative in tone. There is very little challenging of her views and little time is spent discussing the bank's strategic direction.

The Board are now wondering what to do about the situation and seeks your advice.

Questions 

Conduct a completing the SWOT analysis 

Use academic and practitioner sources to provide additional material on the kinds of issues this bank may be facing and the various issues organisations have with staff recruitment and retention, particularly during the recent Covid-19 pandemic.