ORGANIGRAM
Long look
Goodyear
Two roles
Sector focus
Significant future
When the positioning paper was writ-
ten, Rabobank International had just
emerged frorn one of the most turbulent
periods in its relatively short life. Says
Ralf Dekker, 'The last thing people
needed was more turbulenee. After three
years of drastic changes, with mergers
on the close horizon, only to disappear,
and a shift of former RI activities to the
Group, we needed a period of stability.
lt was time to take a long, calm look at
RI and what we were doing with it. The
positioning paper did just that. It posi-
tioned what products we put into what
markets, how management structures
should work and what was expected of
us. It further resolved a number of con-
tradictions and inconsistencies, but it
was not a "new" strategy.'
The period of stabilization was not only
welcome, but also proved highly effec-
tive. Results have improved consider-
ably, culminating in a very good year for
RI in 200 ICosts were driven down. In-
ternal cooperation has increased. How-
ever, now that we have gone through
this quiet, steady evolution from
Rabobank Group 'problem child' to
mature contributor to the bottom line,
people are feeling the need for some
'Strategie considerations'. Although no
one wants changes in strategy every
year, regular appraisals of and possible
adjustments to our focus help trans-
parency and stimulate efforts.
If you were to take a snapshot of RI
today, then what you wou ld see is an
organization which, for the first time
ever, is truly international. Although
'Utrecht' continues to play a major role
in the life of international Rabobankers,
it is more corporate than in the past.
The vast majority of international
Rabobankers are now at work in over
30 countries where we are active. We
have two main roles within the
Rabobank organization. The first is the
provision of banking services for corpo
rate clients outside the Netherlands (the
former RI Netherlands and its cus-
tomers joined Utrecht-based Corporate
Clients on I January, 2002). The second
is the development and provision of
professional banking products, also in
the Netherlands. That is our mandate
and in essence, nothing has changed in
these roles.
Nor have there been changes in the sec
tors we service. Food and Agribusiness
(F&A) is still top focus. We are increas-
ingly positioned in global markets as an
international F&A financial services
provider, with Telecom Media Internet
(TMI) as a secondary focus. On the
product side, there are the financial mar
kets and structured finance products,
categories which have their own dynam-
ics and are especially geared to financial
markets and professional counterparties.
In addition, we gear many products,
such as Mergers Acquisitions
(M&A), structured trade and commod-
ity finance, and Food and Agricultural
Research (FAR), to our F&A corporate
clients. Again, nothing new.
If you are beginning to wonder whether
it is worth continuing to read about all
the things that have not changed, then
bear with us. In the past RI was not only
often seen as a 'problem child', it was
also perceived as something of a step-
child or outsider. Rabobank is very
much a domestically oriented, retail-
based financial institution. It has, at
times, been difficult for the parent to see
how RI fits strategically into the long
term pattern of Group domestic activi
ties. 'Strategie considerations' argues
cohesively not only on our place, but
also our potential importance for the
Group's future. If the goal of a coopera-
tive organization is profitability as a tooi
to ensure its prime objective, continuity,
then RI could represent at least a signifi
cant part of that future.
The Word I 5