RI GOES BACK
TO SCHOOL
WHAT'S NewS Issue 2 February 1998
info exchange
9
The Harvard F&A executive seminars, which attract the crème de
la crème of senior sector management, have become an
indispensable part of the food and agri-calendar. During the
three-day seminars, CEOs explore and evaluate around 20
business cases. At the January seminar, Rabobank International
and its strategy were among them.
Reinier Mesritz
More than 200 participants attended the
Harvard executive seminar, an event that
was launched by recognized F&A authority,
rofessor Ray Goldberg, 20 years ago. Top
'&A managers and participants from the
financial services industry subject business
case studies to merciless scrutiny. This is
perhaps one of the most sobering
experiences a corporate or organization can
undergo as its culture, aims and aspirations
are dissected by an unparalleled - and
highly critical - peer group. This was the
third time Rabobank had been the subject
of a Harvard case study. The crucial
question posed by it was how the
organization would handle the assimilation
of very different cultures (read: investment
banking) into its existing banking functions
while maintaining the cliënt value focus.
CLIENT PANEL
'That was certainly the core question,'
confirms New York's Reinier Mesritz, one
f half a dozen Rabobankers at the seminar.
'But we were also seeking the industry's
perceptions - and evaluation - of our
customer focus strategy.' What we wanted
to know was whether our deep industry
knowledge and strong professional and
personal relationships with people in the
sector gave us a competitive advantage. And
is a global food and agribusiness-focused
Professor Ray Goldberg who launched the
Harvard executive seminar.
and knowledge-driven bank what customers
really want? The answer, apparently, is a
resounding yes to both questions. 'It was
very gratifying to see just how encouraging
participants are,' says Mesritz. 'Essentially,
what we had here was a customer panel -
many of these corporates are clients, so their
opinion is extremely important to us. The
consensus appears to be we have made the
right choice in opting for a niche approach
and a knowledge-driven focus.'
TOUGH QUESTIONS
While the ultimate verdict was certainly
encouraging, the evaluation was not
without some tough questions. Among the
participants were around 10 international
financial institutions, including names like
Citibank and Bank of America. Most
questioned the advisability of entering the
investment banking stakes, to which Ray
Goldberg immediately quipped to general
amusement: 'Worried about more
competition, are you?' Some of the large
corporates remarked that Rabobank's value
to them was in-depth sector know-how and
as a provider of credit. They were not
looking to RI for investment banking
services. On the other hand, the whole
group also agreed RI actually had very little
choice. 'The general consensus was that if
Rabobank is going to pursue its customer
focus strategy, it will have to expand its
range to include IB products,' says
Goldberg. Clearly, we are going to have to
prove ourselves in this.
HEALTHY DEVELOPMENTS
One area where we have nothing to prove is
the quality of our research - although the
competition wondered why we didn't charge
for it. Our studies were seen as contributing
significantly to RI's profile in the market as
global F&A bank, a position that was
recognized as unique. In this sense, the
feedback was: stick to your chosen course, to
creating customer value through the customer
focus strategy. And this perspective was not
limited to F&A. Perhaps most striking was the
composition of the participant group.
Traditionally, the vast majority has been
drawn from F&A. However, increasingly,
health care and other related sectors, such as
pharmaceuticals, are joining food and agri-
colleagues as the link between these two
globally important industries become closer
and more imperative. 'I think this supports
our own choice of health care as sector of
focus alongside F&A,' says executive board
member Henk Visser. 'What we are seeing is
that health care industry corporates, such as
the pharmaceutical companies are becoming
more and more interested in F&A, and vice
versa. The biotech element is only one aspect
of this development. High on the agenda here
was the preventive and curative potential of
diet.'
REGIONAL DIFFERENCES
Ethics, safety and ecology were priority
issues for this 75-percent American
seminar. 'The safety of food and the
impact of biotech advances on agriculture,
including the cloning of animals, were
clearly on a lot of people's minds,' Mesritz
confirms. 'Many of the other cases studies
examined the problems around, for
example, waste generated by the shrimp or
hog industries. But it could be that this
strong focus is more a reflection of the
group's composition. These issues are
hugely important in the US, but are almost
non-existent in other regions where people
are interested primarily in getting enough
to eat.' Yet, in spite of these regional
differences, ethics and ecology have moved
into the global debate on the development
of F&A - and also health care, it seems -
and will not easily be marginalized,
especially as biotechnology becomes
increasingly crucial to meeting rapid
increases in global food consumption.
If you would like a copy of the Harvard case study on Rabobank
International, please contact Deborah de Geest, telephone:
+31 302161178.
