個案資料

In 2012, the Jamaican economy was in a crisis. It had an estimated debt-to–gross domestic product ratio of 147 per cent. To alleviate the crisis, the Jamaican government signed both an extended fund facility for US$948 million, in 2013, and a precautionary stand-by arrangement for US$1.64 billion, in 2016, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). As a condition of the IMF loan, the Jamaican government agreed to an economic reform agenda with requirements that included the harmonization of prudential standards across all deposit-taking institutions (DTIs) and consolidated supervision. Consequently, in 2014, the Government of Jamaica passed the Banking Services Act (BSA), which became effective September 30, 2015. Prior to the BSA, the financial services sector was fragmented. Banks and DTIs were regulated by the Bank of Jamaica (BoJ), Jamaica’s central bank; building societies, though supervised by the BoJ, were governed by the Building Societies Act, while credit unions were self-regulated through the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League.<br><br>In December 2020, Courtney Campbell was the chief executive officer of the Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS), a mutual company (i.e., a company owned by its depositors). He had to decide on the future direction of the company under the new regulations and the pending implementation of new measures. The decision came at a time of great external uncertainty, as COVID-19 was still ravaging the world and there was no vaccine yet approved.

This case was designed primarily for senior undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in strategic management and banking and finance that focus on environmental analysis and strategic choice. The case describes how an IMF loan requirement triggered the transformation of the Jamaican financial services sector and how these changes influenced the strategic choices of companies in the building society subsector, particularly the VMBS. It illustrates the evolution of an industry and its implications for the competitive strategies and strategic choices of firms. It also introduces students to a mutual company and contrasts this with a stock company. After working through this case study, students should be able to do the following:<br><br>Describe efforts to create and coordinate internationally accepted banking regulations and identify the impacts of these efforts.</li><li>Differentiate between two types of business structures: a stock company and a mutual company.</li><li>Explain the importance of strategic alignment.</li><li>Make strategic decisions.</li><li>Evaluate strategic options and make a recommendation.</li><li>Explain how a mutual society is converted to a stock company.</li></ul>

• Mutual and Cooperative banking
• competitive strategies
• strategic choice of firms
• Strategic Management
• environmental analysis and strategy
• mutual company business structures