ABSTRACT
The Dutch have a small open economy of about 15 million people and a GDP of approximately ECU 325 billion (1996 data). The Netherlands’ economy is heavily dependent on international trade, especially with its European Union (EU) partners Germany, Belgium, the UK and France. The high levels of exports and imports (about 60 per cent of GDP) illustrate both its openness and its sensitivity to foreign political and economic developments. The Dutch economy is strongly internationalised and concentrated, having an important presence of ‘incoming’ and ‘outgoing’ multinational firms. Both its mercantile tradition and the small size of its home market have stimulated Dutch companies to enter foreign markets and have encouraged the development of big (Anglo-) Dutch multinational companies, such as Royal Dutch Shell, Unilever, ReedElsevier, Philips, DSM, and AKZO-Nobel, that dominate production, employment, R&D expenditures, and the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (Schenk et al., 1997). Most notable, perhaps, is that Dutch firms have been very active as acquirers of foreign, especially British and American firms. The Netherlands has consistently ranked amongst the three or four largest foreign investors in the US since the early 1980s. During the early 1990s, approximately 20 per cent of investment by Dutch firms was done abroad. Foreign-based firms that presently have a strong foothold in the Dutch market have been attracted by the country’s ideal geographical location for distributive activities, its efficient main ports Rotterdam (sea) and Amsterdam (air), its highly educated and strikeaverse workforce, its favourable corporate tax conditions and the international orientation of its firms as well as its population. The activity profile of the economy is centred around a small set of key sectors: transportation and logistics, agri-business, chemical and refining industries, information-related services (printing, publishing, banking and insurance) and electronics.
