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.'