One of the greatest strengths that Wachovia Corporation has is their organizational structure. Due to the large number of branches, they needed to create a fairly flat organizational structure. By dividing their overall territory into specific regions, they are able to appoint regional presidents to oversee each individual area; this allows the regional presidents to be able to handle problems within their own region more affectively than would a centralized board of directors. Also, Wachovia Corporation has a senior manager overseeing each function of the company. This allows each senior manager to become specialized in their own area, thus increasing their managerial effectiveness. .
Another strength within Wachovia is the diversity of their board of directors. Wachovia's board of directors totals 18 people "9 from the old Wachovia and 9 from the old First Union By doing this, the Wachovia Corporation has members that have been in control of both corporations, prior to the merger. Besides previously being on the board of directors for First Union and Wachovia, each member has had other experiences that contribute to the success of the new company (refer to the table titled "Wachovia Corporation's Board of Directors-).
How Wachovia is perceived by the general public bears a heavy influence on their success in many areas and can be considered a strength. Most important to Wachovia corporation is their customers and how they are perceived by those customers is reflected in their continually positive ratings from the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which measures different industries each quarter and covers banking in the fourth quarter. Of the 2003 results, Wachovia is in front with a score of 76 out of a possible 100 -- above the 75 average for the banking industry. This is the third year in a row that Wachovia has succeeded in getting the first place ranking (American Banker, 2004).
