As explained previously, the Bank's assistance focus has evolved in several stages, starting from the IBRD's initial role essentially as an investment banker financing infrastructure and then, with the IDA, moving into macroeconomic reform and increasingly into projects to develop skills, capacity, and institutional development, and in the process focus on advisory services and ‘knowledge products’ that are not necessarily combined with financing. This was an evolution that could also be described as a shift from hard to soft development products. The Strategic Compact aimed to both strengthen the Bank as a ‘soft’ knowledge provider and to improve the responsiveness and relevance of the Bank in both its hard and its soft offerings.

In addition to diversifying into new products that were more relevant to the needs of client countries, one of the principle undertakings of the Strategic Compact was to improve the quality and effectiveness of the Bank's products. The changes in these products during the reorganization period were ambitious, and, as we have seen, the shift has exposed numerous corporate strategic issues. Thus it is by no means clear yet that the Bank has established what new products are worthwhile or its comparative advantage in delivering them. Nevertheless, the Bank had to show improved quality and performance to justify the cost of its reorganization.

Regular and numerous claims were made of quality improvements. All the internal reviews made these claims with little qualification, and there were specific public statements that echoed these findings.