Marketing courses refresher
IAMA AROUND
THE TABLE IN
Jakarta
PLAYING FOR
PARTNERSHIP
18
short news
What'S NewS Issue 2 February 1996
The marketing courses designed lor both
senior and account managers appear to
need some fine tuning, according to
participants. 'I think it's a great idea to
provide training on how to develop
strategie and relationship-marketing plans,
which is the aim of the course,' says
Rabobank Germany's head of corporate
banking and finance, Adriaan van
Ravenstein, who attended the executive
course last June. 'But I also think my
colleagues would agree on the criticisms I
have. The session was too theoretic. We
were given a lot of fat books as reference
works. In practice, there is never time to
sit and study manuals. The guideline
handbook we received could easily be
reduced from the current 50 forms to four
or five, in my view. If we followed the
guidelines and filled in all the forms, it
would take around a year to put a plan
together. That's far too long.'
The consensus appears to be that the
course should be more practical. 'That
would be very useful because what you're
learning can be translated into the reality
of your work. And I'd like to see more
case studies included, and workshops,
perhaps. If the course was structured so
that there was time for, say, workshops on
research, analysis, budgetting, etc., then I
think you'd piek up more.'
Participants in the account managers'
course came to similar conclusions.
'1 attended the "try-out" course, and I
agree with some of the criticism,' says
Maarten Giezeman of marketing services
who is involved in compiling the
marketing manual which will act as a
guideline for developing both senior
managers' branch strategy plans and the
account managers' client-base development
plans. 'However, we have taken those
evaluations on board and in the manual
we're producing, the number of "forms"
has certainly been reduced. What I'd like
to stress is that, with the exception of
those plans covering client-base
development, product range and
organization, which will be discussed at
budget meetings, the forms should only be
used if they are useful. Basically, they are
tools to assist and I find them useful as a
reminder of what may have been missed.
If you use them in that way they can help
you structure your plans comprehensively.'
The course providers have also taken on
board the evaluations and adjustments
have been made.
Rabobank is a major user of so-called
European Medium-Term Notes (EMTN).
In fact, last year the bank increased its
EMTN borrowing from from ECU 6 to 7.5
million. These notes are very attractive for
the bank as they cut out a lot of the red
tape surrounding normal bond issues. An
EMTN is basic documentation in which
specific issue details can be entered. It is a
flexible instrument that can also be tailored
to the lender's needs. As Rabobank does so
much business in this area, it has built up
strong ties with its often London-based
brokers. 'When you talk to people on an
almost daily basis, you develop a
relationship with them - at least you
should,' says Hajo Dijkstra of financial
markets. 'But nothing beats getting together
and getting to know people on a personal,
informal level. It really helps in your
working relationship.' The annual
Rabobank invitation to its major brokers
has almost become a tradition. In the past,
the Utrecht EMTN team have taken them
sailing and cycling. This time the activity
was less staid and definitely more energetic.
The whole group was booked for a so-
called 'Wheels Fun' adventure. 'Keep
'em rolling' was the slogan and the wheels
involved a lot of nifty and even risky
steering in comparatively rugged (for
Holland) terrain. Remarked Norinchukin's
Edmund Cleary, 'My natural element is risk
avoidance, but I wouldn't have missed it
for the world.'
The International Food and Agribusiness
Association (IAMA) forms a meeting place
for top food and fibre industrialists,
academies and policy makers from all over
the world. Rabobank's chairman Herman
Wijffels is currently president-elect of
IAMA, which proved reason enough for
Rabobank Duta to host a dinner for
delegates meeting in the Indonesian capital
to prepare its annual congress in 1997.
IAMA began organizing world congresses
in 1991. Its aims are to initiate top-level
discussions on tackling mutual concerns,
such as increasing economie efficiency in
value-added food and fibre chains and
improving nutritional value of products.
This year's congress will be held in
Cancun, Mexico on May 27 to 31.
However, during Wijffels' chairmanship in
1997, the World Congress will meet in
Jakarta. 'As we will be involved in
preparations for the congress, we thought
it would be a good idea to give a dinner so
that we could meet the people involved,'
Rabobank Duta's Maaike te Booy
explains. 'And it also gave us the
opportunity to invite representatives from
our domestic food and agribusiness
sector.' The theme of the 1997 congress
will be: '2020: A global vision for food
and fibre'.
Internationals Jaap
Slotema (centre)
represented Herman
Wijffels at the dinner.
He is flanked bij
IAMA co-chairman
Soeksmono B.
Martokoesoemo (left)
and H.S. Dillon, one
of the top advisors to
to Indonesian ministry
of agriculture.