The pioneering spirit of ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN A world opens up to anyone who opens up to the rest of the world. Doing international business is challenging, exciting and instructive. It will treat you well, as long as you practice patience, respect people from different cultures, with other habits and look for the right people. This book represents the heart of the Alphen’ pioneering spirit. In numerous columns, reports and interviews, renowned Alphen’ entrepreneurs will tell you why there are opportunities abroad and why their companies are internationally interesting to foreigners. We hope this book will be an entertaining and informative guide for our foreign business guests, allowing them to find what they are looking for in Alphen aan den Rijn: from a quality hotel to innovative companies, from a gourmet restaurant to the exit-roads that lead to main ports like Rotterdam harbour and Schiphol airport. And for those who would like to relax after work there are various options; like the historical theme park Archeon, Vogelpark Avifauna or Theater Castellum. Alphen aan den Rijn is, like alderman Tseard Hoekstra formulated during an interview, a city filled with unique selling points. Furthermore, this is a city that is continuously in development; for those of you, who revisit Alphen aan den Rijn in a few years, you will most likely discover a shiny new city centre, with improved logistic routes and newly built offices. To cut a long story short, we wish you a very warm welcome to Alphen aan den Rijn and hope you enjoy reading this book. DENNIS CAPTEIN
(Publisher) 3