The Netherlands continues to rank among the top dozen trading nations in the world. Expect Dutch businesspeople to be experienced and sophisticated.
The Dutch are a low-context, straight-speaking people. They can be blunt spoken and critical without meaning to offend.
Do not make any promises you cannot keep. The Dutch expect honesty; any backpedaling on what they perceive as a promise will cause you to lose credibility. Even an offhand promise—such as “We’ll take care of it”—is likely to be taken at face value.
Negotiating with Dutch people
- Do not be surprised if meetings begin with little or no preliminary socializing. The Dutch value the effective use of time and do not like to waste it on small talk.
- Dutch executives are often straightforward and efficient. However, the pace of corporate decision-making may be slower in the Netherlands than in North America.
- Decisions in Dutch firms are based upon consensus. Every employee who may be affected will be consulted. All opinions will be listened to, regardless of the status or seniority of the person. The process can take a good deal of time.
- Dutch society values diversity of opinion. Everyone has his or her say, and they do not have to agree. An effort will be made to accommodate all divergent positions. This will include an attempt to make dissenters change their minds.
- Once a positive decision has been reached, Dutch firms will move swiftly. Everyone will be committed to the project and will be prepared to act quickly.
- A negative decision may be slower in coming. The one area in which many Dutch are not blunt is in saying “no.” They may prevaricate or predict insurmountable complications instead of giving a direct “no.”
- The Dutch admire modesty and abhor exaggeration or ostentation. Be sure you can back up your claims with lots of data. Keep your presentation clear and straightforward.
- Keep every promise you make, no matter how minor. A person who cannot be trusted to be punctual or to deliver a proposal on time will not be considered responsible enough to fulfill a contract.
- Most executives in the Netherlands understand English, so it is not necessary to have your business cards translated. However, all promotional materials and instruction manuals should be translated into Dutch.
- History is very important in the Netherlands. If your company has been around for many years, the date of its founding should be on your business card.
- Education is well respected in the Netherlands; include any degree above the bachelor’s level on your card.
- It is quite possible that you will walk into an office and start talking business immediately after introducing yourself. In a country with centuries of experience in commerce, Dutch executives believe that they can judge whether they wish to work with someone quickly.
- In addition, it is also possible that a Dutch executive will have had background research done on prospective clients. This gives the executives hard data to back up their impressions, while maintaining a reputation for being “canny judges of human character.”
- When the Dutch decide to chat before getting down to business, expect to be asked about your flight, your accommodations, where you are from, and so forth. Contacts are vital to doing business in the Netherlands, so know the name of every possible person who could give you or your company a good reference. Be aware of recent political events, both in your own country and in the Netherlands; the Dutch frequently discuss politics.
- The Dutch respect honesty and forthrightness. It is better to be blunt than to appear devious or evasive.
- When an individual must be either complimented or chastised, the Dutch always do so in private.
- Always avoid giving an impression of superiority. Egalitarianism is a central tenet of Dutch society. Everyone in a Dutch company, from the boss to every laborer, is considered valuable and worthy of respect.
- Privacy is very important in the Netherlands. Doors are kept closed, both at work and at home. Always knock on a closed door and wait to be admitted.
- Keep personal questions superficial; if your counterpart wants you to know any detail about his or her family, he or she will tell you. Avoid talking about sex, including the fact that prostitution is legal in the Netherlands.
- The Dutch tend to stand somewhat further apart than North Americans when talking. The positioning of furniture reflects this, and you may find yourself giving a sales pitch from a chair that seems uncomfortably far away. Do not move your chair closer; it is not your place to rearrange the furniture.
- Dutch family life is kept separate from business dealings. However, executives do take work home with them and may be phoned at home about business matters.
I personally don’t have that much experience with doing business in the Netherlands or with people from the Netherlands. My experience reaches to my Dutch roommate. He is a business student from Erasmus University, Rotterdam School of Management.
ReplyDeleteThe first realization I made is that the Dutch are probably not that different from the Germans. We are very close geographically and we tend to follow the same line in European politics for instance.
Besides the similarity, I think we have the following differences;
I think the Germans have more hierarchy in their decision making. The article said that the Dutch like to find consensus with everybody and that this process can take quite a lot of time. I think the Germans are more like the Americans in this process. A bit faster and without consulting everybody that will be affected by the decisions. This of course has its advantages, but also its disadvantages.
I also think the Dutch are more adapted to international business. This is mainly because their country is relatively small. They really depend on other countries more than Germany does (and needs to). You can see this in their understanding of English. It is really good in general. I even met this German girl that has been studying in the Netherlands for two years now, and almost does not speak Dutch because when the Dutch hear her struggling, they switch to English.
That were two of the differences, but again, I think there are mainly similarities.
This article gives a very clear and true explanation about the Dutch business culture. Indeed we are very low context. What I have noticed is that I have to take a few steps back when I complain about something to an Indonesian. I can be very direct and I am not afraid to say no to someone. For example, during my internship I gave a presentation about my research findings and asked about my studentcoach’s opinion. He replied; “Bas you have wasted your time, you did it totally wrong”. He did not offend me with that, it is just a different way of communicating.
ReplyDeleteDoing business with a Dutch company is not difficult, we are used to do business abroad and everybody speaks the basics of English, even the cleaning personnel.
In the Netherlands we have this saying that is very important In doing business: You have a no, you can get a yes. You have to prove yourself. Dutch
In the Netherlands the people are very strict and organized. I noticed Indonesian are not and I want to share my experience with you. I had a football meeting yesterday, I was asked to be there at 6 p.m., so I was there at 5 before 6. Then an Indonesian guy came to ask what I was doing there so early. I said why? It is almost 6 p.m…. Then he said this: “oh haha yeah we always tell people it starts 30 minutes early so everyone will be there at 6.30”. I think I was the only person in that room who did NOT find that commentary funny. Don’t ever do that when you are doing business in the Netherlands. They will shake your hand and say; Sir, thank you for your time but I don’t see a pleasant cooperation in the future with you. Of course I didn’t said that, but I did explained them that these kind of things are not common in the Netherlands and that I didn’t like it.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting article to read, because I come from the Netherlands. I think a lot of the bullets are true. You never think about these bullets, for me it is more a habit. But for a foreigner that wants to do business in the Netherlands is this defiantly nice to know. If you compare the Dutch way of doing business with the Indonesian way, there are a lot of differences.
ReplyDeleteFor example Dutch people are straighter to the point and more focused on doing business than building relationships. Time management is very important in the Netherlands. Here in Indonesia time doesn’t play an important role, if it is not today than they will do it tomorrow.
My opinion about the privacy is a bit differences. I think privacy is very important in the Netherlands, but still everybody wants to share a bit of his or her private life. It is not strange to ask your colleague how his or her children are doing. Especially women love to talk about their children.
Netherland is known by their football team and windmill, but in this article they are not talk about those two things. The article says about all the fact relating to the Dutch business people. By reading the article, I could get how the nature of the Dutch business people. Every person from different area should have their own typical, It is interesting to know how the typical of the Dutch business people. Since I’m planning to take my double degree to Netherland, by reading this article I could be more prepare myself to face a new environment. Comparing to Indonesian business people, there are lots of differences in many aspects, for example about time management like Bas and Silvia mentioned above, we found that in Netherland if you make an appointment with someone you should come on time otherwise you will not be trusted, in Indonesia sometimes there is an excuses for coming late and some people always blame the traffic jam if they come late.
ReplyDeleteFor what I've read on this article, I think doing business with Dutch people could be delightful, at least for me. Compared to the Indonesians, I find that there are more characteristics of Dutch that I can relate to.
ReplyDelete"The Dutch value the effective use of time and do not like to waste it on small talk."
Not wasting time on small talks is what I do best, contrary to the Indonesian people. When negotiating, Indonesians tend to have to many 'basa-basi' and use more than half of their conversation time just to talk anything beside the main purpose of the meeting.
"Privacy is very important in the Netherlands ... The Dutch respect honesty and forthrightness ... Egalitarianism is the central tenet"
This is what a business environment should be, in my opinion. Throughout my experiences, I find that many Indonesians doesn't really respect honesty, especially about time (e.g. having a meeting at 10.00 am but arriving at 10.30 am instead). Furthermore, the fact that Indonesians still have almost no respect for egalitarianism is probably caused by the traditional culture of feudalism - where there is a large social gap between masters and servants. For example, you can still see people acting very bossy and stuck-up to the waiters at restaurants.
From reading the article I can see the clear difference between Indonesian and Dutch. And I think it will be very difficult for most Indonesian to do a business with Dutch. Indonesian people are more to the small talks, manners, and being nice. Whereas the Dutch are more straightforward and blunt. It is very contrast. I think it will be quite hard for Indonesian people to skip the small talks and go straight down to business. Or to be criticized bluntly.
ReplyDeleteBut it is very surprising about the statement that Dutch people are not blunt in saying “no”. They prefer to say it in a different way which is similar like Indonesian people. But if Dutch is so straightforward about everything else, even criticizing something or someone, why not in saying “no”?
I think that all Indonesian people can learn a lot from Dutch about punctuality. As we know that Indonesian are so used to have this “Jam Karet”. Karet means rubber which means that they tend to be late in appointments. Lately this habit is bothering me because of the time wasted just because a lot of people are late and I have to wait for them. When it come to business, I think Indonesian need to be more punctual and more responsible with their promises.
I’m planning on taking my double degree program in Erasmus University. Hopefully the article gives me an overview about the people and how the socialize with them, rather than just how to conduct a business negotiation. What I can conclude from above is that Dutch doesn’t give a direct rejection; here in Indonesia is somewhat the same thing. We try to reject nicely, sometimes we say “no” when actually we mean yes. Trust is an important thing, meaning that they should also value integrity. This is what Indonesia needs, more honest-integrated-trust worthy person that we can work with. Executives in Netherlands understand English; this is great because language is a common barrier. French and most German doesn’t know how to speak English, but in order to be a businessman, it’s important to understand a global language. They don’t like small talk, highly value their privacy, and personal questions are superficial. The opposite to us Indonesians.
ReplyDelete