Dutch Manufacturing MNEs in the United States, 1950-1995

This paper explores the importance of Dutch investments in the US manufacturing industry over the period 1950-1995.Until the mid-1970s Dutch investments, though considerable, were primarily concentrated in the petroleum sector and therefore natural-resource seeking in nature. Dutch MNEs have gradually expanded their operations in the US in response to the changing competitiveness of the US relative to the Netherlands. The extent and structure of Dutch value-adding activities in the US reflect the changing motives for the investments. Dutch FDI activity has gone from trade-supportive in the 1950s and 1960s, to import-substituting and market-seeking in the 1970s, and rationalized and efficiency-seeking in the 1980s. There are also indications of strategic asset-seeking FDI activity in the late 1980s and early 1990s in line with the developments associated with the age of alliance capitalism. In the early 1980s, the Netherlands was the largest investor in the US, but both the UK and Japan have taken over this position since. Dutch investments show a reorientation towards Europe with the increasing importance of the EU, and although the Netherlands still lists high on the ranks of competitive countries, the Ownership advantages of Dutch firms have declined relative to those of UK and Japanese firms.