THE INFLUENCE OF TECHNOLOGY ON ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGY: A STUDY OF THE NIGERIAN BANKING INDUSTRY.

Technology which is a key element of the external environment, develops and changes rapidly creating uncertainties and challenges that affect organizational strategy and its processes; thus, reducing the effectiveness of strategies and making strategic responses more difficult. This study therefore aimed at determining the influence that technology wields on organizational strategy and its processes in the Nigerian banking industry. It investigated the specific ways that technology affects the strategic management processes of strategy formulation, strategy implementation and strategy evaluation and control. A descriptive survey research design was employed in this study. The population of study consists of all the commercial banks in Nigeria. The unit of analysis for the study are five banking organisations selected mainly from Tier-1 Nigerian banks. The study relied mainly on primary data obtained through structured questionnaire administered to a purposively selected 125 respondents across the major strata and departments of the selected banks. The data collected was analysed and presented using descriptive methods. The statistical techniques employed are the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the regression analyses models. The hypotheses were tested using regression coefficients. The findings showed statistical evidence that technology is not only prevalent in the selected banks, but has become a vital requirement in the strategy formulation, implementation and control processes. Specifically, technology enhances the speed and quality of data gathering for strategy formulation as well as aids the implementation of specific market and product development strategies, and also enables the measurement and monitoring of organizational strategies. The study concludes that technology exerts significant influence on organizational strategy and has strong positive relationship with the organizational strategy processes. Thus, management of banking organisations should as a matter of policy invest in appropriate technology strategies and develop adequate technology capabilities and competences to cope with the imperatives of increased digitization and the effects of technology in order to remain competitive and successful in the industry