The Netherlands

RetailCo is an international retail organisation, founded in the 1920s in the Netherlands. In 2007, RetailCo had more than 350 stores, mostly located in the Netherlands. RetailCo was expanding through increasing the number of stores, on average opening 30 new stores a year in the Benelux (an economic union comprising three neighbouring countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg). The company had approximately 10,000 employees (4,700 FTEs). In the Netherlands, RetailCo is seen as a ‘typically Dutch’ retail organisation, which takes good care of its employees. RetailCo has performed well and won several awards between 2004 and 2007, including prizes for logistics and marketing, and the ‘best Dutch employer’ award. Below, in Part I, we describe RetailCo and a take-over that took place in 2007 and how this affected HRM and culture at RetailCo in the short term. In Part II we briefly address several changes that have occurred since then.