University of Groningen Old firms in the Netherlands Brouwer, Aleid IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2005 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Brouwer, A. E. (2005). Old firms in the Netherlands: The long-term spatial impact of firms' identities and embeddedness s.n. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 10-02-2018
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Old firms in the Netherlands The long-term spatial impact of firms identities and embeddedness Proefschrift ter verkrijging van het doctoraat in de Ruimtelijke Wetenschappen aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, dr. F. Zwarts, in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 24 februari 2005 om 14.45 uur door Aleid Elizabeth Brouwer geboren op 26 februari 1976 te Enschede
Promotor: Co-promotor: Prof. dr. P.H. Pellenbarg Dr. P.R.A. Terpstra Beoordelingscommissie: Prof. dr. P.P.P. Huigen Prof. dr. P. Kooij Prof. dr. E.F. Nozeman
Old firms in the Netherlands
Nederlands Geografische Studies / Netherlands Geographical Studies Redactie / Editorial Board Drs. J.G. Borchert (Editor in Chief) Prof.Dr. J.M.M. van Amersfoort Dr. H.J.A. Berendsen Dr. P.C.J. Druijven Prof.Dr. A.O. Kouwenhoven Prof.Dr. H. Scholten Plaatselijke Redacteuren / Local Editors Drs. R. van Melik, Faculteit Geowetenschappen Universiteit Utrecht Dr. D.H. Drenth, Faculteit Beleidswetenschappen Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen Dr. P.C.J. Druijven, Faculteit der Ruimtelijke Wetenschappen, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Drs. F.L.P.M. Kwaad, Fysisch-Geografisch en Bodemkundig laboratorium Universiteit van Amsterdam Dr. L. van der Laan, Economisch-Geografisch Instituut Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam Dr. J.A. van der Schee, Centrum voor Educatieve Geografie Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Dr. F. Thissen, Instituut voor Sociale Geografie Universiteit van Amsterdam Redactie-Adviseurs / Editorial Advisory Board Prof.Dr. G.J. Ashworth, Prof.Dr. P.G.E.F. Augustinus, Prof.Dr. G.J. Borger, Prof.Dr. K. Bouwer, Prof.Dr. J. Buursink, Dr. C. Cortie, Dr. J. Floor, Prof.Dr. G.A. Hoekveld, Dr. A.C. Imeson, Prof.Dr. J.M.G. Kleinpenning, Dr. W.J. Meester, Prof.Dr. F.J. Ormeling, Prof.Dr. H.F.L. Ottens, Dr. J. Sevink, Dr. W.F. Sleegers, T.Z. Smit, Drs. P.J.M. van Steen, Dr. J.J. Sterkenburg, Drs. H.A.W. van Vianen, Prof.Dr. J. van Weesep ISSN 0169-4839
Deze publicatie werd verdedigd als academisch proefschrift aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen op 24 februari 2005 Promotor: Co-promotor: Beoordelingscommissie: Prof. dr. P.H. Pellenbarg Dr. P.R.A. Terpstra Prof. dr. P.P.P. Huigen Prof. dr. P. Kooij Prof. dr. E.F. Nozeman ISBN 90-6809-369-X Copyright Faculteit der Ruimtelijke Wetenschappen, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 2005 Niets uit deze uitgave mag worden vermenigvuldigd en/of openbaar gemaakt door middel van druk, fotokopie of op welke andere wijze dan ook zonder voorafgaande schriftelijke toestemming van de uitgevers All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any forms, by print or photoprint, microfilm or any other means, without written permissen by the publishers. Gedrukt door het Grafisch Centrum, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Voorkant: pentekening K.D. Schönfeld
Netherlands Geographical Studies 329 Old firms in the Netherlands The long-term spatial impact of firms identities and embeddedness Aleid E. Brouwer Utrecht/Groningen 2005 Royal Dutch Geographical Society / Department of Spatial Sciences University of Groningen
CONTENTS Figures 8 Tables 9 1 Introduction, old firms in the Netherlands 11 1.1 Introduction 11 1.2 The research field 12 1.3 Research goal and questions 15 1.4 Research layout 16 1.5 Research methods 17 2 Old firms: a practical definition and a current state of affairs 21 2.1 Introduction 21 2.2 The firm defined; theoretically and statistically 22 2.2.1 Theoretical considerations 23 2.2.2 Statistical agencies 28 2.2.3 Definition of the firm 30 2.3 Old in the context of the firm 31 2.3.1 Age as a measuring instrument 31 2.3.2 A practical definition of old firms 32 2.4 Search for data 35 2.5 Old firms in the Netherlands in 2000 38 2.5.1 Absolute distribution of old firms 39 2.5.2 Relative distribution of old firms 41 2.5.3 Age distribution of firms 43 2.5.4 Sectoral distribution of old firms 45 2.6 Concluding remarks 48 3 Historical development of Dutch trade and industry, from 1820 till 2000 51 3.1 Historical perspective 51 3.1.1 Pre-industrial period 52 3.1.2 Industrial revolution 54 3.1.3 Second industrial revolution or modern capitalism 58 3.2 Development of trade and industry by sectors and size 60 3.2.1 Data from the 19 th century 60 3.2.2 Data from the 20 th century 62 3.2.3 Analysis over time 63 5
3.3 Spatial distribution of industry 67 3.4 Concluding remarks 83 4 Organizational ecology and industrial organizations; frameworks for path dependency and lock-in of old firms 85 4.1 Introduction 86 4.2 An evolutionary view on development and survival of 87 firms 4.2.1 Industrial organization theory 87 4.2.2 Organizational ecology theory 88 4.2.3 Density model of competition and legitimation 89 4.2.4 Liabilities and aging firms 92 4.2.5 Adaptation, selection and structural inertia in old firms 93 4.3 Path dependency in explaining the survival of old firms 97 4.3.1 Path dependency: an introduction 98 4.3.2 Path dependency in organizational ecology and industrial organization theories 101 4.3.3 Age, inertia & historical lock-in: path dependent? 102 4.3.4 Spatial path dependence 104 4.4 Spatial implication of the evolutionary view on old firms 106 4.4.1 Variables in long-term survival 106 4.4.2 Hypotheses for testing 116 4.5 Concluding remarks 116 5 The survivors: golden oldies? 119 5.1 Introduction 119 5.2 Characteristics of old firms in the survey 120 5.2.1 Analysis of survey 120 5.2.2 Identities of old firms 131 5.3 Spatial firm histories 133 5.3.1 Sixteen small spatial firm histories 134 5.3.2 Takeover, subsidies and history influencing survival 144 5.4 Spatial distribution of some groups of old firms 147 5.4.1 Spatial distribution of five manufacturing sectors 149 5.4.2 Adverse environment a section tool? 157 5.5 Concluding remarks 158 6 Confrontation between old and younger firms, are they really different? 161 6 6.1 Introduction 161 6.2 Relocation and age of firms 162 6.3 Firms and locational inertia 164 6.3.1 Site and situation 165
6.3.2 Size, market and innovation 168 6.4 Relocation history modelled 172 6.5 Old and younger firms identities 175 6.6 Discussion and concluding remarks 178 7 Corporate identity and image of old firms 183 7.1 Introduction 183 7.2 Identity versus imgae 184 7.2.1 Corporate identity 185 7.2.2 Corporate image 187 7.2.3 The wished identity and image 189 7.3 Determinants of corporate identity 190 7.3.1 Place and age in corporate identity 191 7.3.2 Identities of old firms 193 7.3.3 Expectations and connection hypotheses 194 7.4 Content analysis 195 7.4.1 Websites as a marketing tool 195 7.4.2 Method and coding scheme 197 7.4.3 Results of content analysis 200 7.4.4 Continuous versus changed identity 204 7.5 A trustworthy identity: a tool for survival? 205 7.6 Concluding remarks 206 8 Summary and conclusion 209 8.1 Introduction: the research set-up 209 8.2 Old firms in the Netherlands: a recapitulation 211 8.3 Spatial behaviour of old firms 213 8.4 Old firms identities 214 8.5 Discussion 215 8.6 Conclusions 216 8.7 Demography of firms: contemporary findings 218 8.8 Research implications 220 Samenvatting 223 Bibliography 231 Appendices 245 Acknowledgement 267 7
FIGURES 1.1 Research layout and reading guide 17 1.2 Methods applied within this research 19 2.1 Organization of businesses by the Dutch Bureau of Statistics 29 2.2 Present location of old firms in the Netherlands 40 2.3 Percentage of old firms per province, present location 41 2.4 The residual figures for the share of old firms in the provinces of the Netherlands 43 2.5 Age-pyramids of firms in the Netherlands 44 3.1 Structure of labour force in 1514 in Noord and Zuid Holland in percentages 53 3.2 GDP per sector as a percentage of the annual GDP in the Netherlands 58 3.3 Most important industrial manufacturing groups per province, based on the absolute number of firms and factories in 1820 69 3.4 Most important industrial manufacturing groups per province, based on the absolute number of firms and factories in 1858 70 3.5 Most important industrial manufacturing groups per province, based on descriptive information of different factories in 1874 72 3.6 Most important industrial manufacturing groups per province, in 1888-1890, based on the absolute number of firms and factories with more than 10 employees and/or a power engine 73 3.7 Most important industrial manufacturing groups per province, based on employees per municipality in the concerning manufacturing groups in the period 1906-1912 75 3.8 Most important industrial manufacturing groups per province based on the absolute number of firms and establishments of firms and factories in 1930 76 3.9 Most important sectors (first level) and most important industrial manufacturing groups (second level) based on the absolute number of establishments in 1950 78 3.10 Most important sectors (first level) and most important industrial manufacturing groups (second level) based on the absolute number of establishments in 1963 79 3.11 Most important sectors (first level) and most important industrial manufacturing groups (second level) based on the absolute number of establishments in 1978 81 3.12 Most important sectors (first level) and most important industrial manufacturing groups (second level) based on the absolute number of establishments in 2001 82 4.1 Founding and mortality rates according to the density dependence model 91 4.2 Path dependency when initial conditions favoured B 101 5.1 Relative size-distribution of firms in the Netherlands in number of employees 122 8
5.2 Percentage of relocated establishments in the Netherlands, per age cohort 123 5.3 Percentage of relocation in size distribution of old firms 125 5.4 Percentage of relocation at different ages of old firms 125 5.5 Sector and product continuity in percentage of the population of old firms and as percentages of the sector 128 5.6 Percentage of firms per sector with and without a foreign establishment 130 5.7 Absolute number of diverse elements why firms have the same or a changed identity 132 5.8 Promotion poster 135 5.9 The STORK school and in the background one of the factory s chimneys in Hengelo 147 5.10 The outside of the STORK factory in Hengelo 147 5.11 The spatial distribution of firms in the book and stone printing manufacturing group at their 2001 location 150 5.12 The spatial distribution of firms in the construction manufacturing group at their 2001 location 153 5.13 The spatial distribution of firms in the metal construction manufacturing group at their 2001 location 154 5.14 The spatial distribution of firms in the shipbuilding & other vehicles manufacturing group at their 2001 location 155 5.15 The spatial distribution of firms in the foodstuffs & beverages manufacturing group at their 2001 location 157 6.1 Relative importance of identifying elements 177 7.1 Framework of used tems and their relationships 190 7.2 Relative importance of the different identifying elements 194 7.3 Example 1 of website in content analysis 199 7.4 Example 2 of website in content analysis 199 7.5 Example 3 of website in content analysis 200 7.6 Score per element on websites 201 7.7 Relative frequency of elements in all websites in relation to the total number of sentences and pictures per website 202 7.8 Relative frequency of elements on websites of firms with a changed versus a continuous idenity 204 8.1 Path dependency and location of old firms 218 TABLES 2.1 Relative spatial distributrion of old firms over the Netherlands 42 2.2 Sectoral division of old firms over the provinces in absolute numbers 46 2.3 Manufacturing groups in absolute number of firms in 2001 47 2.4 Absolute number of old firms for each manufacturing group 48 3.1 Percentage of workers employed in the industrial sectors 57 3.2 The Dutch labour force since 1899 per sector in percentages of total 9
workforce 59 3.3 Number of factories in 1853, 1859 and 1874 61 3.4 Percentages of firms per sector in the period 1820-2001 65 3.5 Labour force in manufacturing industry per province in the period 1889 1978 66 3.6 Percentages of firms in four sectors in the period 1899-1978 67 5.1 Old firms characteristics 121 5.2 Results of old firms takeovers and their influence on survival in absolute numbers 144 5.3 Results of old firm s subsidies and their influence on survival in absolute numbers 145 5.4 Results of old firm s disuptive periods in history in absolute numbers 146 5.5 Personnel facilities old firms have or had in their past 146 5.6 Importance of major cities in number of inhabitants in city hierarchy in the Netherlands in 1600, 1795 and 1900 151 5.7 Conclusions and accepted hypotheses of Chapter 5 159 6.1 Results of questionnaires for type of location for all firms, the group of old firms and the group of younger firms in percentages 166 6.2 Cross tabulation of on site expansion with age in groups 167 6.3 Correlations premises and locational adaptation 168 6.4 Correlations in market relationships 170 6.5 Correlations between age, relocation and other variables 171 6.6 Empirical results logit analysis 173 6.7 Conclusions and accepted hypotheses of Chapter 6 180 7.1 Examples of measuring image-elements with website content analysis 198 7.2 Correlations between the various elements on the websites 203 10