Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative

Case and Materials

The Sandwich Shop: Breaking Through Bureaucracy in Amsterdam

  • Jorrit de Jong staff headshot
  • Authors Jorrit de Jong
Sandwich Shop Case

Last Updated

Topics
Collaboration, Innovation, Strategic Leadership and Management
Location
Europe

Overview

How can city leaders reduce bureaucratic obstacles that stifle entrepreneurship and economic growth? In Amsterdam, city manager Erik Gerritsen saw the struggles of entrepreneur Tamer Akgün—whose sandwich shop remained closed for two years due to a maze of permits and approvals—as a wake-up call for government inefficiency. Akgün’s experience highlighted structural challenges in regulatory policy and inter-agency cooperation, raising critical questions about how city officials can balance enforcement with support for small businesses. What strategies can leaders use to streamline processes, foster collaboration, and create a more responsive city government?

Introduction

Tamer Akgün was a young businessman in Amsterdam trying to open a sandwich shop and confronted by bureaucratic rules that made him despair of ever being able to succeed. Perhaps one of the “one-stop shops” the city created to assist entrepreneurs could have helped, but Akgün didn’t know they existed; besides, those who knew the “one-stop” bureaus found them to be poorly coordinated and unable to offer more than pointing out obstacles, rather than overcoming them.

For Amsterdam city manager Erik Gerritsen, Akgün’s plight, typical of that faced by so many entrepreneurs including those from immigrant families like Akgün’s, offered a chance to sit down members of the bureaucracy who work on permits and licenses and sort through the logjam. Meeting in Akgün’s sandwich shop—still not open—the officials from various departments and agencies found they all saw the problem in their own way, and some of them didn’t see a problem at all: they were following the rules. What is a way forward that produces the best results for entrepreneurs like Akgün and also society?

Guides for using this case are forthcoming.

 

Learning Objectives

The overarching learning objective of this case is to help officials in government develop and understand problem-oriented innovation, first learning how to diagnose the problem before proposing a set of solutions. By the end of the case session, participants should:

  • Understand the dimensions of the public value at stake in the case
  • Understand the causes of government fragmentation and excessive red tape
  • Explore leadership strategies that can help address these problems

Stay up to date on our latest work to improve cities

Follow us

The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative is located at the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University.