This issue marks the launch of a serial highlight of various regions and cities in the Netherlands. Some regions are more well known; however, nearly all the regions and cities in the Netherlands carry out promotion and acquisition activities to attract companies and businesses to their respective areas. While cities such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam focus on attracting head offices and port related logistic activities, a region such as the Northern Netherlands aims to attract a wide range of businesses.

Although the number of companies that relocate within the different regions is not very high, the majority of these companies have very specific site preferences. A survey over the past two years shows that most of these relocated companies consisted of call centers, production and assembly as well as distribution centers. The decision to relocate often depended upon matching the core business activities with the preference for the

region. A determining factor for the location is also what type of decision is involved, e.g. initial establishment of a foreign company, the relocation of an already established company, merger of facilities or the opening of additional facilities. Market orientation is another relevant factor in the decision to set up a European head office.

First in our series is the province Gelderland in the Eastern part of the Netherlands.

Gelderland
Gelderland consists of its capital Arnhem, with other major urban regions being Nijmegen, Apeldoorn, Wageningen and Ede. It is the Netherlands' largest province and located on the Eastern side of the country, providing a good connection to (North) Germany. A well developed telecommunications and highway infrastructure with optimum accessibility to the national and international road network as well as its favourable location ensures that the most important industries represented are: ICT, Logistics, Medical Engineering, Life Sciences and Environmental Technology. The region is also well connected by international, national and local trains. The arrival of the Betuwe Route (freight rail) and the High Speed Line rail links ensures even more efficient transportation. Commercial shipping takes advantage of the three major rivers that flow through the province. The transport of goods by rail or ship helps to reduce pressure on the roads, and that is what led to the development of the Multimodal Transport Centre (MTC) Valburg, a transshipment centre for container traffic.

More and more logistical enterprises, such as TNT-Express, Transport Development Group (TDG), Curry European Transport B.V., Dachser, are finding their way to the province of Gelderland - the place where waterways, motorways and railways meet.

In the field of corporate consulting, the region also has a reputation to maintain. Consulting and engineering firms such as Arcadis, Haskoning and Kema are well known far outside the Netherlands. Financial service providers include highly prestigious organisations such as KPMG, Ernst & Young, Deloitte & Touche and NV Postbank.

This is also the location of choice for the headquarters or major branch offices of corporations including Akzo-Nobel, Philips Semiconductors, BASF, SITA/BFI, Modus Media International, Mead Johnson, British American Tobacco, Alcoa Holland B.V. and Vredestein.

Many education facilities are concentrated in the Arnhem-Nijmegen region and it is relatively easy to attract qualified personnel who are multi-lingual, highly productive, have a strong work ethic and high flexibility. In addition, the cost of labour is lower than in other regions, which is partly attributable to the lower cost of living.

(Source: Gelderland Development Company)