Index of Paper Presentations for the Parallel Sessions - Academy of ...

middle-income country (―What are middle-income countries?,‖ 2012) in the next decade from itscurrent status of a low-income country. For over a decade Bangladesh has had a consistent GDPgrowth rate of 5% to 6%. The nation experienced a 6.2% average real GDP growth rate in the2006-2010 period and the forecasted real GDP growth rate for the 2012-2016 period is 6% (PRSCountry Report, 2011). This has induced the successive governments of Bangladesh who heldoffice in the last 15 years to entice many foreign investors and global banks to set-up operationsin the country (Ahmed, 2011). The financial sector of Bangladesh is dominated by banks.Banking sector alone accounts for 95% assets of the financial system. The growth in the sectorhas been marked by many privately owned commercial banks entering the industry after thegovernment liberalized the banking sector in early 1980s. The privately held commercial banksnow command most of market share. As of 2009 62.9% of total deposits were with private sectorbanks, 22.75% with state owned banks and 7% with foreign banks operating in Bangladesh(Bahar, 2009). Today the country has a total of 48 banks comprising state owned, private andforeign banks. The improved service quality, better products and focused promotional drives aresome of the obvious reasons for the popularity and growth of private commercial banks inBangladesh (Jahiruddin and Haque, 2009). However, the studies carried out so far on theconsumer experience and their perception of services offered by Bangladeshi retail banks havemainly covered attributes of products sold by these banks, their financial performance and thecustomer satisfaction of these banks utilizing the SERVQUAL model (Khondaker and Mir, 2011;Jahiruddin and Haque, 2009). No paper exists that discuss the servicescape of retail banks inBangladesh or a developing country; nor is there any extant literature that covers how retailbanking consumers in a developing country perceives and interacts with the salient designelements of the servicescape. The localization of design or how international ideas of design andservicescape layout (or concepts) are being utilized is also not addressed in the extant literaturethat exists regarding the servicescape of financial institutions (including banks).Singapore is currently the world‘s sixth richest nation, measured by GDP per capita. It is one ofthe four Tiger Economies of Asia and its citizens enjoy prosperity and an advanced economy(IMF, 2011) that supersedes many Western countries. According to Singapore‘s Ministry ofTrade and Industry Press Release Singapore Economy is to grow around 1% to 3% in 2012,which is a good growth rate for a developed economy. Singapore has a world class financialservices sector and its banking industry is vibrant, international and big. In 2011 Singapore‘sfinancial services sector grew at 10.5% on a year on year basis and for 2012 the forecast is alsooptimistic (MTI Singapore, 2011). Singapore‘s highly evolved and well developed banks have asubstantial retail operation. However, marketing research or extant marketing literature on the