International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 5, Issue 8,August-2014 66 ISSN 2229-5518 IJSER © 2014 http://www.ijser.org Application of Just-In-Time Principles to Financial Services Qasim Ali Nisar, Hafiza Kiran Shakeel, Sajjad Ahmad, Kiran Niazi, Samra Ashraf Abstract: Services sector is considered an essential contributor in GDP of developing countries. Some of the manufacturing related concepts such as JIT have been applied in services sector to generate the same benefits. Due to globalization and continuously changing business environment, concept of ‘Just in Time (JIT)’ has emerged and is playing intensive role in business environment. It helps in creating competitive advantage by upgrading flexibility of whole system with a view to establish such a production system where consumers purchase goods exactly at the same time when they needed on low cost and predefined quality. The purpose of this study is to examine the applicability of JIT in financial services and it focused on loan approval process in banking sector. Two important dimensions of JIT; ‘Quality at Source’ and ‘Cellular Structure’ were selected to examine the magnitude of JIT application in loan approval process. Study is qualitative in nature so data collected through interviews conducted in banks. Results revealed that JIT significantly play its role in financial services and especially in loan approval process of banks. By the application of quality at source and cellular structure; banks can save time, cost and other resources along with quality standards. Results also showed that by the effective application of JIT in loan approval process, banks can make better utilization of their resources and can improve operations efficiency. Index Terms- Just in Time, Quality at Source, Cellular Structure ———————————————————— 1. INTRODUCTION Services sector is playing effective role and growing rapidly in developing countries. The rising importance of this sector requires great attention. Therefore improvement in services sector will enhance the significant benefits. In global and local scenario financial institutions are trying to improve their services processes and enhance the efficiency of their operations to gain the competitive edge. Due to competitive pressure and globalization, current financial services are catching the emerging interests. • Qasim Ali Nisar is MS Scholar in Department of Management Sciences in COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore, Pakistan and also rendering his expertise as a Program Coordinator in Women Development Organization. Email: qasimalinisar@yahoo.com • Sajjad Ahmad is MS Scholar in Department of Management Sciences in COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: sajjad.pioneer1@yahoo.com • Hafiza Kiran Shakeel is MS Scholar in Department of Management Sciences in COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: kiranshakeel007@gmail.com • Kiran Niazi is MS Scholar in Department of Management Sciences in COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: niazi_kiran@yahoo.com • Samra Ashraf is MS Scholar in Department of Management Sciences in COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: samraashraf@yahoo.com Effective distribution of products and services of financial institutions can attract investors as well as consumers. Banks are facilitating wide range of financial services, dealing with complex processes and systems that can cause low productivity and high operational cost. Due to modern information technology, complexity has increased and banks are becoming less efficient [34]. Researchers are working deliberately to find out the new ways that help in maximizing the performance of financial services by reducing the cost, time and other resources. Financial services can also create same benefits like manufacturing and researchers are trying to fill the existing gap between manufacturing and financial institutions. Present study is paying attention towards Just-in- Time which is now considered to be an effective tool in manufacturing as well as in services sector. The aim of current study is to examine the applicability of JIT in financial services. We observed that how JIT is applicable in loan approval process in banking system. Two important dimensions of JIT ‘Quality at Source’ and ‘Cellular Structure’ were selected to examine the degree of JIT application in loan approval process. Study is qualitative in nature so data was collected through interviews of bank employees like operations managers and loan approval officers. In the light of literature, first of all this study will help in understanding the concept of JIT and then its application in different sectors of society. IJSER