>If this is really so valuable, why aren't the largest, most successful corporations in the world Dutch?
Well, first the Netherlands do have some of the most succesful corportations in the world, given their size.
Second, because while being valuable inside a business, honesty is not necessarily the be all end all criterium for success.
You can be honest and more efficient for it, but lack other factors, like a large internal market, a huge military and diplomatic machine securing cheap resources, controlling trade routes, supporting your national currency and brokering deals for your companies, a good headstart when Europe was broken down and shattered from WWI and WWII which barely affected your country, and so on.
And, of course, honesty in society in general might be very good without translating in any way to more succesful businesses. Kindness, honesty, and treating people well are good and valuable things, but they don't make you money, nor help you build a billion dollar corporation.
A honest ad, for example, for most products would be "you don't really need it", not "this will change your life". A conscious corporation would make products long lasting, which loses money compared to planned obsolesence.
A kind employer would compensate employees well, sharing its mega-profits, not squeeze blood out of them - but having your employees wear diapers at the warehouse or risk getting fired for bathroom breaks makes you more money.
Similarly pressuring employees that need the job into working 14+ hour shifts to get more units ready for Xmas is more profitable that giving them work/life balance and understanding that holidays are for family and friends, not for pushing people into more consumption.
Well, first the Netherlands do have some of the most succesful corportations in the world, given their size.
Second, because while being valuable inside a business, honesty is not necessarily the be all end all criterium for success.
You can be honest and more efficient for it, but lack other factors, like a large internal market, a huge military and diplomatic machine securing cheap resources, controlling trade routes, supporting your national currency and brokering deals for your companies, a good headstart when Europe was broken down and shattered from WWI and WWII which barely affected your country, and so on.
And, of course, honesty in society in general might be very good without translating in any way to more succesful businesses. Kindness, honesty, and treating people well are good and valuable things, but they don't make you money, nor help you build a billion dollar corporation.
A honest ad, for example, for most products would be "you don't really need it", not "this will change your life". A conscious corporation would make products long lasting, which loses money compared to planned obsolesence.
A kind employer would compensate employees well, sharing its mega-profits, not squeeze blood out of them - but having your employees wear diapers at the warehouse or risk getting fired for bathroom breaks makes you more money.
Similarly pressuring employees that need the job into working 14+ hour shifts to get more units ready for Xmas is more profitable that giving them work/life balance and understanding that holidays are for family and friends, not for pushing people into more consumption.