Page 138 - Harnessing the Strengths

Dilemma 5: Specifi c Versus Diffuse ■ 121

when they hear that an Asian bank has more than $2,000 bil-
lion outstanding in questionable loans. This is real service, and
it is explainable: in these cultures, the client comes before all.
If you, as a bank, have had a solvent client for years, you don’t
leave them in the dust at the fi rst downturn! You have a dif-
fuse relationship with them, and your relationship with them
goes deeper than the fi nancial connection. The dinners you
shared in Tokyo leave you no choice. So you continue fi nanc-
ing. The problem, however, is that this kind of relationship,
in Japan, developed on a national scale. After ten years, the
result was an ailing economy. This is in clear contrast with
what the American business banks such as Lehman Brothers
and Merrill Lynch have done for their clients. Only serving
the short-term also has a downside, especially if you know
that the interest rates are only going up. This is just asking for
bankruptcy.
This compares drastically with what soluble Dutch banks
offer: an enormous package of services that you can use, but
only until the moment you actually need it. If you are shopping
for a loan from a Dutch bank, the fi rst question they will ask is,
“What do you earn?” The second question will be, “What do
you have in savings?” In other words, they only actually want
to give you a loan if you already have money. Curious, is it
not? The danger of the Japanese bank is service to the extreme
without specifi c checks, while the Achilles’ heel of the Dutch
banks is the fact that it is easy to lose sight of the relationship
with the client.
The cultural differences are nowhere as visible as in the
airline industry. If you ask for breakfast on a North American
short-haul, the likelihood is that you will be told, “Sorry, sir,
but this fl ight is only ninety minutes, in which time we don’t
serve breakfast.” At best, the fl ight attendant will bring you a
basket with small bags of pretzels or chips and apologize that