Ford Motor Company

Kathleen Fournier
Professor Michael Mancini
Senior Seminar in Business Administration
8/16/2010

Capital One Financial Corporation is a diversified bank holding company. It provides a wide and varied array of financial services through its main subsidiaries. It started out as a wholly owned subsidiary of Virginia based bank; Signet Bank.   In 1994, Capital One became a public credit card company headquartered in Mclean, VA. Since then it has transformed itself into one of the largest financial institutions in the United States.
Diversification and expansion are continuous goals for the company. Capital One made three acquisitions between 2004 and 2005: Hibernia National Bank, Onyx Acceptance Corp, and eSmartloan. In 2008, it acquired Chevy Chase Bank. Since becoming a regional, then national bank, Capital One has established a large presence in the Washington, DC area, as well as Louisiana and Texas.
In April 2005, Capital One possessed sufficient liquidity ($21 billion) and capital
($9.2 billion) to continue its growth nationally and threat of competition to many other national lenders. Although, with its growth Capital One also was going to face fierce competition as it was branching into the markets of large companies such as Citigroup. Maintaining its market positions would prove to be a challenge for the company. Capital One managers felt their were well positioned and ready to face the competition.

Identify and describe the key environmental forces that have immediate strategic implications for Capital One.
Capital One had a large portfolio of credit card consumers that were in a sub-prime market base.   Since the recession and economic woes that have plagued the United States, these consumers have become even less likely to pay on credit cards. Charge offs due to the economy, loss of jobs, and consumers seeking the courts approval in filing bankruptcy have all impacted the credit card and finance industry. It’s these environmental forces that... [continues]

Read full essay