Organizational Strategy and Objectives

Strategy and Objectives

        Bank of America is stronger with a specific business model which is delivering long-term value to the company shareholders. To achieve this long-term value, the company believe in one clearly strategy which is growth. This growth has four pillars which includes grow and win in the market, grow with the customers focused, grow within the risk framework, and grow in a sustainable manner.

        The bank serve three groups of customers which are people, companies, and institutional investors. The company serve all three consumer groups in the United States, and serve larger companies and institutional investors outside the United States which has helped the company to reduce its risk profile and simplifies the company operations. With this strategy in place, the company serve more than 47 million households, and interact with them more than 130 million times. B of A works closely with every company in the S&P 500 which delivers solid and recurring profitability (“Our Strategy”, n.d, para. 2).

        Bank of America have a simple goal which is to do more with the customers by bringing them everything they need to live their financial lives and one way of doing this is through the business integration work. The company take a local market-driven approach and service customers and clients in the United States through integrated businesses organized across the globe. Locally, the company strive to ask every customer how they perform and that is why the company performed well both in the international and local platform.

        Financial institutions are prone to risk. Therefore, managing risk is one of the company strategies and objectives to be successful in this business. The company strive to be very articulate when it comes to managing all types of risk. Risk can occur when making a credit decision, investing in a small business, the company believe in using the right judgement and do what is right to their consumers when performing these job functions. The company culture emphasizes that all teams are working towards one objectives and shared one responsibility to manage risk well (“Our Strategy”, n.d, para. 4).

        Bank of America plan to build a sustainable company and the company is guided by its principles to make the right decisions that will hold the company in standard stead. The bank thinks about this in various ways. The first part of it is operational excellence. The company maintain discipline in managing operating expenses. The bank sustainability also includes having the right governance. The bank is occupied with diverse and experience Board of Directors that provides independent views. Bank of America have a diverse and inclusive workplace which reflects the diversity of the clients and communities they serve around the globe via operations.  

Strategy Types and Competitive Advantages

        Bank of America competitive advantage is based on technology and growth. The bank is growing globally every year. For instance, Bank of America have over 1000 branches outside of the United States which includes South Africa, Europe, Asia, and Middle East. From inception, the financial institution has been magnificent in growth and business development of the company which includes retail banking, investment banking, financial advising, wealth management etc. Also, the bank believes in diversifying its business. The bank does not focus on one business, but rather creates different avenues to attend to its client needs. For instance, U.S. Trust, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Merrill Lynch, and Bank of America are the various avenues that the company have to attend to its client needs.

        The bank consumers are using technology for investment. Technology investment believes to the key to managing the low interest rate. The platform is helping the firm to improve efficiency and at the same time, funding projects that could offer competitive advantages. Bank of America CEO, Moynihan, said the company overview its biggest gain in the mass affluent customer segment. The company invested more in targeted investment platform such as Merrill Edge. Merrill Edge is an investment platform that is linked to B of A bank accounts (Mason et al, 1997, p. 321).

        It is obvious that technology is taking charge of many jobs in the United States, most especially in the financial institutions. Therefore, Bank of America has planned to lay off more of its employees. Bank of America is also using technology to reduce cost. Moynihan, the bank CEO said that the company is aiming to cut cost to boost financial targets, which is the aim of many financial institutions in the United States. Furthermore, the bank Chief Operating Officer also stated that the company global banking and markets unit have approximately 1300 applications that cost almost $1.3 billion to maintain. However, depending more on technology can make many people get laid off from their jobs. The financial institutions should not lay its employees off because of their self-interest (Freed, 2017, p.1).

Organizational Size and Structure

        Bank of America organizational structure comprises of the bank management and leaders. In the past five years, there is no any notable changes in the company structure. The Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the bank is Brian Moynihan. He leads a team of more than 200,000 employees that are dedicated to making peoples and companies financial live better. CEO is the top position in the Bank of America corporate hierarchy. Moynihan, the CEO, also manages all the major operations for the company. The president, preferred and small business is Dean Athanasia. He is also the co-head of Consumer Banking at Banking of America. Athanasia is responsible for growing relationships and serving the financial needs. He is also the team leader for more than 23,000 sales specialists who offer clients advice and guidance to help them achieve their financial goals. Before working for the bank, he worked for J.P. Morgan Chase and held a variety position of corporate banking strategy (“Our leaders, n.d.).