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

Rabobank Bronnenarchief

blad 'What's news' (EN) | 2000 | | pagina 9