Sustaining competitive edge in Iraqi banks through marketing intelligence and decision-making effectiveness: a review

Abstract

The Iraqi economy is in a state of constant flux as a result of the US-led invasion of the country and the emergence of destructive insurgency and civil war. These developments hurt the Iraqi banking industry, degrading the quality of available banking infrastructure, confounding bank governance mechanisms, and causing low patronage. Thus, survival expediencies force Iraqi banks to resort to innovative means to compete for customer patronage and the meagre financial surpluses available for mobilisation. In this paper, the competitive edge potentials of Iraqi banks were highlighted based on the Resource-Based View theory of strategic management, and in the light of the roles played by marketing intelligence and decision-making effectiveness. The results highlight issues critical to the development of the industry, including but not limited to, marketing intelligence and decision-making effectiveness.