Man ON THE MOVE
- THIS TIME TO INDIA
11
16
talking heads
WHAT'S NewS Issue 10 November 1997
Following stints in the US and Singapore, Hans Hannaart is on
the move once again. His latest challenge is our new operation
in India. How does management change from country to
country, and how easy is it to adapt to new business cultures?
Hannaart has some of the answers.
For someone who hoped to be
a chemist, Hans Hannaart has
had a lot of banking
experience. In the past, he
worked for the Dutch central
bank and the International
Monetary Fund. For
Rabobank he has spent almost
six years in New York before
taking on Singapore some
three years ago. The reason
why he ended up as a banker
and not a scientist surrounded
by bubbling test-tubes and
bunsen burners is simple: 'I
managed to cause a fire in the
laboratory,' he grins, betraying
some of the student that was
responsible for the explosion.
'I was trying to distill alcohol
but forgot I'd left the
experiment running. When I
came back, the lab was
damaged.' He quickly changed
majors and took up
econometrics which proved to
allow his explosions of a
different nature.
Was science's loss the financial
sector's gain? Hannaart can't
help laughing as he recalls a
story from his IMF days.
'When I was with the IMF,
Turkey was facing similar
problems as some of the
Southeast Asian economies at
present,' he says. 'I was part of
the IMF team working on
support for the Turkish
economy and one
recommendation was to lower
inflation by curtailing growth
in monetary expansion. My job
was to develop an econometrie
model based on the latest
probability theories. I was so
proud of my model - it looked
great. Then the second oil crisis
hit and nothing happened in
Turkey. There was absolutely
no effect on inflation. My boss
came storming in asking what
was going on. When I
reexamined all the data that
had been used, I discovered the
price indices for energy were
based on 1928 figures. The
Turks didn't use oil then.
Energy was supplied by wood
and manure - time to become
an agribusiness banker.'
It was all a very long time ago,
of course. There are lots of
responses to a story like that,
but one thing is clear,
Hannaart laughs again, our
man in Istanbul Henk Adams
is not calling him on a daily
basis. The people who are
calling Hans Hannaart very
regularly are the people who
will form the new India team.
Three of them are experienced
bankers in the sub-continent
and they form 60 percent of
the five-strong management
team that includes Anton
Nillesen, currently in
Frankfurt, and Hans
Hannaart. 'We've never
launched an operation with
this structure before,' he says,
'but we've never moved into a
market like this before. In
terms of structure, we've
certainly done joint ventures in
the past. But that was always
with other financial
institutions. This time, we're
joining up with individuals.
These guys are all old hands in
the Indian banking industry.
Anton and I are old Rabobank
hands with some Asia
experience. It's going to be a
real adventure.'
Hannaart is circumspect about
just how much 'Asia'
experience you build up when
working in sophisticated
markets like Hong Kong and
Singapore: 'Anton was in
Hong Kong, of course,' he
adds. 'If I look at it from the
perspective of someone used to
a western business culture,
then Singapore is Asia for the
beginner, at least superficially.
It is very technologically
advanced and business practice
here is very international.
India, in contrast, is probably
Asia for the advanced student.
It is hugely spiritual and
spirituality is a part of public
life. That will take some
getting used to.' Again,
Hans Hannaart entering the fascinating market of India, 'with an
open mind.
Hannaart talks in terms of
adventure, excitement. He is
not worried about tackling a
totally new business
environment because, he
believes, he is going into this
fascinating market with an
open mind.
'When I arrived in Singapore,'
he says, 'a professor of
sociology at the university here
was doing a trial to discover
success factors in expatriate
managers. One of the things he
explored was our perception of
other cultures, other races -
whether you have
preconceptions, fixed ideas
about people. The conclusion
of that trial was that people
who have an open mind, who a
tend to see people as individuawP
are more likely to succeed. I
was very gratified to see that I
don't have a tendency to put
people into boxes, but it's
useful to keep in mind that you
may have to make adjustments
in how you manage to ensure
you're communicating. If your
management style is very fixed
and you're not prepared to
adapt, then you could get into
trouble.'
There should be little chance
of that in India. Hannaart's
wife Marjolyn has long been
fascinated by the sub-continent
and has made a number of
trips there to explore some of^fc
the great variety of cultures
and regions. 'She is really
excited about the move to
Mumbai,' he says, 'this will
give her a unique opportunity
to pursue her love of India. For
myself, I'm certainly doing
homework in that I'm reading
up on recent history -
economie and political - and
on the religious and social
mores of the country. But most
of the books available are
written by Westerners or at
least non-Indians. So I don't
want to piek up too much on
the perceptions of others. I'd
much rather do my own
learning.' RI's long-term plans
for and significant investmen^^
in the Indian sub-continent
should allow Hans Hannaart
to do a lot of very intensive
education.