geconcerteren

Geconcerteren is a Dutch verb form used in formal or specialized contexts to indicate the act of bringing activities, interests or entities into concert or into a single corporate group. The word is related to the verbs concerteren (to coordinate, arrange together) and concentreren (to concentrate), and is sometimes encountered in business, legal or historical texts to describe the process of grouping subsidiaries, coordinating policy across a concern, or aligning actions among parties.

Etymology and meaning: The term derives from French concerter and ultimately from Latin concertare, meaning to bring into agreement or to contend together. In Dutch usage it can carry two related senses: (1) to coordinate or harmonize plans and actions — equivalent to “in overleg afstemmen”; (2) to fold entities into a single concern or corporate group — equivalent to “onderbrengen in een concern” or to centralize management and control.

Usage: Geconcerteren appears more often in bureaucratic, corporate or historical documents than in everyday speech. It is sometimes used adjectivally in past-participial constructions to describe entities that have been integrated into a concern. Because of its similarity to concentreren, speakers may confuse the terms; the nuance rests on coordination/grouping (geconcerteren) versus focusing or piling up (concentreren).

Related terms include concerteren, concern, centralisatie and integratie. The word’s frequency has declined and it may be perceived as formal or antiquated in contemporary colloquial Dutch.