GOING DUTCH: A STUDENT‐BASED RESEARCH COLLABORATION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS

There is a happy appropriateness in the title chosen for this piece. In it I shall report some of the in company work done in an cross‐national collaborative project — the key characteristic of which has been to accomplish significant research at a minimum cost. Hence, “Going Dutch” has two meanings relevant to what is being reported. Firstly, it is an Anglo‐Dutch collaboration. The research involves work in a recently formed Anglo‐Dutch conglomerate and a collaboration between The Management School at Lancaster and The Management School of Erasmus University, Rotterdam. Secondly, however, it is also important to emphasise that the research has so far been conducted on a shoestring. Such costs as have been incurred have been shared between the Company, the Universities involved and the ERASMUS programme of the E.E.C., the last of these being proportionately by far the most significant contributor. Basically the ERASMUS programme has facilitated student exchanges between Lancaster and Rotterdam and subsidised their in company project work. Hence going Dutch in a geographical sense has also involved going Dutch in a financial way too. This research has interest as an attempt to do valuable research in a major company for next to nothing and for that reason will perhaps be of interest to managers and practioners alike. After all, what has been done under the auspices of the E.E.C. could quite easily be done by management schools and companies working together.