STRATEGIC ORIENTATION AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF SELECTED DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

The banking sector globally occupies a unique position in any economy as an important instrument of economic development. The sector has been plagued with the challenge of sound management and good governance and problem arising from non-performing loans has been source of concerns apart from weak internal control realities that have resulted in dwindling performance. Hence, this study investigated the effects of strategic orientation on organizational performance of selected deposit money banks in Nigeria. Survey research design was used. Ten major money deposit banks were selected in Lagos state who control about 80% of the total asset base of the entire deposit money banks in the industry. Stratified random and proportionate sampling were used for the study and the table of sample size determination developed by Krejcie and Morgan was used to determine the sample size of 988. A wellstructured questionnaire was adapted and validated. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability
coefficients for the constructs ranged between 0.741 and 0.865. The response rate was 81.47%. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Finding revealed that strategic orientation measured by strategic leadership, strategic planning, strategy implementation, strategy evaluation and strategic control significantly affects competitive advantage of deposit money banks.(Adj. R2 = 0.518; F(5,798)=173.921).The study concluded that strategic orientation significantly affects organizational performance of deposit money banks in Lagos state, Nigeria. It recommended that the Nigerian banking industry required support and strong regulatory backing from the government to compete favourably in the evercompetitive global financial arena, that both the government and the various regulatory agencies put regulations in place that will engender growth and sustainability in the industry.