Publications
Publications
- December 2019 (Revised June 2024)
- HBS Case Collection
The Dutch East India Company in 1612 (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine and Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci
Abstract
The Dutch East India Company’s board of directors must decide what to do about an impending legal requirement to liquidate the company’s assets and return to shareholders their capital and any profits earned during a ten-year lock-up period. The charter granted to the company in 1602 by the Dutch Estates General (legislature) required the liquidation and accounting to shareholders after the initial ten-year period and again at the end of a second ten-year period. However, the company’s directors believe that more time is needed to reap the benefits of shareholders’ initial investments and that liquidating the company’s assets after the initial ten-year lock-up would make it impossible to raise capital for the second ten-year term. The case describes the origins of the Dutch East India Company, the world’s first publicly-traded multinational company, and traces key aspects of the company’s governance and development during its first ten years, including the emergence of disagreement among shareholders about corporate strategy and dividend policy.
Keywords
Corporate Governance; Globalized Firms and Management; Organizational Structure; Laws and Statutes; Financial Markets; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Government Relations; Business History; Shipping Industry; Netherlands
Citation
Paine, Lynn S., and Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci. "The Dutch East India Company in 1612 (A)." Harvard Business School Case 320-047, December 2019. (Revised June 2024.)