Outsourcing within the healthcare sector; comparing Belgium and The Netherlands
I recently red an article in a Belgium newspaper (‘De Morgen’) in which labour unions successfully blocked the proposed outsourcing of sterilisation services of hospital AZ Groeninge. After several weeks of protests by employees and labour unions the management of AZ Groeninge decided that outsourcing was off the agenda, now and in the future. Even though only 30 people were in scope of the outsource engagement did the management have no other choice but to kowtow to the workers and walk away from the idea. In this post I want to write about two little countries within continental Europe, which share almost half their borders, but are different in many ways. One the differences is the way elements of market capitalism are adapted and outsourcing/shared services is used to improve effectiveness and efficiency. For those non-European suppliers who want to get a foothold here in Europe, it provides an idea of the complexity and cultural differences of the 20+ countries that make up the Eu...