Building knowledge
WHAT'S NewS Issue 7 July 1997
info exchange
5
For years, Rabobank's food and agribusiness research department
(FAR) has been an acknowledged generator of quality studies on
F&A sectors worldwide. As we delve deeper into our knowledge-
driven focus, the need to broaden and expand our approach to
sectors and the chains that underpin them grew greater. 'But we
also discovered a need to differentiate and tailor these studies
according to various user requirements,' says FAR chief Frans van
Bijsterveld. He explains how they intend to achieve that.
If the notion of a research department
brings to mind a stuffy archive crammed
with stacks of paper and dry academie
■works, then think again. The source of
Bniuch of FAR's background material is a
sophisticated database which may still be
in the making, but will continue to evolve
as a font of information that will be
supplemented, interpreted and annotated
by our own industry experts (see page 6).
Both of these elements are new in our
approach to accumulating and
disseminating the knowledge that is
designed to enhance customer value. But
they are not only revamped aspects in our
new approach.
MARKET SURVEYS
'In the past,' says Van Bijsterveld, 'what we
did was generate a market analysis on a
major food and agribusiness sector.
Basically, these were descriptive surveys
which were written very much from a
fcarket perspective. We put our studies in
^in attractive booklet and charged a
nominal fee - something like USD 40 - for
them. In fact, many were distributed free
of charge at all kinds of trade fairs and
conferences. Anyone who wanted a copy
could have one. It went to clients, to
account managers, to universities, to
students, to network people - and it also
ended up on the desks of the competition.'
Besides this generally available market
study, a so-called business analysis of each
sector was also made. 'But that was quite a
separate product,' Van Bijsterveld explains.
'They were internal. The authors didn't get
much credit for their work and there was
no interaction with the market analyses.
That is what we are changing now.'
INTEGRATED ANALYSIS
^ood and agribusiness research new style
means each sector will be examined
through a trio of publications which are
interrelated, but serve different purposes
and user groups. 'The first will be a so-
called sector analysis report,' confirms
Van Bijsterveld. 'This is an integration of a
market-oriented overview of the sector
and a business - or industry - analysis.
One team which comprises the skills
needed for this type of approach will carry
out the analysis and produce the report -
that is why we have restructured our
people along team lines. This report is
designed for use by our major cliënt -
Rabobank International's relationship
managers and other commercial people.
Yes, we also see our colleagues in the
network as clients.'
Rl TARGET
Van Bijsterveld agrees that these studies
may eventually reach a cliënt, ie. a cliënt of
RI, and even the competition. 'But when
you want to be a knowledge-driven
organization, when you want to bring
knowledge into that organizaiton, and
make it availabe to commercial people
who can then use it to enhance customer
focus and value, then there can only be one
destination for our knowhow and that is
RI itself. You have to remember that this
will be a proactive study, complete with all
kinds of forecasts and insights that could
prove very useful for our competition. So if
they are passed on to clients, this will be
because we have a really strong
relationship with that particular customer,
KENNIS CENTRAAL
De onderzoekers van het
food en agribusiness
research team staan al
geruime tijd hoog aangeschreven door hun
studies voor een breed publiek. Door deze
studies, een van RI's belangrijkste
activiteiten, nu verder uit te breiden en uit
te diepen bevestigt Rl haar ambitie, een
kennisgedreven bank te zijn. Een gesprek
met Frans van Bijsterveld die aan het hoofd
staat van F&A research.
...we see our colleaques in the network as
clients...
or we want to strengthen a growing
relationship. It will be a way to build
intimacy with customers.'
POSITIONING POWER
The second product of this teamwork will
be the so-called 'positioning paper'. This is
a document for policy makers in the bank
and covers areas such as what
developments in the sector under study
mean for us in terms of credit policy, risk,
product development, where to penetrate
which sectors and so on. 'We've never
done this before,' Van Bijsterveld says. 'By
"we" I mean not only the research team,
but also the people working with us in
reference groups. By bringing together
that knowledge from our network and
developing it into our positioning papers,
we can combine policy, commercial
potential and research to make us truly
knowledge driven at all levels.' The
positioning paper is 'for your eyes only' in
the sense that it is a purely internal
document. 'That is why it will be produced
separately and it should be as clear and
concise as possible, no more than eight to
10 pages, less if we can do it.'
KNOWLEDGE-DRIVEN
Both of these FAR publications are for
internal use only but our existing
customers for studies need not be
concerned. The department will continue
to produce a market survey for general
distribution (although the price has gone
up!). 'It will be distilled from the sector
analysis,' Van Bijsterveld confirms. 'And it
will contain the descriptive part of our
analysis and will be available in the same
way existing studies find their way to all
kinds of users. But it will not contain the
kind of sensitive information and industry
affinity that can help us distinguish RI as a
knowledge-driven organization.'
