 Henri Deterding, Royal Dutch/Shell and the Dutch Market for Petrol, 1902-46F. de Goey Business History, 2002, vol. 44, issue 4, 55-84 Abstract: In 1997, four oil companies dominated the Dutch market for petrol: Shell, Esso, Texaco and Mobil/BP (which includes Aral and Elf). Their market share of 74 per cent is considered very high by European standards. The largest oil company, Shell, had a market share of 31 per cent in 1995. This is much higher than in any other European country. The article addresses the following questions. How did Royal Dutch/Shell organise its petrol distribution? Why did the company reorganise it three times between 1902 and 1946? How was the company able to obtain, and retain, such a large share of the Dutch market? During four successive phases, Royal Dutch/Shell gained complete control of petrol sales in the Netherlands. At first, agents were used, but in 1925 Shell established it own sales organisation. Internal (efficiency, economies of scale) and external pressures (competition, technological developments, increasing consumption) forced the company to reorganise its distribution system. Price agreements with its major competitors and governmental policies (the construction of highways after 1927) permitted Royal Dutch/Shell to gain and maintain a dominant share on the petrol market. Date: 2002 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:bushst:v:44:y:2002:i:4:p:55-84 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/713999290 Access Statistics for this article Business History is currently edited by Professor John Wilson and Professor Steven Toms More articles in Business History from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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