research
RI's top bestsellers
Economie Forecasting Media and telecom
Recent and forthcoming publications from
researcher teams around the network
12 What'sNewS Issue 11 November 1998
Something of an essential
angle to research is the
constant monitoring of
economie and financial
developments, a task carried
out hy the Rabobank
Nederland economie research
department. Activities are
Wim Boonstra
divided into domestie
monitoring, involving the
constant tracking of
developments within the
Netherlands, delivering
regional feasibility studies and
translating financial
developments into
consequences for clients, local
banks and the executive
board. The international
team's task is two-sided. First
is country risk analysis which
observes political, social and
financial developments in
some 100 different countries.
Following investigations an
internal rating system is
developed, designed to
provide country limits for RI.
The second field of focus,
conducted in close co-
operation with various
research units within RI, is
forecasting economie growth
in industrialized countries.
'However,' says economie
forecasting's Wim Boonstra,
'recently the research border
between the domestie and
international teams has been
blurred due to the launching
of one of our more recent
products, the ECB Watch
Guide, a manual for
professional analysts involved
in European Central Bank
activities. Due to new EMU
developments, our teams
often work together, both
within economie research and
with other research units.'
Research tools and sources
used include basic statistics
from national and inter
national statistic bureau's,
World Bank and IMF sources,
including indepth data from a
shadow agency, the Institute
of International Finance.
Increasing value in the
business chain is seen as
a primary objective by the
media and telecom team.
According to media and
telecom's business analyst
Danny van Doesburg, the
activities of rhis team are
an example of creating real
synergy between banking
and research. The line
between the team's role as
researchers and that of
business developers is
sometimes hazy, but the
accent is niostly on the
latter. 'In terms of research,
we concentrate on singling
out business opportunities
and identifying perceived
risks - involving other
departments of our
organization where
possible. If knowledge is
lacking, external experts
are sourced.' In terms of
knowledge sharing, Van
Doesburg sees the fact that
media and telecom is not a
priority sector as both a
handicap and a challenge.
Much of Van Doesburg's
time is spent on internal
PR. 'Our challenge is partly
to educate ourselves and
own credit committee
people,' he continues. 'We
will start this permanent
education process with
inhouse training sessions,
beginning coming January.
Again, as a non-priority
sector, a lot of what we do
is perceived as possible
risk, partly due to a lack of
knowledge within RI, and
partly due to an overkill of
publications about this
sector.' Nevertheless, the
team and their research
does get one thing right -
they certainly are customer
focused and successful with
clients like France Telecom
and United International
Holdings. Research is con-
centrated on discovering an
indepth knowhow of key
customers, the individual
markets they function in
and how to develop
business. 'No company
within a sector is ever the
same,' continues Van
Doesburg, 'and if they are
then it is probably not a
segment we are interested
in because it too difficult to
add value there. The media
and telecoms sector is a
very interesting one for our
knowledge-driven bank.'
RaboCom Media and Telecom team
Green Book Banks Research
Global Banks and Financials team
Pan European/Global Dairy Review
Global F&A Research
Retail Strategies FAR
World Beef Industry FAR
Pharmaceutical Review
Global Pharmaceutical
Health care Research
World Dairy Industry FAR
Pan-European Food and Agriculture
Equity Quantitatire Research
Australian Wine Industry FAR
Central/Eastern Europe Russian Strategy Review
Equity Strategy Research
