TEXT: NATALIA OSYPENKO
Allard Touwen, Chief Executive Officer of Philips in
Ukraine, is a 58-year-young Dutch gentleman brimming with
energy, easily amused, and with an enviable sense of humour.
His innate optimism survived twenty years in the tropics
and living in Communist Bulgaria and Soviet Ukraine. He
worked on the Fiji islands, in Tanzania and on Curacao
in the Caribbean. In fact, Mr. Touwen enjoys the memories.
When asked which of the environs was the hardest to cope
with, exotic or Ukrainian, Allard Touwen replied without
hesitation:
"Work is the same everywhere, except that your business
climate -well, it's totally different, considerably less
favourable."
Philips has been in the Ukrainian market since 1993,
running offices in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk,
and Donetsk. Allard Touwen freely admits that he would
want his firm to take the lead, but the Koreans are ahead
in the market, probably because their prices are more
affordable for the lean Ukrainian family budget. Yet he
is convinced that with time Ukrainian consumers will appreciate
the Philips advantages.
Mr. Touwen has lived in Kyiv for a year after transfer
from Bulgaria. He believes the atmosphere in both countries
has much in common; the people are not optimistic and
not sure of what happens tomorrow. Business is done slowly,
discussing problems can take hours whereas a solution
can be found in minutes. Also, he is extremely disappointed
to see no golf boom in Ukraine - the game dominates almost
all of Europe and North America.
There are so many golf clubs in Holland that a ball can
easily fly over to the next course.
Despite the presence of an official golf federation and
even a national team vying in certain tournaments, there
are no golf courses. Now this is a real problem for the
director general. True, lawn tennis is another favourite
pastime, but he can't play tennis now because of a knee
trauma. So he has to make do with bridge which, in Mr.
Touwen's view is "a good training for the brain."
For some reason golf is consid- ered a businessman's
game in Ukraine. Allegedly, it provides the right atmosphere
for solving a lot of business problems. Mr. Touwen resolutely
opposes the idea. He is convinced that the game requires
utmost concentration, leaving no time even for talking
shop. Actually, winning is not important for him, because
he enjoys the very process. In golf, the adage about the
best man winning is not always true, as each player has
his own handicap which often proves victorious. And he
hates cheating players (do you know, I'd always thought
golf a gentleman's sport and gentlemen are not supposed
to cheat!).
By the way, Mrs. Touwen is also a devout golf-player,
a better one than her husband at that. Both consider golf
the best entertainment and most enjoyable pastime, because
it offers sufficient physical exertion, a lot of fresh
air, and an opportunity to meet interesting people.
"I'm to spend another two years in Ukraine," says the
director general. "I'm not looking forward to leaving,
because I have an excellent work team. Besides, the local
business climate is a real challenge I'm eager to meet.
Yet the first thing I'll do back in Holland will be a
visit to the golf club."
