Word: benelux
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Netherlands-had bounced back faster than many of its bigger neighbors. Its man-hour productivity was one of the highest on the continent (citizens could hardly remember the last bad strike); its currency, like Belgium's, was freely convertible into dollars. Because trade barriers in the Benelux nations are being broken down, Goodyear could produce in Luxembourg and still sell in Belgium and The Netherlands. The job was to convince Luxembourg that it needed a U.S.-owned tire plant...
Litchfield's men mustered some powerful arguments. Goodyear, they said, was after no new markets; it simply wanted to sell tires in Europe for local currencies instead of dollars-and thus help conserve scarce continental dollars. Furthermore, they argued, a Goodyear plant would be healthy for the Benelux economy, giving a new source of employment. And local revenues would increase still further when Goodyear's plant started buying such Benelux raw materials as rubber from the Belgian Congo and the former Netherlands East Indies, and rayon and cotton cord from Belgium and The Netherlands. Another potent argument...