Assignment

Current situation of the Russian-Dutch relationship

Nowadays it is starting to be obvious that because of the current political, economic and social situation, it is not that easy to start an international company or invest money into foreign markets. But what is certainly true, is that any crisis will be over sooner or later and then, those companies, that weren't scared to conquer a new market within difficult situations, became winners after a hard time and difficult start. Dutch entrepreneurs were well known in Russia, since Peter the Great was studying at The Netherlands at the beginning of the 18th century. Up to 2013 Dutch-Russian economic and trade relations became stronger every year, with a peak during the bilateral Dutch-Russian year of friendship. Educational projects are non-political, and we are glad that we can continue our work in helping students to develop their skills in international business practice, to show that we are contributing to peace and understanding between nations, even in this time of political difficulties.

About the Company «4Silence»

Sound surrounds us in our daily life. Sometimes we choose to listen to these sounds ourselves, for instance when we visit a concert. But sometimes we hear sounds that can be disturbing or even harmful, for example when that same concert we visit, produces too many decibels. Or when cars, motorcycles and trucks rush by over the road, creating lots of noise. 4Silence tries to reduce this noise by develop-ing suitable solutions resulting from scientific research. The goal of 4Silence is to develop sustainable noise reduction.

4Silence, works to bring new applications to the market, focused on reducing the annoyance caused by noise. Technology offers increasing opportunities. 4Silence sees the advantages of innovation and translates these advantages into solutions in the area of noise reduction. Since long term exposure to noise is harmful for health, 4Silence has the passion to reduce the amount of noise to tolerable levels to increase the quality of life of the people who live next to roads and railways. For more details, please have a look at the website: www.4silence.nl

About the product

Whisstone

To reduce traffic noise, 4Silence developed a diffractor, the so called Whisstone. The Whisstone is a concrete element with cavities, which is installed next to the road surface. Instead of absorbing traffic noise, the diffractor diffracts it: it bends the noise upwards. This significantly reduces the annoyance caused by roadside noise. The diffractor reduces tire/road noise by approximately 3 to 4 dB(A). The Whisstone is compatible with, and therefor a complement of, existing sound reducing measures, such as silent road surfaces and noise barriers.

Customers of 4Silence:

The typical customers of 4Silence are:
- Road authorities
- Railway companies

4Silence thinks Russia might be a good market for their product, since in Moscow alone, 70% of the people complain about rail/road traffic noise.

Research questions to student teams:

• What are the risks for doing business in Russia and what kind of possible barriers can you see?
• What is the size of the market for the product of the company and which competing sys-tems are in use already?
• Which legislation is applicable for noise reduction systems in Russia? How can you imple-ment new systems within the existing regulations?
• What strategy you suggest to the company for a successful start of their business in Rus-sia? What is the team vision on how to conquer the Russian market?
• Find out what could be the most successful market entry strategy and business model: agents, production, sales office, joint venture, or others?
• Make a SWOT analysis of potential “Whisstone production” companies in Russia. Calculate production costs of the Whisstone in Russia.