Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T06:35:29.698Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Changing National Business Systems: Corporate Governance and Financing in the Netherlands, 1945–2005

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2011

Abe de Jong ,
Ailsa Röell  and
Gerarda Westerhuis
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study traces the evolution of corporate governance and financing structures in the Netherlands during the second half of the twentieth century. A description of Dutch shareholder rights, fi nancing structures, and networks of directors reveals the changes that have occurred in many aspects of the Dutch corporate system over the course of six decades. The case of Royal Ahold illustrates some of the developments that have taken place. Most indicate a transition from a coordinated market economy to a more liberal system. The internationalization of the Dutch economy, which has played an important role in the transition of the system, is reflected in the expansion of Dutch firms beyond the national borders and in the growing number of foreign investors in Dutch fi rms.

Type
National Business Systems: Focus on the Netherlands
Information
Business History Review , Volume 84 , Issue 4: Business History and Varieties of Capitalism , Winter 2010 , pp. 773 - 798
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Hall, Peter A. and Soskice, David, eds., Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage (Oxford, 2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 Jong, Abe de et al., “Investor Relations, Reputational Bonding, and Corporate Governance: The Case of Royal Ahold,” Journal of Accounting and Public Policy 26 (2007): 329.Google Scholar

3 Hall and Soskice, eds., Varieties of Capitalism.

4 Fligstein, Neil, The Transformation of Corporate Control (Cambridge, U.K., 1990).Google Scholar

5 Porta, Rafael La et al., “Legal Determinants of External Finance,” Journal of Finance 52 (1997): 1131–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 Hall and Soskice, eds., Varieties of Capitalism, 5; Peter A. Hall and Daniel W. Gingerich, “Varieties of Capitalism and Institutional Complementarities in the Macroeconomy: An Empirical Analysis,” unpublished paper (no date).

7 See Fan, Joseph P. H., Titman, Sheridan, and Twite, Garry J., “An International Comparison of Capital Structure and Debt Maturity Choices,” working paper on SSRN (2008)Google Scholar. This paper demonstrates that debt ratios are much lower in typical LME countries such as the U.S. and the U.K. in comparison to CME countries.

8 Fohlin, Caroline, “Does Civil Law Tradition and Universal Banking Crowd Out Securities Markets? Pre–World War I Germany as Counter Example,” Enterprise & Society 8 (Sept. 2007): 602–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9 Lazonick, William and O'Sullivan, Mary, “Maximizing Shareholder Value: A New Ideology for Corporate Governance,” in Corporate Governance and Sustainable Prosperity, ed. Lazonick, William and O'Sullivan, Mary (New York, 2002), 12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 Lazonick and O'Sullivan, “Maximizing Shareholder Value,” 15–17.

11 Holmstrom, Bengt and Kaplan, Steven N., “Corporate Governance and Merger Activity in the United States: Making Sense of the 1980s and 1990s,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 15 (2001): 121–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gordon, Jeffrey N., “The Rise of Independent Directors in the United States, 1950–2005: Of Shareholder Value and Stock Market Prices,” Standard Law Review 59 (2007): 1465–568.Google Scholar

12 Lazonick and O'Sullivan, “Maximizing Shareholder Value,” 14.

13 Bengt Holmstrom and Steven N. Kaplan, “Corporate Governance and Merger Activity,” 121–44; Gordon, “The Rise of Independent Directors in the United States,” 1465–568.

14 Herrigel, Gary, “Guest Editor's Introduction: A New Wave in the History of Corporate Governance,” Enterprise & Society 8 (Sept. 2007): 482–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

15 Lazonick, William and O'Sullivan, Mary, “Corporate Resource Allocation and Employment Opportunities in the United States,” in Corporate Governance and Sustainable Prosperity, ed. Lazonick, William and O'Sullivan, Mary (New York, 2002), 2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16 Sluyterman, Keetie E., Dutch Enterprise in the Twentieth Century: Business Strategies in a Small Open Economy (London, 2005), 133.Google Scholar

17 Ibid., 133.

18 Ibid., 134.

19 Ibid., 136.

20 Frentrop, Paul, Corporate Governance, 1602–2002: Ondernemingen en hun Aandeelhouders sinds de VOC (Amsterdam, 2002), 285.Google Scholar

21 Respectively, HR 1 Apr. 1949 and HR 21 Jan. 1955.

22 Frentrop, Corporate Governance, 1602–2002, 287.

23 Sluyterman, Dutch Enterprise in the Twentieth Century, 141.

24 Barendregt, Jaap and Visser, Hans, “Towards a New Maturity, 1940–1990,” in A Financial History of the Netherlands, ed. Hart, Marjolein 't, Jonker, Joost, and Zanden, Jan Luiten van (Cambridge, U.K., 1997), 169.Google Scholar

25 Helmers, H. M. et al., Graven naar Macht: Op Zoek naar de Kern van de Nederlandse Economie (Amsterdam, 1975), 256.Google Scholar

26 See also Jonker, Joost, “Waterdragers van het Kapitalisme: Nevenfuncties van Nederlandse Bankiers en de Verhouding tussen Bankwezen en Bedrijfsleven, 1910–1940,” Jaarboek voor de Geschiedenis van Bedrijf en Techniek 6 (1989): 158–90.Google Scholar

27 Schijf, Huibert, Netwerken van een Financieel-economische Elite: Personele Verbindingen in het Nederlandse Bedrijfsleven aan het Eind van de Negentiende Eeuw (Amsterdam, 1993).Google Scholar

28 Jong, Abe de and Röell, Ailsa, “Financing and Control in the Netherlands: A Historical Perspective,” in A History of Corporate Ownership around the World: Family Business Groups to Professional Managers, ed. Morck, Randall (NBER, 2005), 495–96.Google Scholar

29 Helmers et al., Graven naar Macht, 257.

30 Jager, J. L. de, Arm en Rijk kunnen bij mij hun Inkopen doen: De Geschiedenis van Albert Heijn en Koninklijke Ahold (Baarn, 1995), 56.Google Scholar

31 Ibid., 100.

32 Jager, J. L. de, Albert Heijn, de Memoires van een Optimist (Baarn, 1997), 45.Google Scholar

33 Ibid., 45–46.

34 Jager, De Geschiedenis van Albert Heijn en Koninklijke Ahold, 108.

35 Frentrop, Corporate Governance, 1602–2002, 334.

36 Ibid., 339.

37 Het Financieele Dagblad, 26, 27, and 29 Oct. 1970.Google Scholar

38 To qualify as a large company three requirements must be met. The company's issued capital plus reserves including its retained earnings must equal at least € 13 million (2005 criterion). The company or any of its dependent companies must have established a works council as required by law. The company together with its dependent companies must normally employ 100 or more employees in the Netherlands. See: Groenewald, Edo, “Corporate Governance in the Netherlands: From the Verdam Report of 1964 to the Tabaksblat Code of 2003,” European Business Organization Law Review 6 (2005): 294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

39 Sluyterman, Dutch Enterprise in the Twentieth Century, 145.

40 Ibid.

41 Ibid., 195.

42 Jong, Abe de et al., “The Role of Self-Regulation in Corporate Governance: Evidence and Implications from the Netherlands,” Journal of Corporate Finance 11 (2005): 473–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

43 Stokman, Frans N., Knoop, Jelle van der, and Wasseur, Frans W., “Theoretische Herinterpretatie van Dubbelfuncties tussen Grote Bedrijven: Stabiliteit en Carrière-opbouw in de Periode 1960–1980,” in Nederlandse elites in beeld: Rekrutering, samenhang en verandering, ed. Dronkers, Jaap and Stokman, Frans N. (Deventer, 1984), 46.Google Scholar

44 Ibid., 46.

45 Hezewijk, Jos van, De Top-elite van Nederland: Leefwijze en Familierelaties, Ondernemingen en Dubbelfuncties van de meest Invloedrijke Mensen van ons Land (Amsterdam, 1986), 62.Google Scholar

46 Smit, Jeroen, Het Drama Ahold (Amsterdam, 2004), 60.Google Scholar

47 Ibid., 61.

48 De Jong, “Investor Relations,” 354.

49 Jager, De Geschiedenis van Albert Heijn en Koninklijke Ahold, 322–23.

50 Jager, Albert Heijn, Memoires, 166.

51 Jager, De Geschiedenis van Albert Heijn en Koninklijke Ahold, 241.

52 Jager, Albert Heijn, Memoires, 153.

53 Ibid., 175.

54 Elst, Christoph van der, Jong, Abe de, and Raaijmakers, Theo, “Een Overzicht van Juridische en Economische Dimensies van de Kwetsbaarheid van Nederlandse Beursvennootschappen,” Onderzoeksrapport ten behoeve van de SER Commissie Evenwichtig Ondernemingsbestuur (24 Oct. 2007), 56.Google Scholar

55 De Jong et al., “The Role of Self-Regulation in Corporate Governance,” 502.

56 Van der Elst, De Jong, and Raaijmakers, “Overzicht van Juridische en Economische Dimensies,” 53.

57 DNB, Annual Report, various years.

58 ABP, Annual Report (1999), 25.Google Scholar

59 ABP, Annual Report (1998), 38. See also for example Philips pension fund in Elise van Neederveen Meerkerk and Jan Peet, Een Peertje voor de Dorst: Geschiedenis van het Philips Pensioenfonds (Amsterdam, 2002).Google Scholar

60 ABP, Annual Report (1998), 33.Google Scholar

61 ABP, Annual Report, various years.

62 Van der Elst, De Jong, and Raaijmakers, “Overzicht van Juridische en Economische Dimensies,” 51.

63 Ibid., 50. Only shareholders with stakes of 5 percent or more were counted.

64 Herst, A. C. C. and Rebers, E. H., “Inkoop van Eigen Aandelen in Nederland, Theorie versus Praktijk,” Tijdschrift voor Bedrijfsadministratie 100 (1996): 174–80.Google Scholar

65 Baltus, C. F. A. and Schauten, M. B. J., “Inkoop Eigen Aandelen op de Amsterdamse Effectenbeurs,” Financieel Management (Jan./Feb. 2000): 35–43.Google Scholar

66 Eije, Henk von and Megginson, William L., “Dividends and Share Repurchases in the European Union,” Journal of Financial Economics 89 (2008): 347–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

67 Heemskerk, Eelke M., Decline of the Corporate Community: Network Dynamics of the Dutch Business Elite (Amsterdam, 2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

68 Heemskerk, Decline of the Corporate Community, 156.

69 The following paragraph was based on Abe de Jong et al., “The Case of Royal Ahold.”

70 Ibid., 359.

71 Smit, Het Drama Ahold, 175.

72 Coffee, John C., “A Theory of Corporate Scandals: Why the U.S. and Europe Differ,” Oxford Review of Economic Policy 21 (2005): 198–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar