Searching for the Value of Quality in Financial Services

In this paper we report results from a study, which explores the impact of quality on performance in the financial services industry. Although some disagreement exists, the operations management, economics and marketing literatures advocate a positive relationship between quality and financial performance. Recent strong evidence suggests that in order to be meaningful, such studies must focus on individual industries. Our study focuses on the financial services industry and provides new insights on the relationship between quality and financial performance in this important service sector. Stock performance information is used to further explore this relationship. Through the results reported here, we also identify the weaknesses inherent in existing stock-performance studies on the impact of quality, and identify the methodological approaches that should be pursued in order to avoid such weaknessses.

DELIVERING E-BANKING SERVICE: AN EMERGING INTERNET BUSINESS MODEL AND A CASE STUDY

Excellence in 2000. The Center faculty, graduate students, and visitors pursue a broad research agenda that focuses on optimal financial decision making from both the supply side (financial institutions) and the demand side (households and institutional investors). Emphasis is placed on the challenges created for both sides by the globalization and innovations of the financial markets, especially for the economies of pre-accession States as they move towards harmonization with European Union. The work of the Center is divided in five major areas. The first deals with enterprise wide risk management and the development of both innovative methodologies and decision support tools. The second deals with the saving and borrowing behavior of households and their portfolio choices. The third deals with empirical studies of capital markets and the information they reveal for the prediction of bankruptcy events and the management of credit risk. The fourth deals with real options, their valuation, and their use in coping with an uncertain world. The fifth deals with issues surrounding the performance of financial institutions in delivering quality services