I've never understood the obsession with rankings in this country. Every week someone seems to publish a ranking saying the Netherlands is this or that... but does it actually mean anything?

Amsterdam in particular is always said to be up or down in tourist attraction or business location rankings.

By Victor Meldrew | September 8, 2009 12:19 PM

For a country indeed so obsessed with rankings, the Dutch are sure going about improving their ranking in a strange way. Let's look at the dutch government's efforts to actively discourage companies from staying in the Netherlands in recent times..

1) Minister Donner's and the UWV's attack on companies which started out of the WW during the last 10 years. Despite objections from the FNV, National Ombudsman and most of the 2de kamer, the "harvesting" of small companies still continues..despite the legality being in question.

2) Multinationals encouraged to move to Holland 10 years ago are now relocating elsewhere in the EU (eg Ireland) for tax reasons.

3) A culture of issuing ever more fines from government, police (parking, speeding, backdated tax, etc)

4) An increasingly less friendly enviroment for non-dutch nationals which with the rise of the PVV will probably only get worse.

5) New centralised burocracy which makes obtaining the papers for a visa application to other countries difficult to impossible for dutch residents. This factor alone has certainly impacted my company's export figures this year.

It really would not surprise me if next year's ranking was close to the bottom of the table.

By Andy | September 8, 2009 3:26 PM

they're just interesting facts victor. they're all based on some statistical measure and statistics and rankings interest some people.

and considering you clicked on the title "Netherlands down on competitive index" i could conclude that they possibly interest you too

By mike berry | September 8, 2009 4:38 PM

It has to do with lack of professionals and investments; when I approached a major Dutch bank to offer them a new online offline global payment system, which will change the way business is done; no one in the meeting seems to be able to understand the potential of E-Commerce, the problems with credit card companies and the frustration / anger of both consumer and merchant. Thus the rejection was made on the spot before sending the project to someone who is in this field!

By H. Malas | September 8, 2009 4:43 PM

One of the worrying criteria was innovation. And this clearly shows where we failed with our immigration policies compared to for instance Switzerland. We mainly get unskilled Turks and Maroccans, no highly educated Indians.Incentives?

By pieter van schaaij | September 8, 2009 4:59 PM

The ranking is only indicative that goods are cheaper in every other country. Bring prices down and see the improvement.

By Mike | September 8, 2009 7:37 PM

This sort of news is just padding for the times that there is no news worthy of reporting.

By stevie | September 9, 2009 2:10 PM