TEACHING NOTES

Barclaycard
Bernardo Bátiz-Lazo and Nurdilek Hacialioglu with contributions by
Jarunee Wonglimpiyarat and Douglas Wood

1. INTRODUCTION
The case study is concerned with how a long-standing market leader tries to maintain market share and develop its business in an industry undergoing significant change. Students are challenged to formulate, evaluate and compare a range of strategic options and to choose the best way forward for Barclaycard

2. POSITION OF THE CASE
The Barclaycard case study lends itself to illustrate how to identify and evaluate possible courses of action. In particular, evaluate
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the development of direction for Barclaycard’s strategic alternatives (chapter 7 of Exploring Corporate
The “warm up” discussion (i.e. before students have actually read the case) can then dwell on students’ own experience with credit cards:

Exploring Corporate Strategy by Johnson, Scholes & Whittington

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Barclaycard
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How many of them read “the small print” or find application forms “obscure”?

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How many know their rights and responsibilities in credit markets?

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Has anyone made a formal complaint (either to a credit card issuer, citizen advice bureau or regulator)? ●

What practices do they consider to be “unfair” in their local credit markets? Why?

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Which of the local players are “responsible”?

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What does it take to be a “responsible” consumer of credit?

Tutors will then ask students to read the case for the next session and where appropriate, compare developments in the UK with the local market.

6.2 Items for general discussion (i.e. setting the scene)
What follows is a list of topics through which tutors can help students summarise their findings and set the tone for the day. Participants should be encouraged to bring them out themselves rather than have the tutor go through the list. Appendix 1 (or alternatively Appendix 2) could be distributed as a handout to help complement the list and develop greater understanding of the credit card market.
Key topics that