Strategy in six
F&A strategy
What'sNewS Issue 8 December 2000
How do we extract the greatest commercial advantage from our primary asset - our
expertise in F&A? That's been the central issue in RI's policy deliberations since
June's brainstorm session. For FAR, it's a question which bears directly on core busi
ness - knowledge generation. During November's annual team days, the depart-
ment outlined its answer: an all new package of products and support which maxi-
mizes flexibility and timeliness.
Implementing flow
Hands on
Watershed
Bases covered
Two to tango
C omething clearlv had to be done,'
vjsays Roger Bradshaw, global industry
specialist, sugar and sweeteners. 'FAR has
always been very good at drawing the big
picture, but the big picture is only valid
for a couple of years. In today's business
environment yesterday's news is unaccept-
able.' After four days in a hotel outside
Utrecht, the 36-strong team emerged with
a radically new approach to getting its
knowledge into the network. Gone is the
familiar three-handed
FAR product range of
global market studies,
sector studies and posi-
tioning papers. In its
place comes a six-
pronged strategy for in-
formation provision.
Cooperating for strategy
'Timeliness and flexibility,
the need to be more event-driven, com-
mercially effective and company-focused,
were the key qualities in redefining our
approach,' explains FAR head, Frans van
Bijsterveld. 'We want to offer a flow of
publications that can be used for both
marketing purposes and strengthening
cliënt intimacy.' And Bradshaw adds,
'Something more akin to what you'd see
from stockbrokers in terms of analyst's re-
ports.'
Now, FAR's direct commercial interface
will be in the Client/Sector Presentations.
Requested directly by relationship man
agers and/or product specialists, FAR's
role will be to highlight the major devel-
opments in the chain likely to impact the
client's strategie positioning in terms of
possibilities and threats. 'Here the focus is
on finding financial solutions: on "sales"
rather than knowledge for its own sake,'
says Van Bijsterveld. This sales-oriented
research will be reinforced by greater
emphasis on cont-
pany analysis.
Strategie issues
will be analyzed
with an eye to
finding financial
solutions which will be fed into cliënt pre
sentations. 'Once the R1 cliënt target list is
available, we will work with relationship
managers to analyze these companies.'
To date the jewel in the FAR
crown has been its global mar
ket studies (GMS). 'Clients in
Australia love the complete sec-
toral overview and value chain
analysis,' reports Larissa Taylor,
head of FAR's Sydney office. Re-
placing the GMS with a new
F&A review series
marks something
of a watershed in the depart-
ment's history. 'The market
studies were excellent, but
lacked the necessary fre-
quency and flexibility,' ex
plains Van Bijsterveld. 'The
reviews will still focus on the
chain in a specific sector, but
instead of providing a
generic analysis of the global
chain from origin to con-
sumer, they will focus either
on a specific segment in the
chain, or on local or regional
chain developments.' With some 50 re-
views, each of 25 pages, scheduled for
2001, the move signals a huge increase in
the frequency of chain-related publica
tions.
l.ikewise, the flexibility of sectoral analy
sis will be boosted by the new industry
note, a five-page paper focusing on spe
cific events, topics and issues. These
Frans van Bijsterveld
describes FAR's new
and improved offering
require immediate attention because they
might affect the position of our target
clients. 'This means that FAR is addressing
issues in an ad hoe, flexible way,' explains
Van Bijsterveld. 'We will also make these
papers available to clients so that they are
aware of potential impacts.' More sensi-
tive analysis for internal use only will be
published in risk papers, replacing the po
sitioning papers. Written by FAR in close
coordination with credit risk analysis, the
Industry Specialist
and MIS, they will
address the risk is
sues in sectors where
target clients are ac-
tive. Lastly, a
monthly newsletter -
the FAR LINK - will
keep commercial departments up-to speed
with current research areas and activities,
alongside summaries of lectures and short
articles on various F&A topics.
While confident this product range maxi-
mizes the commercial potential of its re
search, FAR also knows that products
alone are not enough. As Latin America's
FAR chief, Alejandro Reca makes clear:
'FAR shares with the bank a problem of
knowledge distribution - of spreading
knowledge of products around the net
work.' Thus the new range em-
phasizes on effective distribu
tion. Full use will be made of
our ICT facilities with hard
copies being replaced by soft
(PDF) formats. Products will be
channeled through a central
database, enabling standardiza-
tion of format and rigorous
quality control, with all regional
studies being cross-checked by
global specialists and vice-versa.
Even then it has to be a two-
way process, says Reca. We'll
make full use of InSight to let
the commercial people know
what we have to offer, but they have to let
us know what they want, and realize that
'FAR is not so far away.'
The first two F&A reviews, 'Identity
Preservation' and 'Dairy in Europe' are
scheduled for December/January, to be
quickly followed by reports on the pork
sector and e-commerce in F&A. World
Maps for animal protein and dairy will be
available in April/May.
hor more info please contact Martha van
den Berg, on +31 30 216 1178