Second, larger transport companies develop into suppliers of logistic services. The so-
called ‘third party logistics providers’ develop and implement logistical concepts. Such
service companies invest in several parts of the product chain, such as stocking,
warehousing, assembly, production, and packaging. This results in long-term
relationships between factory plants and logistics. Due to this process of change, larger
transport companies in the Netherlands such as ‘Frans Maas’ have become merely
logistic service providers, whereas the actual transport of freight has been subcontracted
to smaller companies. ‘Transport companies are thus no longer driving on wheels’. In
addition, it should be mentioned that also companies with a specialization in ‘fourth party
logistics’ have emerged. These companies are non-asset based and are specialized in the
development of hi-tech computer applications for logistic chains.
Third, the perception is that scale enlargement in the industry has increased the economic
gap between the larger and smaller enterprises. Especially medium-sized companies loose
scale advantages, whereas the smaller companies are compelled to find niches to create
value added or to work as subcontractor. Since 50% of costs are related to wages and
social securities, competition in the smaller and medium-sized companies, is determined
by the efficient calculation and use of personnel.
Fourth, in the larger enterprises the upgrading of HRM-policies has received policy
attention, since competition occurs between the higher echelons in the labour market. In
the large majority of small and medium-sized enterprises, which are often owned by
families, HRM-policy still can be characterized as traditional. It appears that the smaller
and medium-sized enterprises have a relatively flat, top-down organizational structure:
the only distinction can be made between the board of directors, which is supported by
personnel and planning staff, and the level of drivers, technicians, and employees in
maintenance and storage.
2.2 Aviation
The Dutch airlines sector includes the air transport of people and freight by aircraft,
scheduled flights as well as irregular (charter) flights.7 Aviation is responsible for 20
percent of gross added value as well as 14 percent of employment within the Dutch
transport sector.8 Added value of the aviation sector is about Dfl. 4600 million, which is
about 0.6 percent of the added value of the economy as a whole (Ministry of Transport,
1999a). There are about 36,000 people working in aviation (35,800 in 1997, CBS,
Zakboek Verkeer en Vervoer, 1999). The number of companies in aviation is small. The
types of companies can be distinguished between airline companies, freight settlement
(dispatch service) and maintenance. The four major airline companies in The Netherlands
are KLM, Martinair, Transavia (together the KLM-Group) and Air Holland. These four
firms employ the major share of employees in aviation.9 KLM remains the largest Dutch
According to SBI, the Dutch equivalent of NACE, it excludes services on behalf of aviation.
This figure excludes the number of people working in rail carriage and road transport of passengers.
9. The smallest airline company, Air Holland, went bankrupt at the end of 1999. It again continued in January 2000
and merged with the Belgium VGAirlines in May 2002. It may be added that there is also substantial employment
in the ground-handling companies Cargo Service center (400 employees in cargo), Aero Groundservices (600