Time for Taiwan Rabobank What's NewS Monthly internal newsletter for the Central Banking Sector issue4.August 1995 Around 20 years ago, Taiwan was the model for the kind of rapidly growing, export-driven economy many countries in South-East Asia have since introduced with similar success. Industrial growth is still high here, but as the 21 million Taiwanese now expect an equally high Standard of living, traditional labour intensive manufacturing is increasingly trans- ferred to low-wage countries elsewhere in the region. Today, Taiwan's focus is meeting rising domestic con- sumer demand, improving its infrastructure and social security, and furthering its position in capital-inten- sive, technological sectors. Rabobank opened its latest foreign office there in July and brand-new general manager Paul Cheng talks us through what the bank will be doing there. (see page 3) in brief RABOBANK'S IMAGE - ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT A survey on image among medium sized companies shows a lot of work still has to be done before Rabobank fchieves its positioning goals. Over 150 medium-sized com panies were asked a variety of questions designed to discover how Rabobank is perceived. We score much higher than competitors (ABN Amro and ING) in relationship banking, but lag well behind in percep- tions of innovation, interna tional activity and as bank for large corporates. ABN Amro is still seen as the most important banking partner by 57 percent of respondents, with ING in second place (14 percent). Rabobank scored only 5 per cent. Despite our triple A rating ABN AMRO scored higher on 'one of the strongest Banks in the world': 68 percent against 41 percent for Rabo bank. Our score on 'interna- tionally active' was also disappointing - only 27 percent of primary clients and 24 percent of secondary clients saw this as a real part of our image. While this particular segment is more the province of the local member banks rather than CBS, the con- clusion must be that there is more than enough room for improvement. ALL IN THE GAME A five-person Rabo team, known as the 'CashCows' is currently playing the international management competition against 149 other companies, banks, in- stitutions and universities from all over the world. The Game uses simulations to create the market conditions players have to handle and the ultimate goal is to generate the highest possible profit and market- share while maintaining con- tinuity and satisfying share- holders. 'Over the nine-month course of the Game, you're confronted with just about every conceivable situation,' says Jelle Piersma. 'It is a fascinatmg process that gives you real insight into how com panies in the marketplace reach decisions.' But the team also believes it is teaching them how to make group decisions more efficiently and effectively. 'We opted for a truly diverse team,' says Piersma. 'Chris van der Oord is from Financial Mar kets, Tm an account manager, Jos Schreurs is from struc- tured finance, Tim Berger is from bank guarantees and Edwin Prevoo works with marketing services. Each member has his own perspec- tive based on expertise in his own discipline, so what you have to learn is to put all of those elements together to come up with the right group decision.' The Cash Cows seem to have learnt that lesson pretty well. At the half- way stage, they rank 32nd overall, but have emerged as the top scoring bank. contents WHAT'S IN WHAT'S NEWS New markets - Paul Cheng on the Taiwanese challenge 3 Summer sales - a cluster of deals from around the world 4 Policy plans - international corporate finance on track 7 Phone performance - clients lay it on theline8 Client input - big companies prove a big help 10 Talking heads - Wouter Kolff on the Beatles and Bellini 12

Rabobank Bronnenarchief

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