DOI: 10.36347/sjebm.2015.v02i07.003

Pages: 677-685

Banks are engaged in intense competition to extend their services to the untapped market. They have adopted various strategies to enter and operate in new markets. One such bank is National Bank of Kenya that in the year 2011 expanded by seven new branches. However, performance in the same period was not commensurate dropping by 23%. The main purpose of the study was to determine the effect of market entry and operation strategies on performance of the bank. The specific objectives were to; identify the bank‟s market entry and operation strategies, establish its performance and determine the effect of the market entry and operation strategies on performance. The findings revealed that pricing strategies are the main market entry and operational strategies employed by National Bank of Kenya Ltd, with 68% of the respondents accepting that the bank uses these strategies to a great extent, with 85 out of the 125 responses falling in this category, Promotion strategies are employed to a moderate extent with 15 out of 125 responses falling in this category, Distribution followed with 5 out of 125 responses falling to this category and to a less extent product strategy with 3 out of 125 responses falling in this category. Based on the findings the researcher recommended that the bank should employ more distribution and product strategies in its operations. The bank should establish an optimal costefficiency ratio to enhance improved profitability. Finally, the bank should regularly review the impact of its market entry and operational strategies on its performance. These findings are expected to benefit the government, banking policy makers, practitioners within the banks and scholars in strategic and marketing management who may draw gaps from it and initiate further research.