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This book presents an analysis of the role of UK building societies, their strengths and weaknesses, and their contribution to the industry, at a time where public confidence in banking is low. Chapters present the results of an empirical analysis of the comparative performance of UK building societies, since the large-scale demutualisation process ended in the year 2000. The authors highlight the substantial impact of the financial crisis on the sector, with 2008 and 2009 being particularly difficult years. The book discusses banks and building societies in the context of the improving economy and show that both groups have recovered some profitability, although not at the pre-crisis level. The reader will discover that building societies in particular have recovered well from the financial turmoil and they appear less risky than banks on a variety of measures.

Purpose: The purpose of this work is to investigate processes constituting to Dynamic Capabilities in companies of the German financial services industry. Design/Method/Approach: Exploratory with a qualitative approach and a multiple case study method. Findings: The results indicate a connection of Dynamic Capabilities and the dynamism of the environment. The actual Dynamic Capabilities seem to operate in business model related activities, such as distribution channels, but not in product development. Theoretical implications. Suggestions are given for the development of a comparative measurement concept for Dynamic Capabilities. Furthermore, the inclusion of environmental dynamism in the research is emphasized. Practical implications. Firms can use the structure of sensing, seizing and reconfiguration and apply the dimensions for the relational measurement to evaluate their innovation activities. Originality/Value. Connections of Dynamic Capabilities to the environmental dynamism were found. Furthermore, the process lens of this research makes the theoretical concept of Dynamic Capabilities more graspable and gives suggestions for an operationalization. Paper type: empirical.

Since most studies of the financial services industry have viewed the structure of the industry as fixed, there has been little discussion of its determinants. Events of the past few years make it clear that the structure of the financial services industry is changing much more rapidly than it did between the end of World War II and the mid 1960's. This paper categorizes and discusses the major factors affecting the structure of the financial services industry. The concept of supply and demand provides a useful framework for categorizing these factors. Demand is best analyzed in terms of the demand for various characteristics or attributes of financial services. These include: 1) yield; 2) liquidity; 3) safety; 4) convenience of access to the services, 5) financial advice or information. The demand for these various characteristics or attributes depends importantly on demographic and economic factorsThe supply of financial services is determined by the cost curves associated with those services which are in turn determined by the cost of the factors of production and the underlying production function. Three aspects of these cost curves have an important effect on the supply of financial services and the structure of the industry — economies of scale, economies of joint production and distribution, and the management of risk. The nature of the cost and production functions underlying the supply of financial services and the structure of the industry is affected by several exogenous factors. Foremost among them are the economy, technology, regulation, and the role of the Federal government in financial service marketsBased on the discussion of how the various exogenous factors affect the structure of the financial services industry, an attempt is made to predict how structure will change as deregulation occurs.