Robert Schipper, Executive Director, Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency talks to deepak ranjan patra about how the Dutch changed the rules of the economic engine
B&E: You consider Netherlands to be a ‘bridge-head to Europe’ for companies looking to access the European markets. Can you elaborate?
RS: The Netherlands has had a tremendous geographical advantage and has physically been the trade and transport hub for north-western Europe, its industrial heartland. The Dutch have centuries of experience in transporting goods into and outside Europe. The port of Rotterdam and Schipol Airport are the leading logistics hubs in the world. We speak the main languages of Europe and our population is fluent in English, the language of modern trade and business. To add to this, the Netherlands has a business-friendly regulatory framework and an internationally oriented tax system that makes it advantageous for foreign companies to set up here and conduct their European business from the Netherlands. In fact, many cross border transactions are routed through Dutch holding companies because of the tax advantages we offer and our efficient manner of doing business. A wide treaty network ensures that companies based in the Netherlands avoid double taxation, effectively helping international operations in the Netherlands to become profitable. Therefore, both physically and financially, the Netherlands is a great entry point into Europe, one of the world’s major markets.
B&E: You have worked in various key positions for NFIA in many countries including USA, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. How difficult or easy, in terms of regulations and processes, it is to invest in India vis-à-vis other countries?
RS: One can look at FDI in two ways. One way is that it is necessary to protect your indigenous industry from foreign competition. India has been able to do that since it has a large home market. The Netherlands, on the other hand, has never been in a position to do so and has always been an open economy. Since the Dutch had to access foreign markets to sell our products, we also had to open our doors to foreign companies. This has made our companies very competitive and spawned some of the early multinationals like Philips, Shells, Akzo Nobel and Unilever, some in cooperation with the UK. In a globalizing world I believe that no country can afford to live alone anymore.
India has clearly been benefited by globalization since it opened up in the early ‘90s and we can see the success stories like the IT/ITeS sector. Indian companies have also been tremendously successful in the global economy since they were allowed to expand out. I am confident that in the future, many global players will have their origins in India.
B&E: You consider Netherlands to be a ‘bridge-head to Europe’ for companies looking to access the European markets. Can you elaborate?
RS: The Netherlands has had a tremendous geographical advantage and has physically been the trade and transport hub for north-western Europe, its industrial heartland. The Dutch have centuries of experience in transporting goods into and outside Europe. The port of Rotterdam and Schipol Airport are the leading logistics hubs in the world. We speak the main languages of Europe and our population is fluent in English, the language of modern trade and business. To add to this, the Netherlands has a business-friendly regulatory framework and an internationally oriented tax system that makes it advantageous for foreign companies to set up here and conduct their European business from the Netherlands. In fact, many cross border transactions are routed through Dutch holding companies because of the tax advantages we offer and our efficient manner of doing business. A wide treaty network ensures that companies based in the Netherlands avoid double taxation, effectively helping international operations in the Netherlands to become profitable. Therefore, both physically and financially, the Netherlands is a great entry point into Europe, one of the world’s major markets.
B&E: You have worked in various key positions for NFIA in many countries including USA, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. How difficult or easy, in terms of regulations and processes, it is to invest in India vis-à-vis other countries?
RS: One can look at FDI in two ways. One way is that it is necessary to protect your indigenous industry from foreign competition. India has been able to do that since it has a large home market. The Netherlands, on the other hand, has never been in a position to do so and has always been an open economy. Since the Dutch had to access foreign markets to sell our products, we also had to open our doors to foreign companies. This has made our companies very competitive and spawned some of the early multinationals like Philips, Shells, Akzo Nobel and Unilever, some in cooperation with the UK. In a globalizing world I believe that no country can afford to live alone anymore.
India has clearly been benefited by globalization since it opened up in the early ‘90s and we can see the success stories like the IT/ITeS sector. Indian companies have also been tremendously successful in the global economy since they were allowed to expand out. I am confident that in the future, many global players will have their origins in India.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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