Dealing with the Dutch

Dealing with the Dutch

Jacob Vossestein

Dealing with the Dutch

The cultural context

of business and work

in the Netherlands

LM Publishers  

Dealing with the Dutch, Jacob Vossestein

LM Publishers E-mail: info@lmpublishers.nl www.LMpublishers.nl © 2014 LM PUBLISHERS - Utrecht Twentieth unrevised edition First edition 1997 © KIT Publishers, Amsterdam Eleventh revised edition: June 2001 © KIT Publishers, Amsterdam Fourteenth revised edition: October 2004 © KIT Publishers, Amsterdam Seventeenth edition: December 2007 © KIT Publishers, Amsterdam Eighteenth edition: September 2008 © KIT Publishers, Amsterdam Nineteenth revised edition: October 2010 © KIT Publishers, Amsterdam Editor: Shirley Agudo, Laren, www.shirleyagudo.com Design: Ad van Helmond, Amsterdam Cover design: Ad van Helmond, Amsterdam Production: Bariet bv, Steenwijk All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers.

ISBN 978 94 6022 079 1 NUR 812/741/780

Contents Introduction

7

1 On images and stereotypes

17

2 Hierarchy and the Dutch problem with it 3 Hierarchical issues in the workplace 4 Directness and criticism

61

82

5 Pragmatic, rational and money-minded 6 Procedures and planning

24

104

127

7 The pleasure society – tolerant or indifferent?

8 Nationalism and the international outlook

159 183

9 On gender, generations and personal relations 10 On ethnic issues and multicultural society 11 Regions and Randstad

202

224

250

12 The Netherlands: a country undergoing profound changes 13 Do’s and don’ts

274

14 The Netherlands: facts and figures 277 About the author Acknowledgements Index

289

287 288

262

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6 dealing with the dutch

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DEALING WITH THE DUTCH

Introduction Do national cultures still exist in a globalising world, in a unifying Europe? Isn’t there a kind of corporate identity nowadays which is far more important for employees and managers than their cultural backgrounds, their ‘roots’? These are two objections to the work of intercultural trainers, like me, that are sometimes brought up by HR managers or team leaders who must decide about budgets for intercultural training programmes.

Well, these questions are understandable, as we are all aware of the profound changes taking place in the modern world. But even if there were such a uniform work culture, it wouldn’t be valid for all levels in the organisation. Managers don’t only work together with other managers; they also need to communicate with secretaries and other people who may not lead quite such ‘international’ lives.

In listening to expatriates (‘expats’) and others working in host countries, cultural differences clearly cannot be denied. In the case of the Netherlands, people from countries as far apart as China and Belgium, the USA and Romania all notice things that strike them as being not quite in line with a globalising and unifying world culture.

This book is sprinkled with various quotes from people all around the world, but let me already present you with some situations that you might encounter in the first weeks and months of working – and dealing – with the Dutch: • Colleagues who are friendly and helpful but decline your invitation for drinks after work, saying something about ‘family obligations’; • Colleagues who are apparently not all that keen on helping you with your questions; • Colleagues who shut down their PCs at 5 PM and go home – despite the fact that there is always work to be done – because personal life is important, too; introduction 7

• The seemingly crucial importance of coffee (and not of tea or soft drinks); • Dutch managers (and even members of Parliament!) coming to work by bicycle or public transport; • Trade unionists peacefully negotiating and compromising with management; • The importance of the clock, of agendas, of meetings; • Secretaries who tell you to wait until they’re finished doing ‘this other thing’; • A shockingly low percentage of female managers; • People dropping all work for a foreign holiday for four weeks during which they prefer to ‘not be reached in any way’. … And there will be many more situations that you find slightly odd or even quite remarkable. All of these will be discussed in the following chapters and put into some sort of framework to make them understandable and, hopefully, acceptable and even logical.

Dealing with the Dutch is about the everyday working culture of the Dutch. It is intended for people from other countries who have contacts with the Netherlands through work or business: incoming expatriates, business people coming here or dealing with the Dutch for shorter periods, and those who work with the Dutch on a regular basis, either in Holland or abroad. The aim of this book is to provide a light-hearted yet meaningful description and explanation of every­day Dutch behaviour as observed by foreigners encountering the locals in work-related environments.

Dealing with the Dutch therefore focuses on the Dutch system of values and norms in the present-day social and economic framework. Set throughout the book are observations (printed in italics) of non-Dutch nationals who have already had dealings with the Dutch, in the wider context of culture and society, concentrating on the level of everyday con­tacts in work and business. As a result, you will discover what you are likely to encounter in Holland and how to avoid all manner of misunderstandings.

It is important to say up front that foreigners working with the Dutch seldom experience problems of sloth or ineffi­ciency, inade­ quate infrastructu­ re or other logistical or ‘hardware’ problems.

8 dealing with the dutch

However, endless holidays and frequency of part-time work, bureaucratic overkill, and a strange but pervasive absence of good customer service may indeed darken this picture. Families relocating here find the general facilities (shops, schools, etc.) quite adequate, although it must be said that it is neither easy nor budget-friendly to find a suitable place to live in Holland. Of course, the initial phase of settling in a foreign country always causes some uneasiness, but once that culture shock is over, you should have little-to-no difficulty with everyday matters and lifestyle here. Bureaucracy aside, systems in Holland do have a way of working well overall.

What, then, do expatriates generally complain about in relation to the Dutch? For as long as I have been working with expatriates and other foreigners dealing with the Dutch, they keep telling me that it is the underlying values and norms of their Dutch colleagues, counterparts or subordina­tes which puzzle and sometimes irritate them. For example, they mention the directness of the Dutch, the negative feedback, the inordinate amount of rules and regulations and their Dutch colleagues’ strict separation of work and leisure time. In recent years, they are often shocked by the harsh and very politically-incorrect judgements of some Dutch people on issues like immigration and ethnic minorities – all the more surprising in a country with a reputation for tolerance. On a more positive note, foreigners are generally pleased with the helpfulness of the Dutch, their reliability, the fact that almost everybody speaks English, the openness of Dutch society to creative innovation and unusual solutions, and the readiness of the Dutch to compromise.

Norms and values are not static, of course, and it seems that in recent years Dutch society, in tune with others, has been changing more rapidly than ever before. However, cultural characteristics and ‘typical’ behaviour don’t change over­night. In fact, they may reappear in other forms. I have tried to take this into account, on the one hand by sketching the underly­ing, historical roots of Dutch culture, and on the other by bringing the picture up to date with exam­ples of recent changes that appear to be crucially relevant.

One widespread misunderstanding should be cleared up before we continue. So far, I have used the names ‘Holland’ and ‘The introduction 9

Netherlands’ as if they are one and the same, just two names for the same country. In English, indeed, they are more or less interchangeable, although the more offici­al term, ‘The Netherlands’, is generally used for ceremonial or diploma­tic purposes. However, the Dutch themselves call their country ‘Nederland’ and with just a few exceptions, use the word ‘Holland’ only to specifi­cally indicate the most important and dominant region of the country: the highly urbanised area in the western provinces, the so-called ‘Randstad’ (see map). This region is the econo­mic, cultural and politi­cal heart of the nation and increasingly functions as one large multi-centered ‘city’ of some 7 million people.

Most business encounters with Dutch people take place in the Randstad and this means that you will usually be dealing with ‘Hollanders’, people who were either born in this region or live there now. Since this ‘Holland proper’ exercises a strong overall influence through national insti­tutions and the media, this book largely deals with the mentality and behaviour of people in this region. More information on the other areas of the country will be provided in chap­ ter 11.

Thus, the following chapters focus on what one might call the ‘average’ behaviour of the ethnic Dutch majority in business and work. But, like other European countries, the Netherlands – certainly the Randstad area – has turned into a multicultural society.

Including those from former Dutch colonies (most of whom already had Dutch nationality) over 2 million people from different cultural backgrounds have moved here in recent decades - now approaching some 20% of the total population. Although many have integrated into Dutch society, the mentality and behaviour of quite a few of them is not the same as that described in this book, and their presence is a hot issue in Holland. More discussion on these ethnic minorities and their position in Dutch society can be found in chapter 10.

Generalisations are inevitable in a book like this. Even in such a small country as the Netherlands there are differences in values, views and manners between various groups of the population, between generations, and so on. Some of the issues related to gender and generations are discussed in chapter 9.

As for the business world, another factor is worthy of mention.

The Dutch economy is open and internation­ally-orien­ted, and many 10 dealing with the dutch

Dutch busi­ness people have been affected by wide exposure to foreign cultures. In their working life, and perhaps in their private life, too, their mentality and behaviour may no longer be ‘typically Dutch’, but rather reflect a kind of international culture. Business people from other countries frequently find such ‘international’ Dutchmen ‘easier’ to deal with than the more ‘local’ ones: “The Dutch are not all the same. Are they or are they not exposed to an international environment on a more or less daily basis? If they are, then the differences tend to blend away: for instance, their need to leave the office and be home for dinner at six. If they have had more exposure to an international environment, they are more willing to stay until the job is finished.” (Israel) “The Dutch people who have experience in living abroad themselves are more helpful and hospitable than the ones who don’t.” (Czech Republic) Granted, the Netherlands may have a large number of such internationally-experienced managers and CEOs, but these people are still a minori­ty by far. Therefore, this book will try to prepare you for more likely – and more challenging – situations: dealing with people who behave in a ‘typi­cally’ Dutch manner. Such people may be found both in smaller companies that are only now beginning to explore cross-border markets, and in larger and/or multina­tional compa­nies where not everyone at all levels has had business experience abroad.

It may seem obvious to say that Dutch mentality and behaviour will be most surprising and strange to people from vastly different cultures such as Nigeria, India or Brazil. But there is a pitfall here for readers from nearby Germany, Belgium or even Britain. Just because, superficially, things in the Netherlands seem to be very much the same as they are at home, neighbouring cultures may be fooled into thinking that they are the same. With the realisation that there are a significant number of small differences after all, frustration and culture shock may hit even harder.

For those observations throughout Dealing with the Dutch by expatriates residing in the Nether­lands, mostly for reasons of work, I have tried to select quotes which, in my opinion, are not only fairly typical of what people from other countries think of the Dutch, but which also accurately reflect Dutch reality. At the same time I have introduction 11

tried as far as possible to select quotes that have something ‘extra’, whether in the phrasing, an interesting point of view, or humour.

The quotes were either made to me by participants in the training pro­grammes called ‘Understanding the Dutch’ at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam (KIT) or in other encounters with foreign guests to this country, or collec­ted by me personally from interviews in Dutch newspapers or magazi­nes.

Some remarks on this fourth edition The whole world is changing, and faster than ever before, it seems. So is the Netherlands, and I find it increasingly difficult to make sense of those changes, especially also the ones in my city of residence, Amsterdam, which is a bit of a separate entity within Dutch culture. For that reason, I decided to take a distance from my own culture for some time and write this new edition away from home, in Thailand – a very good reason to be away, it turned out, from a cold and snowy winter.

The distance worked, I believe, and the result is (hopefully) a more objective update on the characteristics of the modern Dutch, focusing on the work situation and the position of foreigners dealing with the Dutch.

Consider, if you will, an old comment about the Netherlands (attributed to the 19th-century German poet Heinrich Heine) that says, “When the world comes to an end, go to Holland because everything happens fifty years later there.” While this may have been true around 1830, it certainly isn’t true in the 21st century. Quite the reverse, in fact, the Netherlands has become a modern country to the core with, for instance, a ranking among the world’s highest presence and use of the Internet in households, a position on the forefront of technological innovation, and some really advanced social policies in the field of relationships (such as gay marriage), and health (e.g. legal abortion and semi-legal euthanasia) – all subjects which will be discussed later on.

The first edition of this book was written in 1996/1997, with partial rewrites in 2001 and again in 2004. What struck me over the years is not so much the changes themselves but the correlation between the state of the economy and the general mood in the 12 dealing with the dutch

country. In Dutch we have a saying for changing moods, literally translated “Johnny laughs, Johnny cries,” and that is what seems to be the case on a national scale. This has always been true in terms of our weather: in summer the Dutch appear to be happier than in winter. But the economic winds seem to play a similar role. By coincidence, every time I rewrote the book during an economic upturn, by the time it was printed, the figures were down again and all the light-heartedness I had just described was vanishing. On the other hand, when I depicted a somewhat gloomy mood, it would feel all too gloomy by the time the book was published.

So, waves recede and tides change. There was an economic upturn around the millennium; then came 2001 with a downturn and, on top of that, ‘9/11’, which seriously affected the Netherlands as well. However, by 2003 things started improving again and by early 2008 the Dutch economy was booming – well, by European standards, that is. And then of course the credit crunch blew here from the USA, with the ensuing recession.

Honestly, I give up. Johnny laughs, and just when you get used to that and frolic along, he starts crying. Bring out the tissues and a glass of lemonade to comfort him, and by the time you emerge from the kitchen, the mood is back up.

With that in mind, what I’ll do in this edition is describe a more or less average mood – Dutch everyday culture and behaviour as observed first-hand by foreigners over the years. In the last chapter I will say a few things about the economic tide and political scene at the time of my rewriting the material, but we’ll start out with several chapters that can be expected to remain true over quite a few years to come, since short-term economic waxing and waning only superficially affect a nation’s culture – culture being a more profound concept than mere moods or behaviour. Yet we need to pay attention to some changes that do seem to really be a rupture with the past. Some things never change, they say, but some do, forever.

In his book Organizational Culture and Leadership (1985), Edward Schein compares cultures to an onion with three layers. On the visible outside are easily changeable aspects such as ‘artefacts’ (things) and behaviour, which may be highly altered by new technologies or fashions. Slightly deeper are norms and values – certain standards introduction 13

or expectations of people’s conduct (moral or social), normally not under debate until someone transgresses them. Norms and values are influenced by social and political changes, but it takes some time for that. And at the core of the onion, there are Schein’s ‘basic assumptions’, the long-term views of a culture on issues such as truth, time, good and bad, taste, beauty, and human relations. Basic assumptions change, but only slowly, over several generations. It is on them that I mostly want to focus – on the way that they emerge in a modern context, in today’s Dutch society and business world.

In my training programmes for newcomers about Dutch culture, and on the co-operation between Dutch and non-Dutch managers, newly arrived foreign managers continue to express their surprise at aspects of Dutch behaviour that, as a Dutchman, I had thought less common today than before. Certain mannerisms do get mentioned again and again, and when I ask if perhaps it is an older person they are talking about, they deny it: no, fairly young people did so and so, said such and such, reacted in this way or that. Apparently, beneath the façade of modernity and free market principles, the Dutch are not changing as quickly as they sometimes like to believe (or fear).

In other words, the basic assumptions of the Dutch still hold, to a large extent. Certain traditional Dutch characteristics, such as directness, critical attitudes and money-mindedness, are still around but in a new guise. What looks like real ‘new’ behaviour may well – consciously or unconsciously – be a dissociation from older patterns, i.e. “Please let’s be different from our parents.” But it often strikes me how, especially during a conflict when the debate reaches a critical point, the norms and values noticeable are those firmly rooted in previous periods. Behaviour may have changed, but new norms and values do not appear to have crystallised yet.

For this reason, I have included evidence of new phenomena in relevant sections. Given the fact that, below the surface, cultures only change very slowly, I still classify seemingly ‘new’ behaviour into the more traditional categories of Dutch culture. Such categorising is debatable, of course, and I’d be interested in knowing if you disagree with my views. (You can contact me through my website: www.jacobvossestein.nl)

14 dealing with the dutch

So, what are these older, more traditional categories? Well, after years of training foreign business people and other professio­nals in the field of Dutch culture, I have put together the following list, which forms the basis of this book: Low hierarchy: The old Calvinistic precept that all people are equal

may have worn thin by now, but the resulting ambiguous stance of the Dutch toward hierarchy, power and status still abounds.

Directness and critical attitudes: Abiding by a centuries-old trait,

the Dutch are usually not afraid to voice their opinions in no uncertain terms, unless private emotions are at stake, though even that doesn’t always impede them. On social and political issues, the opinions seem to be voiced even more strongly than in previous years, giving rise to some foreigners’ shock upon hearing them.

Pragmatism and money-mindedness: A rather functional and prac-

tical approach to life, with a keen eye on financial aspects, is a prime orientation of the Dutch, but less so for more relationship-oriented matters.

Bureaucratic and yet tolerant: A general inclination exists towards applying fixed procedures for almost anything, yet being permissive and tolerant to other lifestyles. (Well, not to all, as we will see...)

The Netherlands is a land of rules and regulations that, by and large, still allows (most) people to live the way they choose to live.

Or are the Dutch perhaps just indifferent?

Internationalism and openness: A trading nation that needs to face

the world, and does – with bold aplomb and finesse. One needs only to witness their facility for languages.

In spite of modern changes, to which we will certainly pay attention, quite a bit of the old remains – if not always visible, then at least in the underlying values and the comments that people make.

The generic Dutch value system hasn’t yet changed altogether. This is certainly the case among the vast majority of people who do not work in the ITC sector, who do not live in the Randstad cities, who introduction 15

do not work abroad, and who do not regularly fly back and forth to New York or Shanghai. For visiting business people and expatriates settling in the Netherlands – and they are the target group of this book – such ‘less-globalised’ people make up a large portion of those that they will probably encounter at work and in their private lives. So let’s explore the characteristics of the majority of the Dutch, and the society they created – then and now.

Let me begin the discussion of present-day Dutch mentality by exploring the stereotypes of the Dutch which prevail internationally, sometimes already for a very long time.

16 dealing with the dutch

chapter 1

On images and stereotypes “Ah, you’re from Holland? Such a nice little country, with flowers everywhere. Pity it always rains there.” (French lady talking to the author on a train from Paris to Nice)

“I am surprised how such a small country with so many people can be so prosperous. My country is so much bigger and yet there is poverty and many conflicts over land property.” (Brazil) ‘Sex Shop Amsterdam’ (name of small enterprise in Granada, Spain) ‘Double Dutch’ (old English expression for unclear language)

Almost everyone has preconceived ideas, frequently generated by the media, of other countries and the people who come from them.

Even the remo­test country inspires some mental picture, however vague or stereotypical, of what it might be like. Of course, stereo­ types are not wholly representative, but they usually do reflect certain realistic characte­ris­tics, perhaps out of context or outdated, or stripped of their real meaning and function, but characteristics nonetheless. Accurate or not, the stereotype is what most people start from; it colours their expectations and initial perceptions. But, particularly when we work among or with the people to whom the stereotype re­fers, we gradually learn how valid or untrue the generalisations, contexts, and nuances really are. The same, of course, applies to the stereotypes about the Netherlands and the Dutch.

The Netherlands is not exactly a remote country, being in the heart of Europe, and it features regularly in the international media. This means that different people have different images of our country, some more accurate than others, some dating from long ago and some quite recent, some promoted by Dutch institu­ tions or media, and some definitely not. Abroad, prevailing images differ widely, depending on the observer’s national origins that colour the way the person per­ceives a foreign country. Such images always reflect a person’s own cultu­ral back­ground. on images and stereotypes 17

In that vein, virtually all the quotations cited in this book – besides commenting on the Dutch – usually also reveal something of the obser­ver’s own frame of reference. For example, the French lady’s comment above says something about France, too – its relative size and climate. Opinions like this often reflect the observer’s social positi­on and the sources from which (s)he acquired the informa­ ti­on. It makes quite a difference whe­ther one reads Dutch newspa­ pers, or has worked with Dutch people, or made several visits to the Nether­lands, or had meaningful contact with the Dutch in any other way.

Be that as it may, let’s attempt to make an inventory of the most impor­tant images of the Netherlands as they surface in foreign publications and public opinion. Some of these are major factors in attracting – or repelling – incoming expatriates; others are not.

The sturdy image (popular in geography books): a flat, wet country, most of it lying below sea level. A place where it never stops raining and which would surely be flooded if it were not for the windmills, the famous Delta Works and little Hans Brinker sticking his finger in the dike. The Dutch concern about climate change and rising sea levels is often mentioned in media reports on the topic.

The tourist-office image (e.g. the aforementioned French lady’s per-

spective): a largely agrarian idyll, much like a fairy-tale: charming Queen Beatrix ruling an innocent little country, the inhabitants of which wear wooden shoes and ride bicycles and live peace­f ully, producing milk, cheese, tulips and other flowers. The residents in this fairy-tale live in old, quaintly-gabled houses along canals or in picturesque, thatched-roof farmhouses – and, of course, the sun is always shining. This idyllic image is reinforced by the Keukenhof, a lush park with millions of colourful tulips – an extremely popular springtime tourist attraction drawing visitors from around the world.

The cultural image: a small country with a great tradition in the arts. Famous painters past and present, with their works on display in wonderful museums; also renowned for its world-famous symphony orchestras and ballet companies, and as a good place for 18 dealing with the dutch

avant-garde theatre and modern design. Of late, the Dutch culture is also gaining some fame as a source of good literature, which the outside world of course reads in translation.

The permissive, lenient image: a place where apparently anything

goes (upheld from rather different angles by both foreign journalists and young travellers). Although most of them typically concentrate on the rocking and rolling city of Amsterdam, journalists and travellers tend to imagine that all of the Netherlands is a (far too) liberal society where specialised shops sell supposedly legal drugs and pornograp­hy, and ‘Red-light districts’ abound – portraying the entire country quite sensationally. This lenient image encompasses a nation that finds it perfectly normal for gay couples – officially married, of course – to ‘obtain’ children by artificial insemination, and where people are helped (or even forced!) to die by itinerant doctors legally practising euthanasia. Luckily for the Netherlands, foreigners staying a bit longer discover that much of this image is overdrawn and quite distorted, and that there is a lot more to Dutch society than meets the eye.

The humane and tolerant image: a place with great freedom for all

kinds of lifestyles and great respect for human rights; a comfortable, safe haven. This image is still sometimes held by immigrants and political refugees coming into Europe, linked to the permissive image above, but from yet another perspective. “The Netherlands has a good reputation among Africans. My friends in other EU countries like to come here. It’s a kind of safe haven. You don’t notice too much discrimination here, but when I go to France the police pick me out immediately.” (Nigerian asylum-seeker in a newspaper interview).

Dutch laws, however, have become much stricter over the last few years, to the despair of many people from other parts of the world who would like to live here because of this country’s wide-ranging political and religious freedom, as well as its prosperity. All the more shocking was it in recent years, therefore, when some Dutch public figures voiced fierce anti-Islamic opinions and even published movies on this topic, including one on the Internet. Indeed, visiting foreigners are sometimes incredulous of certain individuals’ decidedly intolerant views on multicultural society and the presence of immion images and stereotypes 19

grants. Has Dutch tolerance suddenly vanished? We will of course need to come back to this issue in a later chapter.

The responsible nation image: in Brussels, Washington, Geneva and

such centres of international political decision-making, the Netherlands is seen as a country that takes seriously its international obligations in providing development assistance and other support for world peace. The Dutch government not only finances international peace missions and military peace-enforcing operations but also takes part in them. It also presents initiatives in environmental and other global issues such as women’s rights, aid to refugees, malaria and HIV. For many years, the Dutch have taken European unification very seriously and contributed much more money per capita to the EU budget than other nations. In 2003, the Dutch contributed twice as much to the EU budget as the next net contributors, while it reaps far fewer subsidies than most member states. Some local political observers and an increasing number of voters sourly describe this as ‘trying to be the most obedient kid in the classroom’, while others applaud it, calling the Netherlands ‘a decent country’.

The blunt and opinionated image: a tiny country with a big mouth,

wanting to appear larger than it is; its people tact­lessly expressing their views on other people’s and other nations’ affairs (largely discussed among expatriates and discreetly joked about in diplomatic circles). Suffice it to say that it cannot be all that bad, given the prestigious international positions that Dutch people have achieved in organisations like NATO, European Bank, European Commission, UN High Commission for Refugees, International Red Cross, etc. Of course the verdict also applies to individual Dutch people, as will be thoroughly discussed later on in this book.

The sporting image: a nation of good sports-people with a sometimes

bizarre following of fans and supporters dressed in outrageously bright orange outfits – feasting and partying, and literally painting the town orange! Previously, this applied primarily to football, but the Dutch also have a strong reputation in other sports such as iceskating, swimming, tennis, hockey, and even darts and mountain climbing, but the wider Dutch audience is not always aware of this.

20 dealing with the dutch

Witness the fact that hockey teams from Holland may be among the best in the world, but back home they are lucky to receive more than a few minutes of television coverage.

The tight-with-money image: money-minded people whose greatest

pleasu­re is extracting every last cent out of any transaction, or offering just one cookie with the coffee before they put the lid back on the jar. (The Dutch themselves like to share in this last joke, by the way, and then deny that they themselves would ever do this!) Many people abroad – particularly in neighbouring countries – are convinced that when the Dutch go on holiday elsewhere in Europe, they load up their caravans with food from their own supermarket at home rather than spend money in local restaurants. As a result, all the way down to the shores of the Mediterranean, street vendors may comment (in Dutch!) on Dutch shoppers with the slogan ‘kijken, kijken, niet kopen’ (‘looking, looking, not buying’) … which brings us to the final image.

The economic image: known for eons as the quintessential world

traders; in international business circles, both the Dutch economy as a whole and individual companies and entrepreneurs are still taken very seriously. Small as it is, the Netherlands remains as one of the world’s larger trading nations. With Rotterdam being Europe’s busiest harbour and Schiphol a major airport hub, the Netherlands promotes itself as ‘the Gateway to Europe’. Moreover, it is home to such large numbers of worldwide operating companies that it can be said to have the highest ‘multinational company density’ in the world.

Based in a small but wealthy home market, these same companies are active in many other countries, with majority shareholdings (often acquired at a very favourable price) or even outright ownership of foreign companies, although the economic turmoil of the years following 2001 brought some major changes for some of these companies.

Finally, besides large companies and banks there are scores of smaller Dutch enterprises that are active internationally. Just a few examples: the Netherlands’ dairy industry, which supplies half the world with cheese and milk powder; and, less traditionally, some strongly internationally-geared IT-related companies; an enteron images and stereotypes 21

tainment industry producing formats for TV shows throughout the world, and music for many internationally renowned artists who record at Dutch studios.

While these prevailing images may be over-generalised and oversimplified, most Dutch people will recognise them. Someti­mes they agree with them, although they will probably not let them pass without comment (which, of course, fits in perfectly with their image of always knowing better than everyone else).

As you may have noticed, some of these stereotypes are quite contradictory. For example: How can such ‘money minded’ people put up with such heavy taxation? How can a society with a reputation for tolerance produce a considerable political following of people with fiercely anti-Islamic and intolerant views? How can porno­graphy be associated with wooden-shoe-wearing flower growers? Where do those quaint old gables fit in with the ‘legal’ drugs? How can a modern economy successfully compete with a tourist image of cheese and windmills?

Needless to say, these questions will be put into context later on but, just for the moment, let me point out that such contradictions and wide range of stereo­t ypes reflect a pluriformous society that accommodates a broad variety of lifestyles and views within a very small country. When we conden­se them, a broad-based image emerges of a country that does not avoid challenges but is willing to debate and also try solutions that may be out of the ordinary.

This sounds rather fascinating and provocative, and it could easily evoke the idea that the Netherlands is a land of non-confor­mists.

There certain­ly are such people around, and Dutch television happily presents them to an amused audience. Yet most visitors from abroad see the Netherlands in quite a different light; they see a highly-organised society of great regularity, a country where public transport generally runs on time1, where rules written and unwritten 1

This is a foreign compliment that amazes Dutch people. Not familiar with other countries’

public transport, the Dutch complain that trains and buses are always late, they never run when you need them and, of course, are too expensive. In defence of this Dutch view, it must be said that foreigners usually base their positive opinion on experiences in the well-serviced Randstad area, as well as on their counter experiences in other countries.

22 dealing with the dutch

abound, and where, in spite of all the permissiveness, most people seem to follow a set pattern of daily activities. As an illustration, a Spanish lady working in Holland once exclaimed: “Someti­mes I wonder if the Dutch have blood in their veins, or milk!”

This picture is quite contrary to some of the stereotypes – conformity rather than unconven­tio­nality, boring rather than fascinating. The Spanish lady’s comment reveals something of the despair that someone from a more emotio­nal, warm-blooded culture may experience here.

And yet there are those sex shops, those ‘coffee shops’ selling soft drugs, those social experiments, and those ground-breaking laws and otherwise daring solutions. And there are also those stub­born Dutch who will insist on going their own way, despite convention.

This is ‘the Dutch paradox’.

on images and stereotypes 23