Citigroup Hopes Small Really Is Beautiful
Reviewer: CharlesNewman, PhD Abstract
The Bloomberg Businessweek article "Citigroup Hopes Small Really Is Beautiful" (Nov. 22-Nov. 28, 2010) discusses how Citigroup is expanding in small business lending. It is targeting U.S. companies with less than $20 million in annual sales and plans to hire about 200 bankers by the end of 2011 to court them. That would bring the number of small business bankers to about 500. Expanding the bank's focus to include doctors, restaurants, and cabinet makers alongside Coca- Cola and wealthy individuals won't be easy. It's totally different and requires a good deal of monitoring.
The four largest banks by assets have been criticized by some entrepreneurs for tightening credit to small business after taking a combined $140 billion of federal bailout money. A record 41 percent of small business owners say they cannot get adequate financing. Banks with less than $10 billion in assets make 56 percent of the country's small business loans. Larger banks are now trying to muscle in as losses stay high on home loans and commercial mortgages.
Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the structural characteristics of the banking industry from the point of view of the Five Competitive Forces (Porter) framework. To help you answer this question here is a link to further information The Industry Handbook: The Banking Industry . Feel free to find and cite other information sources as well.
2. Discuss the Citibank strategy from the perspective of the BCG Matrix framework.
3. Discuss the Citibank strategy from the perspective of the Competitive Advantage (Porter) framework.