Global or local, centralised or distributed; these are
common dilemmas in large international organisations.
Tasks are moved around, responsibilities changed.
For Rabobank Netherlands this means that Rabobank
International gets more involved with its Dutch clients
at home. However, how do both parties deal with this
mutual dependency?
Flying bankers
On the phone in Rotterdam, Christian Mol warns that certain language is not
acceptable in his company: "Describe a local Rabobank as a branch and you will
never workfor us again!" He is joking, of course, but it shows that the cooperative
spirit is very much alive in the Netherlands. Local banks are not the branches in
the organisational tree, they are the roots, says Mol. The 147 Dutch member banks
are not servants to the head office, but are the bank's frontline in the market, and
centralised departments should assist them in serving their customers. Although
structure might follow strategy outside the Netherlands, at home it is the other
way around.
Although organisational theory dictates otherwise, Rabobank has good reason
to stick to its unique structure in the Netherlands. The pre-eminence of member
banks has resulted in a healthy mutual dependency between Rabobank
Netherlands and Rabobank International. The Dutch activities are a major factor
in international funding, while a lot of expertise that is concentrated in the central
teams and international departments is channelled back to the local banks. This
collaboration results in a different market approach that deserves its own name.
Let's call it cooperative commerce.
How cooperative commerce can be used in the market of medium enterprises is
explained by Eric Saris, executive vice-president at Rl. Fifteen years ago, the bank
saw an opportunity to grow in the corporate market and started hiring experts to
broaden its focus. At first, the efforts were aimed at larger corporates, but soon it
became clear that Rabobank was better at targeting smaller businesses through
its local banks. "Currently we are in second position in the Dutch market, with a 28
percent share in the market of all corporates. We are leading in the SME segment of
small businesses that see their bank as a one-stop-shop, but we want to be more
attractive for larger companies with CFOs who are used to shopping around. Our
current goal is to gain ground in the mid-segment, as that is considered the 'sweet
spot' in the market."
Working with CFOs requires different skills and competencies. For that purpose,
Rl has introduced regional teams of'flying bankers' whofunction as the linking
pin between the central and local operations. "Our nine regional teams focus on
companies with an annual turnover of between EUR 30 million and EUR 250
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