Financial service elimination: Objectives and problem situations

Despite the importance of financial institutions' ability to rationalise their service ranges in today's competitive environment, the area of financial service elimination decision making is one of the least researched in the literature on services marketing. This paper reports preliminary empirical research into the objectives that British financial institutions pursue by eliminating financial services, as well as into the problem situations that make financial services candidates for elimination. The findings suggest that there is a wide array of service elimination objectives and problem situations. It is also suggested that there is a need for financial institutions to distinguish between what is their service elimination objective and what is the problem situation that makes them examine a financial service for possible elimination. The practical and theoretical implications that are discussed at the end of this paper point to the need for more empirical research, if the body of knowledge on service elimination is to grow.