With over 15,000 members, Koninklijke Metaalunie is one of the most important interest groups in the Netherlands. The association, formed from the Bond voor Smedenpatroons in Nederland founded in 1903, connects entrepreneurs in the SME metal industry, an industry that employs nearly 200,000 workers and has a turnover of over EUR 30 billion.
In spring 2023, Koninklijke Metaalunie commissioned a study to be published on the occasion of the organisation's 125th anniversary in 2028. The study will focus on the craftsmanship of SME metalworkers. How did the industry develop in the twentieth century, what opportunities and threats did the entrepreneurs encounter and how did they shape their craftsmanship appropriately under changing socio-economic and political conditions? And what role did the jubilee entrepreneurs' organisation play in this process? The study aims to answer the question of how generations of SME entrepreneurs shaped their ambitions and love for the profession.
The study will be conducted by Dr Bram Bouwens. Among other things, he will be able to make use of unique archive material preserved at Koninklijke Metaalunie.

Heineken's 150th anniversary in 2014 offers an excellent opportunity to reflect on its corporate history form a twenty-first century perspective. Because Heineken is one of the world's leading breweries, its history has a significance that goes beyong the company itself, potentially contrinbuting to a better understand of this branch of industry. One theme in particular is central to the history: expansion through acquisitions and joint ventures. Strikingly, despite its many partnerships and takeovers, heineken has established and maintained a strong firm identity both as a business and as a brand. Other themes to be studied are marketing, internationalisation, technology, human capital and the pros and cons of the family firm. Results of this project will be presented as papers to the academic colleagues and the final product is a book to commemorate the 150th aniversary of the company.

• prof. dr. Keetie Sluyterman

Dit project behelst een vierdelige beschrijving (ca. 1400 pp) van de geschiedenis van Zeeland van prehistorie tot nu. Dat is gebeurd volgens een geheel nieuw en origineel concept: de Matrix van de Geschiedenis van Zeeland (zie publicaties). Die matrix wordt gevormd door zes thema's en zes invalshoeken, die de vier delen samenhang en wetenschappelijke diepgang geven, terwijl met de matrix ook de toegankelijkheid van de boeken, die bestemd zijn voor een breed publiek, is vergroot. Er hebben ongeveer twintig auteurs aan dit project meegewerkt. 

• dr. Joost Dankers
• prof. dr. Wijnand Mijnhardt
• dr. Paul Brusse

• dr. Joost Dankers
• prof. dr. Keetie Sluyterman

• dr. Joost Dankers

• dr. Joost Dankers

This study aims to describe and analyze the way Dutch businessmen tried to eliminate the risks of doing business during the 20th century. The study looks at different kinds of collusion, ranging from business interest associations and cartel-agreements to full mergers and acquisitions. Both quantitave and qualitative data will be used and the development of the concentration process will be illustrated by case studies. The firm is the focal point. The way Dutch businessmen cooperated will be compared to the daily practices in this field in US, UK and Germany. The theoretical approach of this project is derived from the literature on the 'business system' and 'the varieties of capitalism'.

• dr. Joost Dankers
• prof. dr. Keetie Sluyterman
• prof. dr. Jan Luiten van Zanden

The national research project Dutch business in the 20th century (Bedrijfsgeschiedenis in Nederland in de Twintigste Eeuw (BINT)) had the competitiveness and changing characteristics of the Dutch business system during the twentieth century as its main focus. The goal was to make an in-depth analysis of the most important elements of the Dutch business system and their adaptation over time to the major economic, social and technological developments of the 20th century. The analysis is internationally comparative because only in this way, the typical Dutch characteristics can be highlighted. The analysis is formed by relevant social theories, particularly, though not exclusively, drawn from institutional economics.

The BINT Projectwas initiated by the Business History Research Group of Utrecht University and its Research Institute. The Netherlands Economic History Archive (NEHA), the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Foundation for the History of Technology at Eindhoven University also participated.

For more information, have a look at the project website.

• dr. Joost Dankers
• prof. dr. Keetie Sluyterman
• prof. dr. Jan Luiten van Zanden
• dr. Annette van den Berg