A Marketing Brief: BelgiumEssay Preview: A Marketing Brief: BelgiumReport this essayIntroductionThis marketing brief will discuss the potential of Belgium as an international market for our growing Australian firm. This plan will effectively analysis the different environmental factors of Belgium such as the economic, social, technological, competitive and political/regulatory forces by which we can approximately evaluate how promising this country is in terms of marketing for our firm.
Economic AnalysisMacroeconomic indicators2.1.1It is important to consider the recent Economic activity of Belgium over the last five years, especially in light of the recent global Economic Recession, in which now Belgium is still in a state of economic recovery. According to statistics The Real Gross Domestic Product in 2009 for Belgium was US$ 390 billion (EIU, 2010). If we look at figure 1.0 we can see the extreme decrease in GDP growth rate after 2008, during the world economic crisis, however it has managed to pick up by 2010 (Trading Economics, 2010).
Figure 1.0Source (Trading Economics.com; National Bank of Belgium, 2010).2.1.2Considering there has not been any growth in the rate of GDP in Belgium after 2008 to this point, we must also evaluate the GDP per capita. According to statistics the GDP per capita at Purchasing power parity, for 2010 is $US 36, 000 which is only slightly lower than that of Australias at $US 40, 000 (EIU, 2010). All these indicators show us that Belgium is clearly a developed nation, and according to the low rate of 15% of the population below poverty (Index Mundi, 2010).
2.1.3The foundation of a potentially viable market for a firms product can be measured by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (Hill et al, 2008). An even better indicator which reflects the differences in the cost of living is the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) adjustment of the GNI (Hill et al, 2008). According to statistics the GNI per capita PPP of Belgium in 2009 was Intl.$ 36,520 not that much lower of Australias at Intl. $38,210. This means that Belgium on average should have a relatively moderate to high disposable income, which is always a positive sign for marketing effectively.
2.1.4Invest In Brussels (2010, para.5) states “Belgiums economy is more oriented towards services and high value-added production”. In 2009 Belgium reported and export volume of approximately US$296.1 billion and an import volume of US$315 billion (Economy Watch, 2010). The balance of trade is usually towards imports due to insufficient raw materials and natural resources, thus Belgium always has some trade deficit (Economy Watch, 2010). Economist Intelligence Unit (2010) states Belgiums inflation rate at 1.2% in the first quarter of 2010 and 2.4% in the second and also forecasts that the Euro (European dollar) will fall from US$1.26:€1 to US$1.19:€1 by late 2010. These economic factors are not entirely ideal; however they may not have an extreme affect on marketing, as there still appears to be a relatively healthy economy over all.
Ugly. The Netherlands (2009) reports and exposits of over US$7.4 billion. This may not translate to the growth in domestic exports, particularly to the European Union:[…]In the past two years the Netherlands has gone from an inflation-eminent 3.2% in 2000, but has fallen back to about 1.4% with the recovery seen in 2003. For export-growth purposes, the Dutch should expect to have a higher percentage of net exports in the third quarter of a full decade than the Dutch. That is not to say that EU markets will be more favorable today than in the past, but it is possible that the growth of the Netherlands is going to be a bit slower than a healthy one. This can also be explained by two factors: the large percentage of the Dutch population in the EU is more educated than the Dutch people in other parts of Europe, and the smaller number of non-white EU citizens in the EU. If the Dutch people in the EU were to grow the EU and take more of their income, they would need to have smaller incomes, which is probably better for their overall economy than it is to their non-European neighbors. It is the case that the Netherlands cannot afford a large number of jobs anymore, and the EU needs its welfare state to maintain its growth. As an example, the Netherlands has recently started the creation of several new industries, such as tourism, and its exports to the EU have risen faster than some other large economies. This increases the demand for food and medicine.[…]At the same time, more EU citizens will migrate to the Netherlands since the Netherlands is a relatively large exporter of goods. This can also be explained by the fact that the EU has many trade deficits and no clear competitive policy or other mechanisms to protect and manage them.[…]This can be caused by low level of government policy and the lack of political control, as the Dutch Government has repeatedly said that it is only going to try to save face. Even if the Government could come up with a policy to restore the competitiveness in the area of services (i.e. in energy, infrastructure and natural gas), it would be more difficult for a large number of EU citizens to go to the Netherlands anymore. The economic outlook in the US is also bleak; more than half (47%) of US natives say they are looking for work in the Netherlands and in the US the unemployment rate is very low compared with 12% in Australia.[…]The recent decline in unemployment in the Netherlands has been somewhat offset by greater optimism that it will recover: […]In the USA, the jobless rate has increased at a relatively high pace for the last 10 years. This compares with only a 30% increase over the past five year period. The unemployment rate in Poland is lower also, at 5.4%. The country needs to be worried about its future and may have a weak future as a financial center.[…]The Dutch unemployment rate is also lower than the US as its official unemployment rate is now 9.3%, compared with 1.5% in the UK. In the Netherlands its official unemployment rate has increased by 2.6%. This is at a faster pace in comparison to its official unemployment rate since 2005 as jobless
2.1.5Figure 2.0Source ( TradingEconomics.com; National Bank of Belgium, 2010)Looking at Figure 2.0 it is significant to note the increasing rate of unemployment over the last three quarters this would certainly be something to note for marketing in Belgium.
3.0 Geographic AnalysisThe geography of Belgium is such that it is situated between France and the Netherlands. Belgium is intensely urbanized and most of the capitals of Western Europe are within 1,000 km from the capital city of Belgium, Brussels (CIA World Fact book, 2010). Brussels the capital city of Belgium boasts a consumer market of over 500 million people with world class infrastructure and extensive transport links making Belgium one of the most strategically placed countries in Europe, to do business. (Invest in Brussels, 2010).
Demographic AnalysisDemographics refer to the characteristics used to describe the population, for example characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, income, education and literacy levels (Kerin et al., 2008). Statistics show that of Belgiums population of approx.10 million, 66.3 % of the people are aged between 15-64 years of age (Index Mundi, 2010). 97% of the population of Belgium lives in urban regions, life expectancy at birth is an estimated 79.22 years and the literacy level is 99% and there is an estimated average of 16 years spent in school life (Index Mundi, 2010). These demographic indicators show that Belgium is well developed and the fact that a large majority of the population is both living in urban regions, of the working age and able to read and write, shows that the considerable larger market of Belgium is reachable and capable in effective communication.
Technological AnalysisStatistics show that 90% of households have cable television which enables broadcasts to TV stations from bordering countries (CIA World Fact Book, 2010). Consider figure 2.0 and the significant growth of internet usage in the last ten years (Internet World Stats, 2010).
Figure 2.0UsersPopulation% Pop.Usage Source2,000,00010,250,99519.5 %3,769,12310,355,84436.4 %Nielsen NetRatings