Post by pieter on Mar 19, 2017 10:02:03 GMT -7
Anglo-Dutch companies
From rivalry to mergers
A brief history of the Anglo-Dutch business model
Feb 10th 2005
FOUR centuries ago, within 15 months of each other, the English and the Dutch set up rival East India companies. In 1826 a British foreign minister sent his country's ambassador in The Hague a (coded) message: “In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch is offering too little and asking too much.” But business is business: why compete when you can combine? The two East India companies soon found it easier to trade in separate bits of Asia.
A century ago, the countries' rival oil companies agreed, as their joint history now puts it, that they “would do better working together”, and in 1907 created Royal Dutch/Shell. In the 1920s, Margarine Unie, a Dutch-led quasi-cartel, saw Lever Brothers extending from soap into food. In 1930 the pair became Unilever.
Much later came three other big Anglo-Dutch mergers. In 1993, Elsevier, a Dutch publisher, merged with Reed, a one-time paper firm that had spread into publishing. In 1999 British Steel and Hoogovens united as Corus, and Britain's Reckitt & Colman merged with a Dutch household-products rival, Benckiser.
Reckitt Benckiser has been a success. Avoiding errors made by the others, the two firms were swiftly and fully integrated into one; this week it reported record profits. But elsewhere “national” stresses have sharpened business ones. Royal Dutch/Shell was a merger of operations only: the group is still 60% owned by its Dutch parent, 40% by its distinct British one. Only last October, under fire for its oil-reserve accounting, did the two decide to become one, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, listed in London but headquartered in The Hague. Reed Elsevier is still owned 50-50; up to 1999 it was also two warring boards and headquarters, until a new Dutch ex-Unilever chairman brought in a British boss and a unified management structure.
The products of Reckitt Benckiser
Corus set off in 1999 proclaiming unity, but with a carefully balanced Anglo-Dutch board and joint chief executives. It soon lost them, and $1.5 billion in its first 15 months. A new sole—and British—chief executive did not end the clashes, as Dutch profits were eaten by losses in Britain. In early 2003, the supervisory board (the new CEO plus three Dutchmen) that has a say in Corus's Dutch operations rejected the sale of some profitable aluminium plants there. Corus was at war with itself, a war ended only by the arrival of a new chief executive—from France.
Unilever avoided most such problems. Although it has two parents, Unilever NV and Unilever PLC, chaired by Antony Burgmans in Rotterdam and Patrick Cescau in London, the same people sit on both boards; each chairman is vice-chairman to the other (awkwardly, both are “co-chairman” of the group). But now Mr Burgmans will be non-executive chairman. Mr Cescau will be chief executive. He has one advantage: like his counterpart at Corus, he's neither British nor Dutch but French.
Comment Pieter: This was an article of the Economist magazine of 2005, but it is still accurate, because despite Brexit it is a fact that the Dutch and British economies have a lot in common and share a colonial past in which the financial, economical and trade element was the most important branch and motivation behind thier colonialism. So the Netherlands has strong economical connections with two main European Nations, the United Kingdom (Great-Britain) on one side and Germany on the other side. Ofcourse the Dutch-Belgian cooperation and interwined economies is an important aspect for the Dutch too and the Netherlands has traditionally as a Transatlantic oriented country strong financial, economical and trade ties with the USA. The Dutch financial sector, food processing industry (Unilever) and trade sector is very strong connected to America. The Dutch were and are present in the London City and New York with their large banks (ING, ABN AMRO, Rabobank), and financial institutions (KPMG, Aegon N.V. and etc), bankers, business people and merchants.
The Netherlands has a developed economy and has been playing a special role in the European economy for many centuries. Since the 16th century, shipping, fishing, agriculture, trade, and banking have been leading sectors of the Dutch economy. The Netherlands has a high level of economic freedom. The Netherlands is one of the top countries in the Global Enabling Trade Report (3rd in 2014).
As of 2013, the key trading partners of the Netherlands were Germany, Belgium, UK, United States, France, Italy, China and Russia. Russia is a very important trade partner too and that is why many Dutch entrepreneurs, companies and farmers weren't and aren't that happy with the sanctions against Russia. These sanctions against Russia and Russia counter sanctions towards the West were and are a disaster for many companies, farmers and firms. The Netherlands is one of the world's 10 leading exporting countries. Foodstuffs form the largest industrial sector. Other major industries include chemicals, metallurgy, machinery, electrical goods, trade, services and tourism. Examples of international Dutch companies operating in Netherlands include Randstad, Unilever, Heineken, KLM, financial services (ING, ABN AMRO, Rabobank), chemicals (DSM, AKZO), petroleum refining (Royal Dutch Shell), electronical machinery (Philips, ASML), and car navigation (TomTom).
The Netherlands has the 17th-largest economy in the world, and ranks 10th in GDP (nominal) per capita.
What was that all about mister Heineken, his answer 'I haven't got a clue'. In 1989 Heineken won the Grand Prix at the World Exhibition.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPMG
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegon_N.V.