Regional Managers Conferences
7
WHAT'S NewS Issue 3 March 1996
cbs organization
of our international activities. At the
present time, we should not be looking at
the policy paper front a structural or
organizational perspective. That will come
later. What we, as CBS, need is to decide
what the organization should be, rather
than trying to formulate policy around the
organization. So the message we would
like to convey to CBSers worldwide is:
take part in discussions on the policy papers,
examine ways we can bring added value.
MAKING CHOICES
'I am very much in favour of an open
process. When the policy for the
international division was formulated
^tack in the inid-1980s, and later for the
corporate banking unit, we had a number
of meetings with all the staff. The idea
was to explain the major lines and to
invite everyone to comment. We have to
look at two main lines. First, the whole of
CBS, or whatever its name becomes. But
also what this focus will mean at branch
or unit level. You have to outline thinking
on both these elements, then ask people to
comment, listening very carefully to what
they have to say. Subsequently, you
explain why certain decisions have been
taken. Because at the end of the day,
strategy is a matter of making choices and
explaining to people why you have made
thent. If the policy you develop is a good
one, then it should be easy to explain the
strategie plan's objectives to people. You
»(sk them to respond, comment and,
ïopefully, commit to it. That is what will
be happening in the coming months. We
hope our people will participate in this
process which is so crucial for our future.'
WORKING ON POLICY
Starting with a series of brainstorming sessions
that began late last year.the general managers
of the foreign offices, together with managers
at head office, will be assessing Rabobank's
current international profile. As part of the
ongoing policy plan development process,
they are seeking to identify the most
important trends shaping their regions, and
considering ways to reconfigure the global
network in order to capitalize on the market
opportunities that lie ahead.
DYNAMISM AND DIALOGUE
The outcome of these meetings - which are
being held in New York, London (photo below),
Singapore and Buenos Aires - will feed directly
into a major strategy meeting of managers in
Utrecht this summer.The meetings of
managers from the foreign branches mark an
important departure from past practice, when
policy was more centrally planned and
directives were issued from the top down.This
reflects underlying changes in the world
business environment.The aim is to introducé
more dynamism and dialogue into the
decision-making process as markets begin to
move faster and grow more complex.
DIFFERENT CHALLENGES
Senior managers from the international
division are helping to coordinate these trend
setting sessions. One of the main reasons why
they are considered so crucial is the conviction
that local managers know their own markets
best.Their input is crucial to the determination
of long-term policy. Each area confronts its own
unique realities. Western Europe is overbanked,
highly competitive and characterized by
cutthroat competition and low margins.lt faces
different challenges than North America and
the even faster-developing regions of Eastern
Europe, Latin America and the Far East.
TARGETING RESOURCES
In Asia, business is booming but there are also
new risks.The issue here is: how do we control
the growth? In Europe, which is more saturated,
the questions revolve around how to fine-tune
and target our limited resources to maximize
productivity.ln Latin America, we face different
issues again, like whether it is desirable to
diversify our present concentration on
commodity-based trade finance.
CENTRES OF COMPETENCE
The managers meetings will play a key role in
deciding the best ways to leverage Rabobank's
expertise and allocate resources under these
conditions. Rather than fielding a full range of
banking products from every office, for
example,the managers might explore
concepts like 'centres of expertise or
competence', both in the products they offer
and in the distribution of expertise among
such target market niches as the traditional
food and agribusiness.
INFORMATION EXCHANGE
Networking the Rabobank organization will
be an exciting and challenging process, of
which the general managers meetings are an
important part.Careful attention will have to
be paid to the dynamics of information
exchange, so that the right information is
reaching the right people at the right time.
As the organization grows, moreover,
personnel policy will seek to accommodate
the understandable interest among non-
Dutch executives in spending more time
working in different parts of the Rabobank
network.
