central and eastern europe B Tools of the trade Workable bookings Fishing for resources Staff first Russion evolution Presentations and discussions with product specialists and relevant head office teams, such as F&A and international trade finance, are par for the course in gatherings like regional RICOs. At this multinational meeting, however, a new element was introduced: Marketing. Developing a mini-marketing plan, a budget to achieve it and incorporating all available tools was the aim of a dedicated workshop. Jaap Kool is behind the idea and explains why we need it. Whdt sNewS Issue5'May 1998 structure, but which Riedlin prefers to call a 'network structure', clearly influence the whole organization and take some time to adopt and implement. The network concept in itself was welcomed by the conference, but the subject of global P/L and strategie booking versus office performance evaluation immediately came up. BertBruggink Riedlin indicated that Bert Bruggink and his team were working hard to create a solution attractive to all Biarties. 'Often, offices see booking a deal for other offices as a burden,' comments Warsaw's Oet Bakker. Of real concern is also staffing. As in all emerging markets, finding the level of people required to meet RI's standards is proving more than tough. 'If you look at Hungary,' says Simonyi, 'you see that unemployment in Budapest is around 2 percent. Unemployment in the banking sector is minus 20 percent.' There are 36 banks in a country of 10 million people. Many of them, and alntost all are foreign-owned, are huge and are fishing in the same human resources pool as Simonyi. 'At present, many of our staff are doubling up on jobs. That is pushing them to the limit already. As we increase our marketing efforts and build more reputation in investment banking, that will no longer be an option.' J ungary is one of two 11 already active offices in the region - the other is Poland where we entered the market through acquiring the local BRP bank backed by international shareholders. It is now a wholly-owned Rabobank subsidiary and is already impacting this very F&A-oriented market. Our entry into the Ukrainian market will also be through a local bank in which we plan to take a majority shareholding this year. 'I think we all have the same basic recruitment problems,' says Kiev's Rodolphe Rodolphe Evangelisti Maarten Pronk Evangelisti. 'Our's are exacerbated by the Central Bank's requirement that we have at least 40 staff in place in anticipation of acquiring our licence. We're not talking about drivers and so on, but accountants, legal advisors, that kind of calibre. We have to be able to submit initial reports to the Central Bank wirhin 24 hours of obtaining a licence. This requirement could slow us down.' In Moscow, Maarten Pronk is not facing similar staffing preconditions; 'In fact,' he says, 'we can grow as we need to. Our problems are different. We all have capitalization issues, but for us this could make or break our application for a licence. Legislation here in Russia is incomplete but is evolving rapidly - too fast, sometimes. Our legal form is that of a limited liability operation. Recently, arketing has long been accepted as a necessary and inherent part of Standard business practice. As a tooi, it is multifaceted and can be applied in a variety of ways to meet established goals. 'While this is clearly recognized by everyone you talk to,' says Jaap Kool, 'the reality is that Rabobank has never had a particularly strong marketing culture. A manual was created some years ago and it is a very useful document. But it is also very theoretical. What we wanted to do was try and familiarize people with marketing tools - and that's not just advertising or printed/audio- Jaap Kool visual handouts, such as annual reports. Before the RICO, we sent out some homework to people in our offices in CEEC. They were asked to list their 10 most promising clients, 10 most interesting products, 10 marketing tools or actions and the budget they thought would be needed for a "mini" marketing plan over the next 12 months.' ased on the product list, input from global business managers was requested and they will be explaining what support could be provided. 'You may be wondering what that has to do with marketing,' Kool continues. 'Real and effective marketing comprises a complex of possible activities. This can be anything from calling to arranging conferences, etc. In fact, before you can select the best marketing approach for a customer, you have to know that customer. Your marketing aim should be to generate a cliënt discussion based on knowledge relevant to him.' The workshop was deemed so important, it will take up one-quarter of the total time allotted to the RICO meeting. 'Depending on how successful it is,' Kool adds, 'you could see it become a regular feature in the future.'

Rabobank Bronnenarchief

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