Interview with Carine Immerechts

Carine Immerechts (38) joined Yokogawa Belgium five years ago. Although the office is small it appealed to her, since Yokogawa Belgium is part of a global concern. During her first five years with Yokogawa Carine was both Marketing & Quality Coordinator and Management Assistant to the Director. In March 2007 Carine relinquished her duties as Quality Coordinator, since she now works two days a week at Houten, the Netherlands, as Marketing Coordinator.

“Working in the Netherlands is a great experience. I have an opportunity to become acquainted with the Dutch approach and (company) culture: all marketeers simply have to continually broaden their outlook and acquire new experience.

Our profession is often a question of trial and error, and we need to sound out a given approach to find out whether it is effective. That’s because successful marketing depends on a number of factors, and an approach ideally suited to one country or target group can be a total failure in other situations. Consequently every assignment is a challenge, and it never becomes routine!

Carine Immerechts is pleased that Yokogawa is increasingly shifting from a product-oriented towards a customer-oriented approach. Regular customer-satisfaction surveys are held, and customers are increasingly involved in product development.

However, Carine is disappointed that some companies still do not take marketing seriously. “They often have the wrong idea about marketing, and fail to appreciate that an effective marketing strategy is essential to corporate growth. Nor, in my opinion, has Yokogawa always given marketing the attention it deserves – or could it be a question of my professional drive?”

Carine is certainly pleased that the three Dutch offices will merge within the near future. In her opinion this will reduce costs and result in the necessary synergy in the operations, including marketing. “I also think that the appearance of our new office is very important; it will certainly appeal to our customers. Moreover, the staff also find working in attractive surroundings extremely inspiring.

No, I haven’t visited our Tokyo Head Offices yet. I’d certainly like to have a look around. I’m particularly interested in the Innovation Center, since I’ve heard a lot about it. Moreover, I’d certainly like to take a closer look at the Japanese (culinary) culture – and take part in a real Japanese tea ceremony, preferably in a Japanese garden. Who knows, maybe I’ll have a chance one day!

Carine Immerechts