Banco CTT

: managing a major strategic move

Abstract

The main goal of the present dissertation is to explore the concept of “Diversification Strategy” and the main challenges of planning, implementing and managing it in the first years of operations. To address this strategy, a specific example of a Portuguese postal services’ incumbent, CTT – Correios de Portugal, S.A., that diversifies its business with the creation of a postal bank is covered. With the information on the international experience in this type of diversification and the current situation of the Portuguese retail banking sector, one can conclude that the postal bank may have the capacity to adapt to the demanding conditions due to a competitive advantage in some of the industry’s key success factors. This competitive advantage is identified when the company aligns its core competencies with the market characteristics. To preserve this benefit the company should assume a proactive role in exploring the external environment and be prepared for realignment situations. This initiative is crucial once several strategy-related, industry-related or company-related problems were identified during the analysis of the postal bank’s future. In both the short and the long run the postal bank will potentially face problems that may result in managerial changes such as acquisitions of other companies (to lower the risk exposure and gain more expertise in certain business areas), divestment in certain product lines and investment in foreign markets (to compensate the lower national revenues).

Date of Award	26 Jul 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	João Paulo Simão Pires (Supervisor)