Global Marketing Country Audit for The Netherlands

1. THE NETHERLANDS
1. Demographics A. Total population=16,381,000, annual growth rate=.3%,
A. Population-Actual 482.9 people/sq km
Growth Rate B. Population Rank= 61st
B. Population rank
C. Fertility Rate= 1.7/ woman, 79% of female contraceptive use
C. Fertility Rate %
Contraceptive Use % D. Median Age =39.04
D. Age Population under 14 Yrs=18.2%
Median Age
Population between 15-64=67.7&
% of population < 15
% of population > 65 Population 65yrs + = 14.1%
E. Life Expectancy E. 79.7 - Males 77.6; Females 81.9
Male/female
(All of the above obtained from Europa World Plus)
Quality of Life Index Ranked # 16 with an index of 7.433 (Wikipedia)
(NY = 100)
•
Education Levels % of Males and Females adult literacy is even, almost universal
% adult literacy Gender Related Development Index (GID) rank= 12 out of 144
•
M countries (Country Watch)
F
Education level (Encyclopedia Britanica Inc.)
•
% enrollment
Primary -Primary=15,992,000
Secondary -Secondary=9,379,000
Tertiary
-Higher Vocational=3,46,0200
-Universities=199,400,00
Health Health as GDP=9.2% (Encyclopedia Britanica Inc.)
•
Health as % of GDP • Doctors p/1000=3.2, Hospital beds/100=5
Doctors per 1,000
• Major Cause of Death 1.) Ischaemic Heart Disease 2.)Cardiovascular
Major cause of death
Disease
#1, 2, 3
3.)Trachea, Bronchitis, Lung Cancer (World Health Organization)
Social Stats Number of Households ~7.2M (Euromonitor International)
# of households Average # people per Household= 2.4 (World Bank)
average # people per
Marriage p/100=4.4 (World Bank)
household
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marriage rate per 1,000 Divorce rate= 38.3% (World Bank)
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2. THE NETHERLANDS
divorce rate per 1,000
2. Geography A. Total=41,528 sq. km (Country Watch)
A. Size of Country
and rank if in top
twenty
B. Climate The climate is temperate: the average temperature in January is 0°C
DESCRIBE the climate (32°F), and the summer average is 21°C (70°F). Rainfall is evenly
and its effect on people, distributed throughout the year, however the spring months tend to be
culture and behavior drier than at other times of the year. Most areas of the country have more
than 600 mm (24 ins) of rain each year, on average. In general, the climate
is temperate, maritime and damp, with mild winters and warm, but rarely
hot, summers. (Europa World Plus)
The mild, damp climate serves for dairying and livestock rising, but
because of the limited sunshine, the growing of food crops is restricted.
(Advameg Inc)
“Dutch people have a saying about their culture which reflects a unique
environmental need they have which goes something like 'whether you
are rich or poor, black or white, man or woman, we all live together, in the
same polder – below sea level' (Blakester).” This quote describes perfectly
how climate has shaped culture and behavior. The Dutch are experts at
Hydrology. They have acquired mastery in the controlling of water by
building dikes in order to protect their entity. This has created a sense of
unity and “teamwork” as they know that they all must cooperate in order
to make things work. Also, because The Netherlands is extremely
susceptible to climate changes it has created a culture of
environmentalism.
However, with the recent global climate change The Netherlands is
experiencing direct effects, mostly as the land is mostly below sea level
and the sea level is growing by 20 cm/year. Also, the country is
experiencing a rise in temperatures at a higher rate than the rest of the
world, experiencing warmer summers which may help create more
tourism (Netherlands Enviromental Assesment Agency). Currently the
country is looking for ways to better deal with these climate changes.
C. Terrain C. Land=33,873 = 81.5% (Europa World Plus)
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% country in mountains
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3. THE NETHERLANDS
% country as desert Inland Waters=3,479 = 8.5% (Europa World Plus)
% near sea level
Coastal Waters= 4,175 = 10% (Europa World Plus)
DESCRIBE the land and
its effect on people, Most of the Land of the Netherlands is below sea level. The lowest point is
culture and behavior. 23ft below sea level and its highest point is at 1053ft above sea level
(Wikipedia). Because many of the land have been re-claimed from the sea
(about 33% of its current size) they live in constant danger of flooding near
coast and river areas. Moreover, because they have been able to reclaim
arable land they have grown a culture of achievement and mentality that
everything is possible. Also, this has created an effect on that culture that
about prevention as they know that a flooding can occur at any moment
they have learned to be precocious, and has further developed their
interest and overachievement in the area of engineering.
D. Major Rivers and D. The Rhine (Rijn) flows across the southern Netherlands. Other principal
Lakes rivers are the Maas, the Waal and the Ijssel, which form arms of the
Rhine delta. (Europa World Plus)
E. Number of ports E. The Netherlands has over 10 ports, including Rotterdam with the
Quality of port facility rivers Meuse and Rhine providing great access to the neighboring
upstream reaching to Basel, Switzerland and into France (Encyclopedia
Britanica Inc.).
F. Shape and Location The shape of the country is very fragmented. It shares borders with
of Country Germany and Belgium. The Netherlands is a coastal country, located the
western side of Europe bordering the North Sea. Because of its
DESCRIBE effect on
accessibility to water has allowed for some its ports to be among the most
people, culture and
important in all of Europe. Moreover, its shape comes from the initial
behavior
fragmentation of its occupants before the country became unified. The
Netherlands was composed by 17 different provinces before it came
together in 1579 with the Union of Utrecht. This is also an explanation for
the diversity of backgrounds and its high tolerance as they all learned to
work together to overcome great obstacles such as war and now a days,
its fight with the sea and rivers (Wikipedia).
As of 2007, €mn (Euromonitor International)
3. Economics
GDP in aggregate: €560,877
A. GDP in aggregate
-Agriculture=€10,150.5
Origins of GDP
-Industry=€63,855.2
Agriculture
-Manufacturing=€62,257.4
Industry
Services
Rank in world Economy= 16 as of 2007 (Wikipedia)
Rank in world economy
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4. THE NETHERLANDS
B. GDP per capita GDP per capita=€29,858.1 (Euromonitor International)
Growth rate in GDP pc* Real GDP growth (2007): 3.5% (Euromonitor International)
C. GDP w/PPP @ pc .87 (Euromonitor International)
D. Econ. Freedom Score D. The Netherlands is one of the most open economies in the world, it
ranked number 13 out of 157 countries who participated in survey.
Explain where that
(Wikipedia)
places the country
relative to other
countries in the world
E. Trade Measurements E. Biggest Export Target: Germany, Belgium, United Kingdom (Europa
Biggest Export Target World Plus)
1st, 2cd. 3rd Biggest Import Target: Germany, Belgium, PRC (Europa World Plus)
Biggest Import Source
74.2% of its GDP in exports of goods and services and 66.5% of GDP in
1st, 2cd. 3rd
imports (Europa World Plus)
% of GDP in foreign
trade The Dutch were founding members of the Organization for Economic
Balance of Payments Co-operation and Development (OECD), the General Agreement on
Membership in Regional Tariffs and Trade (GATT, succeeded in 1995 by the World Trade
Trading Organizations Organization—WTO), the Benelux Economic Union and both the
European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic
Community (EEC), forerunners of the European Union (EU). (Europa
World Plus)
F. Financial Inflation for upcoming years expected to stay between 1.3-1.5% (Country
Inflation rate 10 years Watch)
Savings Rates Saving Rate per household (2008)= 12.1% (Country Watch)
DESCRIBE the country’s
Because inflation is low and the saving rate is pretty high, as well as the
attitude about money,
standard of living, the Dutch enjoy a comfortable life, where money is
spending and saving
there to be spent but they strongly encourage to save in order to maintain
financial stability. Also there has been an increase in disposable income
G. Unemployment rate G. Unemployment by labor rate=4.0%, Unemployment by Eurostats
Major Sources of standards= 1.9% being the lowest in all Europe (Eurostats Unemployment
employment – Rates)
agricultural, Employment= 79.5% in service sector, 17.4% in industry, 3.1% in
manufacturing, services agriculture (Europa World Plus).
H. Income Distribution Gini Coefficient=.326 (Encyclopedia Britanica Inc.)
Gini coefficient The mean annual income is €25,000-€28,000 (Euromonitor International)
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average income
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5. THE NETHERLANDS
Middle Class Only 2.8% in poverty (Encyclopedia Britanica Inc.)
% in poverty
This country is at a stage 5 in the economic development as it meets the
Brief Description of
standards of the E.U.
what stage of economic
development the
country is
I Penetration rate of More than 95% of population has a TV set (Euromonitor International)
TVs, internet, and Internet Users=9,025,400 (Euromonitor International)
personal vehicles,
Personal Vehicles (estimated)=13,009,800 (Euromonitor International)
J. Infrastructure The Amsterdam Airport is one of the fourth largest airports in Europe.
Road Network Infrastructure is very important for The Netherlands as it connects all
Length cities and many towns. There are special trains for the country, and
Crowding- veh /sq. km separate ones for the major cities. The ones in the cities may circulate up
Railways and Airlines to 8 times p/hr. The Railroad Network consists of 6505 track-kilometers.
passenger and freight. Other forms of public transportation include bus and metro. There are
Describe the night services available. The Netherlands has some of the densest highway
infrastructure not networks in the world. There are many traffic jams as the Dutch only use
simply stats 2x2 lanes (Wikipedia).
4. Political Factors
A. Duration of The Netherlands’ type of government is “based on the principles of
government ministerial responsibility and parliamentary government. The national
Type of government government constitutes three main institutions: The Monarch, The Council
Enfranchisement Rates of Ministers, and the Sates General” (U.S. Departmant of State).
How long has this been The Constitution has been in place since 1848, and several amendments
government FORM have been added (Wikipedia).
been ruling the country,
This type of government is very stable and it has been rated by The
how stable is it?
Economist as the third most democratic country in the world out of 167
countries (Wikipedia).
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B. Government The government regulates almost every aspect that concerns to any
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6. THE NETHERLANDS
interaction economic activity. In addition it regulates permit requirements. “The
How Involved is the government combines a rigorous and stable microeconomic policy with
government in the wide-ranging structural and regulatory reforms.”However, since the
economy 1980’s the government is gradually reducing its role in the economy, and
Is there a Punative privatization and deregulation continue still as forceful. (U.S. Departmant
element to the gov’t of State)
Does a Shadow Gov’t Government seeks to help its citizens and law enforcement is non-
exist- if so what? confrontational (Ashkanasy, Wilderom and Peterson)
There is no Shadow Government
C. Corruption Index The Netherlands ranks number 9 out of 163 countries in regards to
Political Transparency. (Heritage Foundation & Wall Stree Journal)
D. Risk Factors According to Country watch Political Risk index (where a 0 marks the most
Political risk and a 10 marks the lowest political risk) the Netherlands ranks at a
Financial 9.5, meaning there is strong stability, high democratic accountability, and
low economic risk, as well as a low degree of corruption. (Country Watch)
Is this a risky market?
E. Defense Spending= 32,382.6 = 4.3% GDP (Europa World Plus)
Spending as % of GDP Armed Forces=45,608 individuals (Europa World Plus)
Armed Forces
5. Historical Factors
FIVE Events or trends -The formation of the country began in 1579, when the Northern
Provinces, of the 17 Provinces which included Belgium, Luxemburg, and
parts of France and Germany. These Provinces created Union of Utrecht
to support one another against Spain.
-In 1582 they became the Republic of Seven United Netherlands by the
17th century they had become one of the major economic powers. In
1815 the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was created. Later Belgium
rebelled and gained independence.
-During WWII The Netherlands suffered greatly with the occupation of the
Nazis and suffered an incredible amount of lives and power as they lost
the Netherlands East Indies which came to be the new republic of
Indonesia.
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-After the major flood in 1953, authorities created the “Delta Works,”
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7. THE NETHERLANDS
which were programs to protect the country from future flooding. The
project took 30 years to complete and it is now the best in its kind. Other
countries like the U.S. are trying to emulate the Dutch technology in
order to prevent catastrophes like in the events of Katrina Hurricane.
- In 1993, the Netherlands was one of the founding countries in the
European Nation. The Netherlands has been able to position it self as a
strong economy and it has gain recognition for its liberal thinking.
(Euromonitor International) (Wikipedia) (Europa World Plus)
6. Cultural Effects
Language The official language of the Netherlands is Dutch, although there is a
primary, secondary %’s Frisian-speaking minority of about 400,000 (Europa World Plus).
tolerance and latitude
Religion Roman Catholic Church=32.0% of the population (Europa World Plus)
primary, secondary %’s Protestants=25% (Europa World Plus)
tolerance and latitude
Islam=5.8% of the total population (Europa World Plus)
Unaffiliated= 36% (Country Watch)
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8. THE NETHERLANDS
Cultural Perspective The Dutch tradition of social tolerance is readily encountered .Activities
Primary Values such as prostitution, “soft-drug” use, which is marijuana and hashish, and
Dealing with euthanasia are all legal but carefully regulated. The Netherlands was the
foreigners first country to legalize same-sex marriage. (Encyclopedia Britanica Inc.)
Cultures The Dutch take great pride in their cultural heritage as some of the
greatest painters are from the Netherlands. The Dutch maintain a strong
relationship with the arts and the government is heavily involved in
subsidizing the arts. For the Dutch, their glorious freedom of speech has
long been reflected in their love for the arts. (Encyclopedia Britanica Inc.)
Because of their location, the Dutch enjoy outside activities such as cycling
and sailing, they also enjoy traveling within the country and many times
will visit areas of high tourism. The Dutch enjoy foreigners because since
the beginning they learned to host many individuals who would stop at
their numerous ports. (Encyclopedia Britanica Inc.)
As many foreigners come into the Netherlands, the Dutch are trying to
maintain and centralize their culture. They have began a movement in
order to bring back attention to their many traditions. “For the Dutch
situation we can say that the important turning point was the
memorandum Pantser of Ruggengraat (Armour of Backbone), which the
government propounded in regards to the culture in the period of
1997-2000, and which proposed that the everyday culture should be given
a central role as a medium for central cohesion.” (Rodemburg 59)
The Netherlands has taken into initiative to create more programs that
invite visitors to come and experience the Dutch culture and all it has to
offer. Programs have been put in place to attract more visitors to the
country such as the creation of art education scholarships for foreign
students. Also there is assistance for well-known Dutch festivals to invite
foreign journalists and coordinate promotional campaigns to raise their
international profile. Artist-in-residence programs were created to allow
leading foreign artists to live and work in the Netherlands for lengthy
periods, in addition to visiting programs for intermediaries, policy makers
and programmers to find out about the culture. (Bina and Smithuijsen)
Personal Hygiene has observed an ongoing development. The grooming
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sector has observed a “moderate growth”, especially in the male
customers. “A strong growth in men’s shaving products” in addition this
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9. THE NETHERLANDS
Favorite Pastime Cycling is a popular activity—for commuting, recreation, and sport—
involving at least half the population. Other favorite sports include tennis,
field hockey, and ice skating. They practice the Elfstedentocht, which is a
popular ice-skating race that passes through 11 cities in the province of
Friesland, and it is only held during winters with heavy ice. Football
(soccer) is one of the favorite sports among fans and club teams including
the Dutch national team have experienced much international success.
(Encyclopedia Britanica Inc.)
Also many Dutch, like tourist enjoy boating along the canals. (Euromonitor
International)
Favorite Beverage Beer is the drink of choice, but many of the older population prefer a drink
called “Jenever” which is a type of Dutch gin (Euromonitor International).
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10. THE NETHERLANDS
Bibliography
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Climate. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2004.
Bina, Vladimir and Cas Smithuijsen. Compendium Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe. Novermber 2006. 05
October 2008 <http://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/netherlands.php?aid=241>.
Blakester, Adam. Changing Climate, Changing Needs, Changing Society. 2004. 30 September 2008
<http://www.bensoc.org.au/uploads/documents/AdamBlakester.pdf>.
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<http://www.europaworld.com.libproxy.sdsu.edu/entry/nl>.
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands#Economy>.
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<http://www.heritage.org/Index/country.cfm?id=Netherlands>.
Netherlands Enviromental Assesment Agency. Effects of Climate Change in he Netherlands. December 2005.
Rodemburg, Peter Jan Margry & Herman. Reframing Dutch Culture. Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2007.
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<http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3204.htm>.
Wikipedia. 06 October 2008. 06 October 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands#Economy>.
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<http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/POP.pdf>.
World Health Organization. World Health Organization. 2008. 02 10 2008
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