Q1. Was city failure inevitable?

The way the vision i.e. to be a financial one stop supermarket, was put into reality, yes the failure was inevitable. Strategy to achieve a goal, as big as this one, needs to be such that it should covers all ends and should answer all ifs and whys. The global/domestic reach, customer base, sales channels, product offerings, customer asset management, organizational culture and technology of these organizations were different in nature. When Top management overlooks the consequences of their decisions and risks involved, it only guarantees an eventual failure. Following ad-hoc process, poor co-ordination between business units and absence of any business model proved fatal for Citigroup. Business firms must not ignore the cultural differences while providing a set of services in different parts of the world. Tailoring its product offerings to suit the socio economic needs of their clientele should always be under consideration before actually pitching it into the market. One of the major reasons of failure for Citigroup was the lack of client profiling. National cultures vary in many dimensions across the world e.g. Asian countries are more collectivism oriented whereas Western European states are more individualistic. Citigroup ignored absolutely anything which might have given them any idea about the insight of the target audience. Customer centricity and the respect of the people are key elements for the survival of any firm. Decisions should never be solely based on a tempting idea; aftermaths are needed to be analyzed as well. The collapse of banking sector added more misery to Citigroup’s condition. Adverse consequences for global economy further exposed the lack of a proper business model to follow and the need to focus on individual units rather than putting hands in everything else.

Q2. What is Vikram Pundit