Longitudinal research into factors of high performance: the follow‐up case of Nabil Bank

Purpose – There is a real need for longitudinal research into the factors that cause or contribute to sustainable high organisational performance. Especially in Asia there has not been much research into this topic. The goal of this study is to evaluate whether paying dedicated attention to the factors that were found during previous research to determine the sustainable success of a high‐performance organisation (HPO) in Asia would result in sustainable increased organisational performance. Design/methodology/approach – Nabil Bank, the case company to which the high performance framework was applied, was visited one year later to evaluate whether its performance had improved after taking into account the improvements that originated from the first research. Findings – Although Nabil Bank's financial performance had improved, the increase in HPO results was not so great. Possible explanations for this are that there is a perception gap between management and employees with regard to the improvements achieved, and the fact that Nabil Bank has continued with implementing improvement actions that are already under way, while not starting additional ones specifically targeted at improving the HPO factors. Alternatively, it can be stated that, if the transition to an HPO takes on average three to five years, an improvement per year of 0.3 to 0.5 points is viable. In this light Nabil Bank is definitely on its way to becoming an HPO but it seems to be taking the “slow road”. Practical implications – The research results show that dedicated attention has to be paid to the HPO factors in order to take full advantage of them. Originality/value – This is the first longitudinal research into the factors that determine sustainable high performance in Asian organisations.