Abstract:
The managerial issue being addressed in this research is perceived environmental uncertainty
(experienced by corporate strategists) and its implications for strategy development processes
at the strategic business unit level (or business-level strategy) across Barclays Bank PLC.
The objectives of the research are achieved through: an extensive review of the strategy and
uncertainty literature (Project 1); a series of semi-structured interviews with fifteen members
of the Group Executive Committee at Barclays (Project 2); and the completion of 731 selfadministered
questionnaires covering the seventeen strategic business units within the
Barclays portfolio (Project 3).
Through its findings, this research concludes that any link between perceived environmental
uncertainty (at the corporate level) and strategy development processes (at the business unit
level) across the Barclays portfolio is largely irrelevant. Strategists at Barclays are concerned
mainly with the maximisation of shareholder value and concepts such as uncertainty, change
and complexity are not within the managerial lexicon.
Based on this observation, strategy development at Barclays does not involve a carefully
managed reciprocal relationship between the firm and its environment, or a skilfully
manipulated balance of the degree of change and the level of complexity with which the
organisation is deemed able to cope.
Strategy development involves the dedicated and ruthless stewardship of a highly successful
and resilient business model that could not fail within the economic environment experienced
during the period of this research (1999–2005). Consequently, the Bank’s strategic capability
(e.g. people) and assets (e.g. brand and technology) are geared towards protecting and
developing the business model, or in simpler managerial terms, ‘defending the money-printing
machine’.
