food and agribusiness World C Potato Congress Hot potatoes did you know New publicotion 8 What'sNewS Issue 6 October 2000 Knowledge transfer 3-6 SEPTEMBER 2000 Hedging risk Brand image 7^ don't get me wrong here. We are not setting up shop as equity anaiysis teams or anything like that. Nor are we going to create a huge database of all F&A compa- nies in the world. We're merely going to assist relationship managers in having a clear and up-to-date understanding of how clients are positioning themselves in the chain. Our focus will be part of the In- Sight II effort, however FAR is certainly not going to take ownership of that proj ect. What I would say here is that if rela tionship managers, product specialists, research teams, risk managers, and so on fail to take ownership of the InSight sys- tem, then they'11 be missing a huge oppor- tunity for access to a wealth of F&A knowledge.' (See article, What's NewS Aug/Sept.) This is one of the reasons why FAR is so eager to tackle corporate analyses. Experi- ence shows that people will also check out RI not only holds its own events, we also sponsor major confer ences and fairs organized by others. One example is the recent World Potato Congress, held in Amsterdam in early September. Says Maarten van den Bergh, who coordinates these and our own global events, 'we get a lot of mileage out of these conferences. It's like any major event, you get your brandname on all the merchandized products and the publications relating to the con ference. In this case, Hans Smits also made a presentation during the opening session - all good stuff that helps us build name recognition and establish RI as a top player in the food and agribusiness.' companies, sectors, other issues that have a direct bearing on their work. 'We believe relationship managers will only take own ership if their companies are monitored and covered in InSight,' Van Bijsterveld says. 'So that's where we plan to provide assistance.' The idea here, in cooperation with InSight, is for every possible piece of information on a particular company with cross referencing to sectors to be included in the corporate file, even visit reports from relationship managers. Particular fo cus will be given to top clients. In this way, InSight becomes a true knowledge- transfer instrument. And what about the positioning papers? They will also evolve into a product in their own right. 'Risk management is a priority today, it's one of the most impor tant products of this time,' Van Bijsterveld explains. 'Deregulation and liberalization have opened up a whole new area of risk. In addition, you've also got massive con- solidation on the consumer side while pro ducers are still pretty much unconsoli- dated. So the risk in managing that kind of chain is immense. Our people in all ar- eas of the bank have to be equipped with information to help them address these risks. First they have to be able to identify them, then explain not only that they ex- ist, but also how they function. For exam ple, there are lots of good hedging prod ucts on the market, but how many relationship managers truly understand how they work and when to use them? This is why we need continual dialogue with the capital markets people in our attempts to reduce risk.' These are the issues which have been lui der discussion by FAR people around the Queensland, Australia will be the site of the next International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) Conference. Taking place from 5-10 November in Cairns, Queensland, Rabobank is the platinum sponsor for this exciting meeting of the 'cot- ton-minds'. A five-day agenda packed with as much cotton info as you'll need - lectures from global players, plenary sessions, meetings of the Steering and Drafting com- mittees, and keynote speeches from Rabobank Australia's CEO Cor Broekhuyse and FAR's Adrian De Young - has attracted more than 750 international delegates. What's NewS will come back to you with more on the conference in our De cember issue. world since June. The first step was to in- ventory what the group has inhouse, then to decide what it should continue to give away to customers free of charge and what to sell. 'We've also got an increasing number of stakeholders,' says Van Bijster veld. 'So we have to be able to adapt in formation to suit various needs and to adapt our own approach so that we can add value for other groups.' One result is the creation of a commodity team. This team will be working closely with trade fi- nance and FARM. The first of the new products will appear in December - look out for them, they should be immediately recognizable because, as Van Bijsterveld puts it, 'we've also done a heil of a lot to protect and project a global brand image.' Please contact Martba van den Berg for more info on FAR publications Food for thought: FAR's latest global market study, 'The Global Food Ingredients Industry,' is now available. Offer ing a comprehensive overview of this growing market, the study describes the functions and uses of the wide range of products in the market for food ingredients, the different types of companies to be found in this industry and the main drivers that affect their strategy. To order copies of this publication, please contact Martha van den Berg.

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