FIGURE 5-3: STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP QUADRANTS
The following four sections (5.4.1 till 5.4.4) aim to give content to the four quadrants between the two
axes (Exploration-Exploitation and Organization-Environment).
5.4.1 ENVIRONMENT - EXPLOITATION = CLIENT CENTRICITY
In a highly competitive environment, one of the most crucial business tenets is customer retention
(Colgate & Danaher, 2000). Researchers purported that without senior leadership support, a customer
orientation is unlikely to take root (Day, 1994; Jaworski & Kohli, 1993; Liao & Subramony, 2008;
Narver & Slater, 1990; Slater & Narver, 1995). As Webster (1988) stated ³>&@XVWRPHU-oriented
values and beliefs are uniquely the responsibility of top management. Only the CEO can take
responsibility for defining customer- and market-RULHQWDWLRQ DV WKH GULYLQJ IRUFHV ́(p.37).
Transformations to a customer-orientation are distinctive in that top-level managers must articulate
organizational aims in terms that are harmonious with customer satisfaction (Senge, 1990), and their
behavior must be consistent with customer-oriented mandates (Day, 1994; House & Podsakoff, 1994;
Kotter & Heskett, 1992). Schneider and Bowen (1992) argued that a positive climate for customer
well-being and a positive climate for employee well-EHLQJDUHGLVWLQFWDQGIXUWKHUVXJJHVWHGWKDW³DQ
organization may have policies and practices that are positive in the sense that employees feel well-
treated, but this would have little relationship to the service customers experience unless the
organization also has policies and practices that proPRWHVHUYLFHH[FHOOHQFH ́(p.8).
The concept of Client centricity entails strategic leadership behavior which stimulates an
organizational culture which places the customer at the center of the firm's while thinking about
strategy and operations (Deshpande & Webster Jr, 1989; Kumar et al., 2002). Hence, this concept is
focused on the environment and deals with the exploitation of current client accounts. A paradoxical