Hello, the company I have selected to follow is Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. (PNFP). Pinnacle is a financial services company based in Nashville, Tennessee that  operates 45 locations and is one of the fastest growing banks in the region.

 

Chapter 2 Blog Post

 

 



Chapter two of our book looks at firm performance and competitive advantage. Pinnacles states that its business strategy is excited associates (intentional creation of a great workplace), engaged clients (giving clients an experience they can't get from Pinnacles' competitors) and enriched shareholders (outsized shareholder returns). The company has used the strategy of growing its market share by acquiring competitors. Not only is Pinnacle buying entire companies, the company began its growth strategy by luring top employees from other Nashville banks. I thought this was a brilliant strategy because Pinnacle was a start up bank when it launched in 2000 the company set out on an aggressive growth strategy and was able to snag top employees who worked for their competitor who already had many years of experience and knew both the banking industry and the competitive landscape well. This gives Pinnacle a significant competitive advantage in the marketplace because not only do they have experienced employees, but they also have a team of executives who are made up almost entirely of people who worked for their competitors and have inside knowledge of what their competitors are doing and what their competitors strengths and weaknesses are.

 

Over the years, Pinnacle has continued to be named one of Nashville's best places to work.

 

I tried to come up with a Z score for Pinnacle but I learned that the Altman Z score does not apply to banks and insurance companies. I need to do more research on this because I would like to find out why.