BY: BRITTANY COSTELLO, JOYCE CUMMINGS, JAIDA EDWARDS, NICHOLAS MARTIN

ANGIE’S LIST IN THE NETHERLANDS

POLITICS,ECONOMICS, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

FOCUS BY BRITTANY COSTELLO

POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

POLITICAL SYSTEM• Constitutional Monarchy since 1815

• Extremely low political risk

• The Parliament - consists of two chambers

• Head of State (The King) – King Willem-Alexander van Oranje Nassau

• Prime Minister – Mark Rutte

LEADERS

INTERNET COMMUNICATION

• Official languages: Dutch, Frisian and Papiamento

• There will be a big language barrier, especially with having three official languages. The website would have to be available in all three languages to be sufficient

• Dutch Grondwet grants everybody the right to make public ideas and feelings by printing them without prior censorship

• Commercial advertising is exempt from freedoms

INTERNET ACCESS POINTS• Netherlands has the fastest Internet speed in Europe,

fourth fastest globally

• 94% of population used the Internet as of 2013

• Any Dutch citizen who pays for home Internet has access to hotspots across the country

• There is no government mandated Internet censorship

• The businesses that are owned by the government are in a program to eventually be owned by the private sector

GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION FOR BUSINESS• There are three levels of impact for private businesses:

1. There are regulations and restrictions for those who require a permit for certain types of businesses

2. The government attempts to keep inflation low and they control the nation’s credit supply (which they have been very successful with)

3. Lastly, the government manages their nation’s environment

POPULATION DISBURSEMENT

• 94% of population live in Randstad (major 4 cities)Amsterdam – capital city and economic and cultural

centerRotterdam – largest port and exchange of

petroleum operatorsThe Hague – government locatedUtrecht – transport and services hub

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

• 1 US dollar equals 0.93 €

• First mover advantage – Netherlands does not currently have a system of reviews like this

• Location of operating services to maintain website is not necessary a wholly owned corporation location, which saves money

FOCUS BY NICHOLAS MARTIN

ECONOMICAL ENVIRONMENT

NETHERLANDS’ ECONOMY

• 2015 GDP: $750 billion

• 2015 GDP per Capita: $44,424

• 2015 GDP growth rate: 1.9%

• 2015 Unemployment: 6.9%

• 2015 Inflation rate: 0.3%

• Population living below poverty line: 9.1% in 2013

NETHERLANDS’ GDP IN PAST DECADE

NETHERLANDS’ GDP GROWTH RATE

ECONOMIC EFFECT ON ANGIE’S LIST

• PPP GDP per capita comparable to US

• $56,100 in United States

• $49,600 in Netherlands

• GDP growth rate comparable to US

• 2.6% in Untied States

• 1.9% in Netherlands

• 70% of Netherlands’ total GDP accounted for by the service sector

• Total number of businesses growing

• 65,000 new businesses in 2014

• Amount of small businesses increased since 2010

• Amount of medium and large businesses decreased since 2010

FOCUS BY JOYCE CUMMINGS

TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT

INVESTMENT IN MEGA PLATFORM

• The platform market is an $800 billion industry, so tech companies (big and small) are starting to take notice and set up

• Startup platforms range from review-based to premium-paid, cost-per-impression, pay-per-lead, pay-per-transaction and more. And because of their successes, big business are now entering this space to take their share

• Most of these business are Google Home Services, Facebook’s new Services search and Next door's “Nextdoor Now”

• Angie’s List being a small business may not get the adequate foreign investment needed

MAJOR COMPETITORS

• Facebook allows to create business pages free of charge to show off posts, photos, reviews and other relevant content

• Facebook recently launched Facebook Services to make local service discovery even easier on the social network

• Nextdoor has also begun to roll out Nextdoor Now for free to help neighborhood residents find local professionals hired or reviewed by neighbors

• Porch –Porch has pulled in property tax, building permit and Better Business Bureau data to try to build a history for each home in the U.S.

• The idea is to provide homeowners with a project history while also providing suggestions and showcasing projects

• Amazon – Amazon is seizing an opportunity to get into services

• Amazon is using its ratings expertise to try to influence the industry

OVERVIEW• The Netherlands is an international internet hub with one of the most

competitive internet markets

• A number of free listing platform have emerged over the past few years to help local services professionals win more clients

• The growth of free listing platforms would cause premium sites like Angie’s List to work much harder to deliver tools that explicitly demonstrate the value they are delivering

• Angie’s List, “Premium Listing” platforms ask consumers to pay monthly fees in exchange for their profiles being put in front of serious clients (i.e., clients who also are paying fees to get access to business)

• The issue with Angie’s List is that clients are hesitant to incur an ongoing (i.e., monthly) charge unless they are seeing a consistent and measurable return from that continuous expense

FOCUS BY JAIDA EDWARDS

SOCIETAL ENVIRONMENT

CULTURE

• DUTCH SOCIETY • CONSIDERED AN EGALITARIAN

SOCIETY (“OPEN SOCIETY”)• WORK LIFE VS. PERSONAL LIFE • RESPECT OF OTHERS IS VALUED TO

BE SUCCESSFUL

LEGAL

• MUST HAVE A WORKING PERMIT TO DELEGATE BUSINESS

• CHILDCARE AND INSURANCE BENEFITS ARE PERMITTED

• UNEMPLOYED WORKERS MUST HAVE A A1 CERTIFICATE TO BE PROTECTED

NETHERLAND’S KEYS TO SUCCESS

• INNOVATION

• WORKING HARD WITH OTHERS EVEN WHEN THERE IS ERROR

• WORK SHOULD BE “SERVICE-MINDED”- THEY BELIEVE THAT THE CUSTOMER IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT

• APPRECIATE CRITICISM IN THE WORKPLACE WHETHER PEER TO PEER OR PEER TO SUBORDINATE

SWOTSTRENGTHS

• 94 % OF COUNTRY HAS ACCESS TO INTERNET

• HIGHEST NUMBER OF USERS IN EUROPEAN UNION

• PLATFORM IS MARKET IS OVER 800 BILLION DOLLAR MARKET

• PERSONAL LIFE IS CONSIDERED MORE IMPORTANT THAN WORK LIFE SO THESE SERVICES WOULD BE USED BY ALL THESE PEOPLE WHO LIVE TO WORK INSTEAD OF WORK TO LIVE

SWOTWEAKNESSES

• HIGH TARIFFS ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

• VENTURE CAPITAL

• LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY, MONITORING, AND ASSURANCE

• SHARE OF R&D INVESTMENTS

• LACK OF CLARITY WITHIN THE GOVERNMENT BECAUSE OF THE DECENTRALIZED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

SWOTOPPORTUNITIES

• FIRST MOVER ADVANTAGE • NONE OF ANGIE’S LIST COMPETITORS OPERATE IN

NETHERLANDS• MOST OF ANGIE’S LIST COMPETITORS ONLY OPERATE IN US

• INCREASE IN SOLE PROPRIETORSHIPS AND SMALL BUSINESSES• BUSINESSES MOST LIKELY TO USE ANGIE’S LIST

• ECONOMY IN STABLE CONDITION• GDP PER CAPITA AND GDP GROWTH RATE COMPARABLE TO

US

SWOTTHREATS

• LOCAL EXPANSION – OVERWHELMING DEMAND FOR ANGIE’S LIST SERVICES IN VIRTUALLY EVERY CITY ACROSS THE UNITED STATES

• ALOTTING PAY FOR TRANSLATING PARTNERS

• CORRUPTION IN BUSINESS REVIEWS

• LAST MOVER ADVANTAGE COMPETITORS – COULD STEAL IDEAS THAT ANGIE’S WORKS SO HARD TO ESTABLISH

• COMMUNICATION AND DECISION MAKING BETWEEN EACH SECTOR OF MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISE

“The Netherlands economy: Population, GDP, inflation, business, trade, FDI, corruption.” Foundation, The Heritage. 2016. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.

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calendar. 15 Nov. 2016. Web. 29 Nov. 2016. “Netherlands GDP | 1960-2016 | data | chart | calendar | forecast | news.” 2016.

Web. 29 Nov. 2016. “United States home.” World Bank. 2016. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.Aalbers, Lenneke. "Addressing Complex Social Challenges in the Netherlands."

Reos Partners. N.p., 17 Mar. 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2016. "Guide to the Dutch: Society and Working Culture." About the Netherlands |

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Ministerie Van Algemene Zaken, 2013. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.

REFERENCES