Doing business in Arab world - need insight!

i'm an arab and i still havent figured that one out!

... and again, it's generalising, but I've been here almost 5 years now, and I think I can comment.

Doing business here all depends on the structure of the company you are doing business with. There are a number of global names here, who will impose upon their personnel a set of ethics and business standards that must be adhered to. There are also some local businesses where the top echelon recognises the benefits of doing business in an ethical manner.

However, these are still in the minority. Many businesses here are still family owned, with the children having taken over the running of the business from the father, with no qualification other than being of the same blood.

These businesses are ususally in the grip of the Indian mafia; you have accountants running purchasing and logistics functions simply because the owners don't know any better.

Your chances of getting business ethically are greatly reduced, but if you employ someone who is in "the circle" then you will get business; just don't ask too many questions about how the job managed to come your way.

Don't ever believe that the prices you quote on a job will be kept confidential. They will be handed out to whoever is the favourite vendor for that company, so that they can re-quote to beat your price.

Also, don't be surprised if you are asked for "commission". This can take the form of cash, but will more likely be in the form of goods (refrigerators and tv's are the most popular). Another favourite is airline tickets for the family, or paying for school fees.

I had my own methods for dealing with this in the past. I bought each of my sales people a small digital recorder, and if they were asked for commissions, they arranged to meet later so that they could record the conversation.

I would say that about half of the companies that we played the recordings to took action; the other half merely shrugged their shoulders and smiled. Those were the ones I stopped doing business with.

It's very, very difficult to remain as an honest business person here, and I wish you the best of luck with it.

I must also stress that there ARE honest business people here - it's just not too easy to find them, and of course it depends on what business you are in.

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"You can't tell which way the train went by looking at the tracks"

Yep. A lot of normal business practices here would be considered corruption elsewhere. Takes a while to adjust.

wow dohasteve!very enlightening and very sad.

Here you are you can collect a great deal of information for yuor book - I am sure it will be a best seller. LOL

some experience with CNAQ, VCUQ, and Qatar Foundation here, so I suppose QF is the only one I have any first hand knowledge of that fits your description. To be honest, they are very forward thinking, and have employed many Qatari's who have been well educated and exposed to western business practices. I also know that Sheikha Moza (spelling?) expect high standards, and expects things to happen quickly as far as QF is concerned. Good luck with your move!

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"You can't tell which way the train went by looking at the tracks"

Forward thinking is one thing, but Qatar, for the time being, lacks the lower-level and mid-level human resource capacity to carry out many of these plans. The vision and planning may be good, but implementation will stay tricky for some time to come.

[AT]bae, A book that I recommend at ILQ.net is 'Don't they know it's Friday?'

It's a great resource, and I'd say around 90% of it is accurate. It has customs, traditions and thoughts that I didn't think about because it's so natural.

Get that book it's a good investment.
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If you know that things get discussed at starbucks or over a coffee in the majlis, why do you try that road then too?
Aisha-Taweela

I just finished "Don't they know it's Friday?" this morning. One thing I got out of the book is the importance of "timing" as opposed to "being on-time". This adds a new understanding to how things work. This shows me why sometimes when I start a class, the students seem unhappy. On other days, they seem happy. This may have been because the timing was right in the former classes. In the latter classes, the timing was wrong so students felt I wasn't professional or sensitive to their needs.

Personally, I love being "on-time" but my sense of "timing" is off. How does one develop "timing"?