International Banking Strategic Alliances: Reflections on BNP Dresdner

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 8
Foreword......Page 14
Preface......Page 16
List of Abbreviations......Page 18
Part I: Flawed International Banking Alliance: Case Study on BNP/Dresdner Bank Cooperation......Page 20
Specifying the topic......Page 22
Multilateral forms of cooperation in commercial banking of the 1970s......Page 23
Poor marks for the European banking clubs......Page 25
De facto ‘twinning’ of Banque Nationale de Paris and Dresdner Bank......Page 26
Profiles of the partner banks on the eve of forming the alliance......Page 27
The beginnings of the joint strategy concept......Page 29
The principles behind the cooperation agreement......Page 31
Each partner’s domestic activities off-limits for the cooperation......Page 32
Opposite numbers at the parent banks......Page 33
Status of the staff involved in the alliance......Page 34
Ongoing conflict between dogmatic self-promotion and strategic shrewdness......Page 35
‘No handle against the hidden enemies of the cooperation’......Page 37
Why dispense with an integration-promoting, joint symbol of identity?......Page 38
3 Shareholders and the EC Commission give the Go-ahead......Page 39
Including the shareholders in the cross-border alliance......Page 40
Symmetry of legal form......Page 41
Antitrust clearance for the alliance......Page 42
Reform of EU antitrust policy in 2001 and its implications for such a procedure today......Page 44
Power of motivation in myth......Page 46
General mythical leading ideas and particular myths......Page 47
Media as midwife and mouthpiece of myths......Page 48
Myth as a loyal brand follower and unswerving devotee......Page 49
‘Brands’: myths ‘hardened’ in the fire of competition......Page 50
Cross-border banking alliance as a media sensation......Page 51
Advance praise for the ‘Franco–German duo’......Page 52
Long-term objective to establish a shared ‘brand’......Page 53
Seven phases of the progressively self-realizing strategy......Page 55
Unstable contributions to the alliance by executives ‘on loan’ from the partner banks......Page 56
The euphoria fades......Page 57
Fear of crossing the threshold on all sides and at all levels......Page 58
6 Alliance of the Augurs as Jointly Acting Brand Leaders......Page 60
Shared myth as the core of a transnational relationship......Page 61
The cultivation and control of myth by augurs......Page 63
The transnational cooperation myth in particular......Page 64
Mutual contractual obligation to keep the option of a merger open......Page 67
Three questions of feasibility as a prerequisite for a promising start......Page 69
Was the alliance propelled by European integration?......Page 71
Advanced stage of European integration as a precondition for cross-border, private-sector initiatives......Page 72
Asymmetries between European integration at the political and at the private business level......Page 73
8 From a Global Spectacle to a Focused Joint Servicing of Customers......Page 76
Purpose of the alliance: a cult community the partners served together, or a shared instrument to allow both to improve their business?......Page 77
Privatized BNP creates an opportunity to reshape the alliance......Page 78
The organizational revamp of the alliance......Page 79
Departure from prioritization of global joint expansion......Page 80
What focusing meant under Alliance II......Page 81
Support to Franco–German customers in cross-border business......Page 82
Historical role models for Franco–German corporate banking services providers......Page 83
Dresdner’s historically-induced pent-up demand......Page 84
Threshold countries the ideal target for joint venture activities......Page 86
The states of central and eastern Europe: a magnet in the 1990s......Page 87
Methods of integrating the partnership more directly into the national branch networks......Page 89
What does teamwork mean in the intercultural context?......Page 92
What does cooperation call for?......Page 93
Irritation caused by the notional premise of an equality principle......Page 94
‘Premeditated breaking points’ in connection with contractual exoneration clauses......Page 95
Veiled Franco–German disagreement over corporate governance......Page 96
Four-language approach as the basis of communication in third countries......Page 98
Priority given by both parties to investment banking objectives since 2000......Page 101
New constellation in Central and Eastern European commercial banking......Page 102
Switch to the customary bi-national, bilingual approach......Page 103
The alliance partners’ involuntary parting of the ways......Page 104
Reasons for organizational shortcomings in cross-border banking activities......Page 105
Integral tendencies of cultural perspectives with the risk of a crumbling consensus......Page 107
The ongoing presence of the shared myth of BNP and Dresdner Bank......Page 110
Part II: The Structural Crisis of Traditional Banking......Page 114
Defining ‘ideology’......Page 116
Dispensing with strategic restrictions under the universal banking system......Page 117
Industrial customers and their principal bankers......Page 119
Innovation stakes from the mid-1950s lead to a twin-track banking strategy......Page 120
Autonomous business field strategies undermine the universal banks’ image......Page 122
Cooperation within the framework of the old universal bank......Page 124
The reversal of the situation at the end of the 1990s......Page 125
The universal banking system under ideological suspicion......Page 126
Essence of corporate strategy in banking......Page 128
Systematics of strategic success factors......Page 129
Foreign activities at a general disadvantage......Page 131
Services and goods production as opposites......Page 132
The isolated nature of cultures is the main difficulty in the international sector......Page 133
Language boundaries as boundaries to understanding......Page 134
One’s own and the alien: the natural position of the foreign customer......Page 135
National banking cultures as doctrinaire powers......Page 136
Homo-polar intercultural factors repel......Page 137
Practical principles for international cooperation......Page 139
Principles of success for transnational alliances......Page 140
Closing appraisal of the BNP–Dresdner experiment......Page 141
Will reducing the universal banking principle be a problem?......Page 145
The ‘all-embracing’ universal banking principle and its gradual detachment from reality......Page 146
The new competitive model: ‘glass banks’ in keeping with Basle II......Page 148
How can bank shares be a stock market success in future?......Page 149
Will international strategic alliances regain relevance as the competitive situation in banking re-forms?......Page 151
15 Epilogue: Tombstones......Page 153
Appendix 1: Summary of the Cooperation Agreement between Banque Nationale de Paris and Dresdner Bank, 7 October 1996......Page 155
Appendix 2: Official Journal of the European Communities, Information and Notices, C312, 23 November 1995......Page 159
Appendix 3: Stages of the Partnership between BNP and Dresdner Bank......Page 166
B......Page 167
D......Page 168
M......Page 169
Z......Page 170