How to develop financial services by incorporating a job-centric approach

Abstract: The financial industry is and have been going through a transformation due to digitalisation and globalization, recently breaching the long unaffected investment banking sector. Together with the implementation of the MiFID II regulation, which has been a catalyst for investment banks, this has led to increasing competition in the sector.  Evidence suggests, through a cross-discipline consensus, that the traditional comprehension of competitive advantage is no longer sufficient, and that innovation is instead a key strategic issue in order to sustain a competitive position and to potentially strengthen it during change.  This study empirically investigates how investment banks can utilize a job-centric approach to innovation based on causality, i.e. the cause and effect mechanisms that cause customers to make the choices they do in given circumstances. The empirical data consists of interviews with existing and prospective clients to the case-company with regards to the service of commissioned research. A theoretical framework based on the literature is created and used to analyse the qualitative empirical data.  The findings of this thesis suggest that investment banks indeed can develop their services by incorporating a job centric approach in order to stay competitive during an industrial transformation. The passive data obtained as a result of the analysis can be utilized for development and innovation purposes. To competently use the results requires an adaptation to a certain culture of innovative thinking, one that focuses on the job to be done rather than internal processes.