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Network Economy
ICT Employment Opportunities (Stage 4)
The employement opportunities run rampant within The Netherlands for a skilled IT professional. Evidence of this is seen in the Netherlands version of the IT Job Board website, www.ITjobboard.nl, which started in 2005 and within a few years built up a monthly user community of over 45,000 IT professionals. Based on the website's claims, there are roughly 1,500 jobs posted per month on their job board. This is validated somewhat by a recent Netherlands press release which indicated Holland sustained modest job growth following the 3rd quarter of the 2010 calendar year.
In the fourth quarter of 2010 there were 25 thousand more employee jobs than in the same quarter in 2009. This 0.3 percent rise is the first positive growth following six quarters of decrease. The turnaround into jobs growth was already visible in the quarter-on-quarter figures. After correction for seasonal effects, the number of jobs was 0.3 percent higher than in the third quarter of 2010. This is the third quarter in a row in which the number of employee jobs grew. Though the growth was mainly in the care and temp agency sectors this bodes well for the business climate as a whole in the Netherlands.
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Business to Consumer (B2C) Electronic Commerce (Stage 4)
Webshops change online catalogues into user-friendly department stores. According to Thuiswinkel, the market for online consumer expenditures by Dutch Internet users rose an additional 28% in 2006 for total sales of 2.82 billion euro. In 2006, there were 6.4 million online shoppers and the average expenditure online per shopper totalled 441.00 euro. The major online sectors are travel, consumer electronics, insurance and clothing. Other online sectors on the rise include toys and entertainment (DVD’s, home entertainment software and online ticketing). Furthermore, heightened consumer confidence in secure online payment has resulted in yet more online purchases. The Dutch industry organization for webshops - Nederlandse Thuiswinkel Organisatie – has nearly 500 affiliated webshops.
These account for nearly 70 percent of Dutch online consumer expenditures, with sales of 3.7 billion euro in 2006. Its members display the “Thuiswinkel Seal of Approval and Quality
Guarantee” symbol, so that consumers know they may shop online safely and securely. Webshop offerings are expanding rapidly. Explosive economic growth is expected in the
near future from the B2C sector as, for example, insurance providers enter this arena. Some of the B2C window will evolve into a B2B site.
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Business to Business (B2B) Electronic Commerce (Stage 4)
The Economist Intelligence Unit has published an annual e-readiness ranking of the world's largest economies since 2000. The ranking model evaluates the e-business environment of
69 countries. In the rankings the Netherlands came in 8th place, after Denmark, United States, Sweden, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
As mentioned above, the B2C business is growing at a good rate. This is especially true in the Netherlands capital, Amsterdam, and surrounding Amsterdam Area, forming a thriving hub for business environment, offering a competitive cost of quality ratio, and an outstanding international network of professional services designed to assist internation businesses. Another advantage is the ready availability of highly educated, flexible, and motivated workforce, with the highest levels of language skills in Europe. The Amsterdam Area is also the 'most'wired region in Europe. Thanks to the superb IT infrastucture, the area has attracted many international and telecoms companies.
Gelderland acts as a fertile ground for many start up companies as well. Its numerous office and business sites are home to more than 104,000 companies, including multinationals, internationally oriented high-tech companies and businesses specializing in distribution and logistic services. Along with Amsterdam and Zeeland, Gelderland consists of a highly educated workforce.
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E-Goverment (Stage 4)
The government is similarly offering more and more online services. In 2006 a wide range of government organisations showed improved quality in their online services (e-Government - G2C and G2B). 75% of Internet users accessed an electronic governmental service. The total level of online government services to citizens amounted to 61% in 2006, and the service targeted at businesses stood at 62%.
The Forrester research institute forecasts a bright future for the Dutch e-commerce sector. According to their market studies, e-commerce in Europe will grow 21% annually until 2011. For Europe, this will mean a jump of 102 billion euro in 2006 to 263 billion euro in 2011. The Netherlands will grow by 28% to 11.8 billion euro in 2011. In this respect, the Netherlands represents one of the fastest growing countries for e-commerce.
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Antilles Flag
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