Poldering on a world stage:A study of the supervisory director struggling between formality and substance

The Netherlands has an open economy and as a result many corporations have holdings and subsidiaries which are registered under Dutch Law. Specific legislation exists for intermediate holdings of larger corporations registered in the Netherlands. These arrangements define the roles and composition of their (obligatory) internal supervision at the level of the subsidiary or the Dutch Intermediate Holding under which she resides. This book is the report of a study combining a survey, in-depth interviews and group discussions to reveal and explain the large variety in both the content as procedures for internal supervision. On the one end symbolic supervision was found, only to meet the minimal legal criteria and maximum shareholder influence, on the other end supervision was found to be substantial and focusing on the long term value creation of the intermediate holding. The variety related to both contextual factors as the internal dynamics and characteristics of the supervisory board. The book ends with recommendations for shareholders, non-executive board members, executives and employee representatives elected in the works council ensuring a strong focus on long term value creation.