NFIA, helping your business bloom in Europe

NFIA, a Dutch government agency, can be of tremendous assistance in establishing or expanding you pan-European operation. For an overview of our free and confidential services, click About NFIA.  We'll help you discover how investing in setting up your business in the Netherlands pays you dividends all across Europe.

 

Key Factors for Locating European Headquarters in the Netherlands

Companies in the Netherlands

Knowledge Center

Our Knowledge Center supplies you with the facts, figures and web links on business in the Netherlands. You can also subscribe to our newsletter and request more information here.

Contacts in North America

NFIA New York 212-246-1434
NFIA Atlanta 404-870-9125
NFIA Boston 617-426-9224
NFIA Chicago 312-616-8400
NFIA San Mateo 650-349-8848


The Netherlands vs UK

Many US multinational companies look at locating their European headquarters in the United Kingdom because of its similar-to-US culture. The Netherlands offers you an equally compatible culture as well as something the UK cannot - closer proximity to customers. This advantage has become even more critical to long-term pan-European success, since additional Central and Eastern European countries have recently joined the EU, moving the business "center of gravity" eastward, further away from UK-based EHQs.

In addition, a May 2005 Ernst & Young study that compared European headquarters showed the Netherlands significantly outperformed the UK (and most other major competitors) in both costs and benefits.

For example, the Ernst & Young study rated various countries on a 100 point rating scale in terms of overall costs and overall benefits as they related to EHQs.

The chart below from the study shows the scores of the countries on overall costs on the first row, overall benefits on the second row and overall ranking at TOTAL.

CountriesSwitzerlandBelgiumFranceGermanyLuxembourgNetherlandsUnited Kingdom
Cost 92 61 53 52 58 66 59
Benefits 97 90 89 91 86 94 90
TOTAL 96 90 89 91 86 92 87
  NetherlandsUnited Kingdom
Transportation 100 87
Labor Quality 89 78
Multilinguality 75 60
Centrality 80 60
Business Environment 97 89
ICT Infrastructure 92 85
Quality of Life 89 79
Prestige 95 91

 

For a look at the full Ernst & Young study, click-on here to download the publication.

Overall, the Netherlands outranks the UK and all other competitors, except for Switzerland.

In terms of specific key benefits, a direct comparison of the Netherlands vs. the UK indicates that the Netherlands is superior in terms of Transport, Labor Quality, Multilinguality, Centrality, Business Environment, ICT Infrastructure, Quality of Life, and Prestige.

For a European Headquarter Tax Comparison between the Netherlands and the UK for Holding Structures click here.