Investigating Seven Marketing-Mix for Credit Cards at Four Iraqi Private Banks in Baghdad Using TOPSIS Method – Case Study

The credit cards are a key instrument in enabling safe and effective financial transactions within the developing economy such as Iraq where they have not yet been fully adopted with cultural and infrastructural barriers. This paper explores how credit cards of the seven Ps of marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence) of four Iraqi domestic banks in Baghdad (First Iraqi Bank, Trust International Islamic Bank, Mashreq Al-Arabi Bank, and Ashur international bank) are prioritized. We use Technique of Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) as a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach to analyze information on phone interviews with eight banking professionals. Moreover, questionnaire of 54 employees at the Iraqi Islamic Commerce Bank is used to determine how the seven Ps affect competitiveness. Findings suggest that Ashur International Bank is on the top of the hierarchy in practice of the seven Ps, as high promotion and product innovation allows it to make a high score, whereas process and physical evidence have a strong impact on competitiveness. Results indicate that there is need to adopt specific marketing strategies in promoting credit card adoption in Iraq. The research is relevant to the literature as it aims to cover gaps in the application of MCDM to banking services in the developing Middle East settings and provide viable implications to the bank managers to further refine marketing decisions and enhancement of customer interaction. Among the limitations are small sample size and the use of qualitative data: a larger survey and longitudinal design may be used in future research.