Keetie Sluyterman

Royal Dutch Shell: Company Strategies for Dealing with Environmental Issues

The intricate interplay among environmental pressure groups, oil companies, and governments is revealed from the perspective of the Anglo-Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell. An examination of three environmental issues demonstrates the companys awareness of such problems and describes its efforts to contain potential damage to the degree permitted by existing technological and economic constraints. The industry view is that government measures should create a level playing field and should be effective and economically feasible. While pressure groups are skilled at calling attention to environmental problems, industry highlights the tradeoffs between different societal aims that are entailed in tackling these problems. Governments are left to fi nd the best ways to weigh conflicting interests.

The Dutch Family Firm Confronted with Chandler's Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism, 1890–1940

Inspired by Chandlers Scale and Scope, the authors ranked the top 100 Dutch industrial companies based on total assets in the year 1930. Investigation of these 100 companies showed that Dutch industrial capitalism resembled the British personal capitalism more than the German co-operative managerial capitalism. A personal management culture, however, was not synonymous with failure and lack of competitiveness, even in the sectors associated with the ‘Second Industrial Revolution’. The fact that Dutch companies were competitive internationally in the chemicals, petroleum and electrical machinery sectors argues in favour of personal managerial structures.

Internationalisation of Dutch Accounting Firms

This article examines the choice of organisational form in Dutch accounting firms, with special focus on the Ernst & Young history of Moret. By the 1980s the dominating form for internationally operating accounting firms had become the federation, but this stage was reached after a long process of trial and error. Determining factors in the ultimate choice for the federative structure were, on the one hand, the globalisation of the economy that necessitated the service providers following their clients across borders, and, on the other hand, the stronghold of local auditors on their local market, the need for professional independence and concern about US domination in Europe. Despite the importance of technology transfer, common ownership is not the rule, but the present integration in technology, standards and products, and the sharing of increasing numbers of clients, may make the ownership issue irrelevant in practical terms.

Strategic and structural responses to international dynamics in the open Dutch economy, 1963-2003

This paper investigates the strategies, structures and performance of large Dutch firms in the period 1963–2003, and compares the results with those of other European companies. Did Dutch companies develop corporate strategies and structures comparable to other European companies in response to the Treaty of Rome 1957, which signalled the start of gradual European economic integration? In this period Dutch firms became larger and increasingly active outside their national borders. This article describes the strategies and structures of large firms in this period, in order to investigate how firms dealt with the changing environment and also how firms anticipated and benefited from these changes. In addition, it analyses the corporate performance effects of changes in the environment and strategies and structures. With a strong preference for related diversification, Dutch companies showed a strategy comparable with three large European countries. Initially, many Dutch companies opted for the multidivisional structure, but after the 1980s the functional holding gradually became the most important structure. The choice of structure, however, was not critical to performance, in contrast to the choice of strategy. The related diversified strategy turned out to be the best performing strategy.

Multinationals and the Dutch Business System: The Cases of Royal Dutch Shell and Sara Lee

The impact of the strategies of multinational companies on the Dutch business system during the twentieth century is described in relation to two fi rms. The fi rst case examines the attitude of the Dutch (in this example, Anglo-Dutch) parent company Royal Dutch Shell toward its international subsidiaries. The second looks at the approach taken by the American company Sara Lee toward its Dutch subsidiary, Douwe Egberts. Until the 1980s, both companies were prepared to adjust their organizations to national traditions and ambitions. However, when these nationally based global fi rms came under pressure during that decade, both changed their organizational structures. Their actions can be seen both as responses to globalization and as attempts to advance that process by simultaneously building international institutions and changing elements of the national business system in the Netherlands.

From colonial empires to developing countries and on to emerging economies: the international expansion of the Dutch brewery Heineken, 1930-2010

This article analyzes the foreign expansion of the Dutch brewery Heineken in countries that were successively seen as colonies, developing countries, and emerging economies. Why did Heineken want to go overseas as early as the 1930s, what advantages could the brewer offer, and what challenges did it face? We found both continuity and flexibility. Heineken used export, licensing, and direct investment, though in different mixes over time. Working with partners and seeking a large geographical spread reduced the risks of working abroad. Initially, Heineken worked with European partners but in later years, it more often found partners locally, or had them forced upon it. For many years, Heineken was always the partner that provided technical expertise and access to financial means, but from the 1970s onward Heineken also became directly involved with marketing and branding policies.

Introduction: Changing Business Systems in the Netherlands in the Twentieth Century

The organization of economic activities differs among countries and over time. Differences between nations have been highlighted in academic discussions about national business systems and the varieties of capitalism. This group of articles about the Dutch business system contributes to these debates by offering new empirical research from the perspective of a small, open economy and highlighting changes that have occurred during the second half of the twentieth century. While they discuss developments in the Netherlands, the articles also explore general themes, including corporate governance, cartels, and the organization of multinational companies. While the articles show that business systems are in constant flux, comparisons between the Dutch and U.S. systems seem to suggest that each moves at a different pace. A particularly striking aspect of the Dutch stories is the large impact of developments abroad.

Decolonisation and the organisation of the international workforce: Dutch multinationals in Indonesia, 1945–1967

Abstract This article deals with one particular aspect of economic decolonisation: the inclusion of local managers in the companies of the former colonial powers, in this case, the promotion of Indonesians to managerial and supervisory positions in Dutch multinationals. The Indonesian government blamed Dutch companies for being too slow in training and promoting local managers, and Dutch historiography agreed with that judgement. The replacement of expatriates by local managers, however, should be considered in the broader context of the diverse functions of expatriates. This article argues that for multinationals the use of expatriates is essential for creating a social network that enables knowledge transfer and control. The local subsidiaries profited from the transfer of knowledge and expertise; becoming part of that international network through exchange of staff is more important than getting rid of all expatriates.

B2B or B2C? Dutch approaches towards marketing and the consumer, 1945-1968, with particular attention to Heineken’s Brewery

In this article I analyse how Dutch companies approached the consumers and marketing during the years 1945-1968, a period during which the Netherlands became a ‘consumer society’. In the first part I examine articles in the Dutch journal Tijdschrift voor Efficientie en Documentatie (ted, or Journal for Efficiency and Documentation), a leading management periodical. This examination shows how new ideas from abroad were taken up and disseminated in the Netherlands by both management consultants and large producers of consumer goods such as Unilever and Philips. In the second part of this article I take a closer look at Heineken’s brewery, drawing on the company’s archives. Heineken closely followed the ideas afloat at the time and put them into practice. However, the Heineken case also shows the different approaches necessary for business-to-consumer (b2c) and business-to-business (b2b) relationships. The second type of relationships deserves more attention from historians.