PROCEEDINGS OF THE 10 th INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE "Challenges of Modern Management", November 3 rd -4 th , 2016, BUCHAREST, ROMANIA STRATEGIC ORIENTATION AND EFFECTS ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE- ANALYTICAL STUDY IN REAL ESTATE BANKS IN AL–DEWANIYA PROVINCE Basim Abbas KRAIDY JASSMY 1 Zaki Muhammad ABBAS BHAYA 2 ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to examine the strategic orientation of real estate banks in al-Dewaniya province in Iraq. The paper presents primary data collected by questionnaire. The collected data consists of: 80 forms were distributed; 70 questionnaires were returned out of which 53 were usable (valid and complete). The set was subjected to correlation and regression analysis. It was discovered that strategic orientation is positively related with the bank performance. It was revealed that competitive advantage represented mediating variable and it also influences performance .In order to be successful, the real estate banks considered the best combination between competitor orientation and customer orientation to reach the highest performance level among competitors. KEYWORDS: strategic orientation, competitor orientation, customer orientation, competitive advantage, organizational performance. JEL CLASSIFICATION: M10,L25,A13. 1. INTRODUCTION Housing is a key need for the Iraqi population and will be a key driver of the construction boom. Iraq is facing a serious housing shortfall due to: high population growth rates. At present rates (2.6% annual growth), the population of Iraq will reach 40 million by 2025, creating a need for almost 2 million new housing units. To achieve the economies of scale needed to overcome financing, cost, and technical obstacles, Iraq needs real estate developers that are capable of planning, designing, developing, and delivering planned community housing at the necessary price point. Though housing input prices have risen, so have wages and the large number of government employees with steady cash flow create a pool of potential buyers for moderate price-point housing units. Foreign investment can bring new designs and techniques as well as efficient lower-cost building materials for planned communities and a wide variety of creative low-cost housing units (National investment commission, Iraq, 2008). Another important factor, of course, is the local real estate market, which experienced a post-war boom that saw prices increase more than 1.000%. For Iraqi banks, lending has historically been largely secured by real estate, the borrowing capacity of local businesses that owned their own premises suddenly grew exponentially. However, the market contracted in 2004, as investors shied away from the increasingly insecure Iraqi business environment (IZDIHAR, 2007). 1 ASE, Management Faculty, Romania, basimabbas55@yahoo.com 2 ASE, Marketing Faculty, Romania, zakimohammad2008@yahoo.com 200