(Weighting the Criteria that Determine the Bank Preference with the ENTROPY Method: The Case of Giresun Province)

Abstract

Purpose – Banks are the most important institutions of financial intermediaries that fulfill a very important task for the development of the economy by mediating the flow of funds. The banking sector,which is one of the sectors with the most intense competition, strives to develop more customer oriented marketing strategies to increase their sustainable profitability. In this context, the aim of the study is to determine the criteria that affecting the bank preference and to weight the importance of the determined criteria. It is aimed to reveal the priority of the criteria by making this weighting. Design/methodology/approach – ENTROPY technique, which is one of the Multi-Criteria Decision Making Techniques, has been used in weighting the determined criteria. Findings – According to the results of the ENTROPY analysis, the most important factor that determines the bank preference has been the “Branch and Alternative Channel Network” criteria, followed by the “Personnel Features”, “Physical and Technical Structure of the Bank”, “Ease of Operation and Cost” and “Speed” criteria. The least important criterion was “Reliability of the Bank” followed by the “Product and Service Diversity” criterion. Discussion – In the study, while the criteria of "Branch and Alternative Channel Network" and "Personnel Features" were similar to other studies, it was concluded that the criteria of "Reliability of the Bank" and "Product and Service Diversity" were not similar.