Value for money: a network approach to Dutch economic and commercial diplomacy in the USA

The USA is the Netherlands's 6th largest export partner, the second most important destination of outward Dutch foreign direct investment (FDI) and the second largest origin of inward FDI. Given the potential for strengthening the bilateral economic relationship, the Dutch economic network in the USA has an ambitious agenda. The focal point in this agenda is the build-up of government-to-government, but increasingly also government-to-business networks, and the opening up of these networks for Dutch companies and the Netherlands economy at large. This article takes a practitioners perspective, and provides a case study on economic and commercial diplomacy 'in practice'. It provides an overview of the 'network approach', illustrated by concrete examples. It will use data from the existing evaluation method in the network to assess the return on investment of the network approach in economic and commercial diplomacy. The conclusion is that the 'network approach' indeed appears to provide 'value for money'.