Organizational Ecology and Industrial Organization; Old Firms in the Netherlands

This paper will be written as a part of my Ph.D. research. Old firms in the Netherlands' which is a research project in the theme of the demography of firms in the research school Systems, Organizations and Management from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. The demography of firms is relatively new in the Spatial Sciences but nevertheless this is a subject with a long history in other fields of research. The demography of firms is the study of the changes in the population of firms with the use of demographic tools. This field of research can broaden our knowledge of regional-economic dynamics of firms. Other disciplines that investigated this subject are mostly interdisciplinary, using combinations of methods and theories from sociology, economy, demography and geography. In this paper, the focus will not be on the theoretical background of firm demography, but on the dynamics of the survival of firms. This is part of the 'narrow' definition of firm demographics in Economic Geography as mentioned above. This definition includes birth, death, migration and survival in the population of firms. In this paper, the emphasis will be on the exploration of the definition of 'old' in the context of the firm lifecycle. This will be done using a chronological description of Dutch firm activity in the period from the industrial revolution until the present, and by a representation of the location of firm establishments in maps during this period. Furthermore, a list provided by the Dutch Chamber of Commerce of the 500 oldest establishments in the Netherlands at present will be compared with these maps to get more insight in the 'survival rates of firms in the different industrial sectors. One of the difficulties here is the definition of ''old'' in the context of the firm lifecycle. When is a firm old? Is it possible to characterise a firm on the basis of age in years, or can this only be done in relationship to the age of the attributes (products, employees, organisation or establishment) which form the company? To define the firm just by age in years can be problematic because in this way no attention will be given to the stage of development a firm is in. This development of the firm can be seen when one looks at the age of a company according to the product-lifecycle, in which a firm is not mature until it reaches the fourth stage of this cycle. Right now, this last view is less useful, either because practice shows that some firms are in different stages of the product-lifecycle at the same time, some firms stay in the same phase constantly or some firms start their product-cycle in a different phase than the first. Another difficulty is the question of what constitutes a firm. Does the company's name, the product it produces, or the legal status the company has, constitute it as being a firm? The list of the 500 oldest firms used in this paper is based on the age of the settlement. Of course, this is not the most perfect solution for this problem, but it does give an impression of the age and concentration of firms in the Netherlands in the time period from the industrial revolution until the present. Also, the problem with this data is that it does not include data on the firms' migration. In addition, it would be better to compare different lists from different institutions, but at present these data are not available. The goal of analysing this data is to get more insight into the definition of the concepts ''firm'' and ''old'', as used in the Ph.D. research project "Old firms in the Netherlands." A second goal is to get a preliminary idea of how the population of old firms is dispersed over the Netherlands, how the population is divided over the different industrial sectors and how the age pyramid of this population of firms is composed. In this context it is important to know how the division of the firms was during the Industrial Revolution in the Netherlands and whether or not the current situation is comparable. This last comparison will provide an insight into the different rates of survival of firms in the different industrial sectors.

The UN Fourth Conference on Women

"The Fourth UN World Conference on Women, held in Beijing from 4-15 September 1995, can be seen as one of the most significant international conferences of recent times. While the Conference documents focused on the gains made by women in the 10 years since the last UN Conference on Women, a more fundamental concern of the discussions was the causes and impact of the continuing inequality and disadvantage experienced by women which has such a negative effect on their ability to lead productive and dignified lives. In particular, the Conference brought into international debate many issues not previously discussed at this level and a sharper focus on those critical problems faced by women in developing countries, especially in places where economic and social developments have not kept pace with the needs of communities or where national policies do not accord women equal rights or opportunities in their society ..." - page

Organizational Ecology and Industrial Organization; Old Firms in the Netherlands

This paper will be written as a part of my Ph.D. research. Old firms in the Netherlands' which is a research project in the theme of the demography of firms in the research school Systems, Organizations and Management from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. The demography of firms is relatively new in the Spatial Sciences but nevertheless this is a subject with a long history in other fields of research. The demography of firms is the study of the changes in the population of firms with the use of demographic tools. This field of research can broaden our knowledge of regional-economic dynamics of firms. Other disciplines that investigated this subject are mostly interdisciplinary, using combinations of methods and theories from sociology, economy, demography and geography. In this paper, the focus will not be on the theoretical background of firm demography, but on the dynamics of the survival of firms. This is part of the 'narrow' definition of firm demographics in Economic Geography as mentioned above. This definition includes birth, death, migration and survival in the population of firms. In this paper, the emphasis will be on the exploration of the definition of 'old' in the context of the firm lifecycle. This will be done using a chronological description of Dutch firm activity in the period from the industrial revolution until the present, and by a representation of the location of firm establishments in maps during this period. Furthermore, a list provided by the Dutch Chamber of Commerce of the 500 oldest establishments in the Netherlands at present will be compared with these maps to get more insight in the 'survival rates of firms in the different industrial sectors. One of the difficulties here is the definition of ''old'' in the context of the firm lifecycle. When is a firm old? Is it possible to characterise a firm on the basis of age in years, or can this only be done in relationship to the age of the attributes (products, employees, organisation or establishment) which form the company? To define the firm just by age in years can be problematic because in this way no attention will be given to the stage of development a firm is in. This development of the firm can be seen when one looks at the age of a company according to the product-lifecycle, in which a firm is not mature until it reaches the fourth stage of this cycle. Right now, this last view is less useful, either because practice shows that some firms are in different stages of the product-lifecycle at the same time, some firms stay in the same phase constantly or some firms start their product-cycle in a different phase than the first. Another difficulty is the question of what constitutes a firm. Does the company's name, the product it produces, or the legal status the company has, constitute it as being a firm? The list of the 500 oldest firms used in this paper is based on the age of the settlement. Of course, this is not the most perfect solution for this problem, but it does give an impression of the age and concentration of firms in the Netherlands in the time period from the industrial revolution until the present. Also, the problem with this data is that it does not include data on the firms' migration. In addition, it would be better to compare different lists from different institutions, but at present these data are not available. The goal of analysing this data is to get more insight into the definition of the concepts ''firm'' and ''old'', as used in the Ph.D. research project "Old firms in the Netherlands." A second goal is to get a preliminary idea of how the population of old firms is dispersed over the Netherlands, how the population is divided over the different industrial sectors and how the age pyramid of this population of firms is composed. In this context it is important to know how the division of the firms was during the Industrial Revolution in the Netherlands and whether or not the current situation is comparable. This last comparison will provide an insight into the different rates of survival of firms in the different industrial sectors

The Dynamics of Economic Performance and Organizational Diversity. An Empirical Study in Zwolle, the Netherlands, 1850-1914

Cities differ dramatically with respect to the extent in which their economic and other activities are diversified. Some cities are specialized, while other cities harbour a myriad of organizations, performing a huge variety of activities. An unanswered question is: Where does such organizational diversity within city communities originate from, and what are its consequences for economic performance and growth? We argue that the extent of organizational diversity goes hand in hand with the fractionalization of the city’s resource environment. Specifically, the more heterogeneous the pool of city inhabitants on salient characteristics such as age, gender and religious background, the more organizational diversity can be expected. This is because human population heterogeneity implies variety and preferences of needs, which spurs entrepreneurship and ultimately sustains organizational diversity. Furthermore, we claim that organizational diversity is beneficial for economic performance and growth, but only up to a certain maximum after which diversity might undermine performance. Cities with an optimal organizational composition have a level of organizational diversity that is high enough to shield it from external exogenous shocks, but not too high to prevent them from reaping externalities resulting from the performance of related activities. In other words, we suggest that cities have to balance technical efficiency and long-run adaptive capacity. In this paper, the above theory will be tested for the city of Zwolle in the Netherlands in the period 1850-1914.

The Dynamics of Economic Performance and Organizational Diversity. An Empirical Study in Zwolle, the Netherlands, 1850-1914

Cities differ dramatically with respect to the extent in which their economic and other activities are diversified. Some cities are specialized, while other cities harbour a myriad of organizations, performing a huge variety of activities. An unanswered question is: Where does such organizational diversity within city communities originate from, and what are its consequences for economic performance and growth? We argue that the extent of organizational diversity goes hand in hand with the fractionalization of the city's resource environment. Specifically, the more heterogeneous the pool of city inhabitants on salient characteristics such as age, gender and religious background, the more organizational diversity can be expected. This is because human population heterogeneity implies variety and preferences of needs, which spurs entrepreneurship and ultimately sustains organizational diversity. Furthermore, we claim that organizational diversity is beneficial for economic performance and growth, but only up to a certain maximum after which diversity might undermine performance. Cities with an optimal organizational composition have a level of organizational diversity that is high enough to shield it from external exogenous shocks, but not too high to prevent them from reaping externalities resulting from the performance of related activities. In other words, we suggest that cities have to balance technical efficiency and long-run adaptive capacity. In this paper, the above theory will be tested for the city of Zwolle in the Netherlands in the period 1850-1914

Is Milan a City for Elderly? Mobility for Aging in Place

Italy is among the ‘eldest’ countries in the world, with increasing numbers of elderly becoming older and participating in society. In order to ensure that these and future elderly are able to age in place, the possibilities to get around in one’s own neighborhood should be available and safe in use. In order to gain insight in the mobility issues of elderly in Italy we investigated 11 Milanese neighborhoods through in depth interviews to see how elderly perceive their neighborhood in terms of mobility. We find that that the respondent move at least twice a day outside and have a preference for local public transport and walking, followed by the use of the private car. Most of them prefer to age in place and feel happy in their current environment. However, more research needs to be done to give proper policy handles for local municipalities before we can agree what is necessary for age friendly neighborhoods