Tuesday, the Dutch PM visited the US president to discuss (a.o.) the American export ban for ASML, a Dutch company that specializes in the development and manufacturing of high-tech machines, which are used to produce high-tech computer chips. This American export ban hurts ASML's profits. Several decades ago, Western companies moved production facilities...
Family-owned companies
What’s in it for me?
Late April 2022, the Dutch multinational Randstad (eg, temporary labour) published the results of a study amongst students (eg, FD). Their main conclusion was that students are more interested in the culture and salary at an organization than its purpose or sustainability. I just wondered why this is even news. My title above is a phrase that we express once the...
Competence vs confidence
Recently, I posted a (Dutch) question: why is competence no longer required in political management? My question does not imply that incompetence rules. No. The same phenomenon exists in businesses, whether privately owned or publicly listed. Last but not least, my question is gender neutral. In his 1969 book, The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong,...
China’s smallest firms failing at historic pace as 4.37 million close up shop and registrations plummet (SCMP)
South China Morning Post title: China’s smallest firms failing at historic pace as 4.37 million close up shop and registrations plummetBy: Ji SiqiDate: 30 December 2021 "[Summary of bullet points:] Ex-finance minister has said official economic indicators failed to paint accurate picture of economy, and publicly available data did not show how many firms...
Authority without responsibility
One of the key areas in any function, job or role is the match between responsibility, the number of tasks that you need to perform for covering that responsibility, and the authority and means that you need to being able to fulfil your job. Quite often there is a mismatch, like inadequate authority, inadequate means, too many tasks. In...
Family-owned companies
In 1602, a global watershed moment took place when the Dutch East India Company was founded. From that moment, ownership, management and capital (ie, funding) were no longer in one (family) hand. However, little has changed over the past 400 years. Family-owned companies are still the majority of all businesses worldwide. Why? The most logical explanation is that...
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