Analysing mandate fulfilment, the relationship between business level strategy and performance within Agribank

Abstract

The issue that this study addresses is poor organisational performance of Agribank, a state owned bank. This study explores mandate fulfillment, the relationship between business level strategy and organisational performance using a Grounded Theory strategy. The purpose of this research is to explore and fully understand how mandate fulfillment and the business level strategy affect the performance of Agribank in Zimbabwe. To gather data, in depth interviews with twenty participants were conducted and analysed using NVIVO. The data analysis led to two themes. One theme highlighted an organisation which is stuck in the middle with no coherent business level strategy. The other theme highlighted that Agribank’s raison d’être (reason for existence) is mandate fulfillment of supporting agriculture and not tangible financial dividends to the shareholders. These themes are useful for understanding the poor organisational performance of state owned enterprises such as Agribank in Zimbabwe by the shareholders, board of directors and the bank’s employees. These themes also help the policy makers such as Government, the board of directors and the bank’s employees understand the importance of a coherent business level strategy for better organisational performance while fulfilling the bank’s mandate.