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Archive for the ‘Communication’ Category

Business Cultural Differences

18 Jun

The French language is consuming most of my free time these days, that’s why I am finding it hard to sit down and write for the blog. But as long as we are talking about languages, it might be good to visit the idea of cultural differences and its effects on the business world.

No need to emphasis on the importance of globalization these days, it is already beyond denial and arguments. In few words, globalization is a fact of life.

So for those working oversees, or assigned to represent their local companies on an international level, they are actually representing their own culture!

The culture of organizations, or how we run businesses around here as most of MBAers must be familiar with, are deeply rooted in the cultures and background of the environment where those organizations have grown at. For that, whenever international contracts, meetings, negotiations, or standardization are taking place, there are the effects of mutual cultural understanding and respect hovering in the background. In a lot of time, it is a make or break point … yes it is that important.

Hence, it is a common practice for companies with multinational staff and global relations to promote cross cultural respect and understanding. You will always hear tips like the French are so sensitive about the used language, Germans are so meticulous when it comes to technical specifications, Japanese are so quite and do not like to be looked in the eye, it is a sign of disrespect and so on (more interesting info on this link.)

So what about us, Saudis:

  • Quality & Standards: I remember talking with an American friend working in a multibillion company in the US about why they are not doing business in KSA although they are operating in most of our neighbor countries. He said ‘we tried it before and it was a mess!! Your engineers were demanding speed over quality, easy fixes over solving the roots of problems, and simply, we cannot jeopardize our name doing that!!!’
  • Punctuality: keeping an eye on time is not among the best traits of Saudi executives (or Saudi populations?). You could have a meeting with a Saudi CEO and wait in his secretary office for an hour or so! And once you are actually in the meeting, the common professional meetings practices are not usually there or at least not followed or highly regarded (e.g. agenda, MoM, participants, etc).
  • Relationships: business deals are closed and projects are awarded based on trust and relationships rather that qualifications in most of the situations. Saudis, and Arabs in general, are so sensitive when it comes to their relationships and friendship with others. Liking you on a personal level could have a major effect on the professional dealings at hands.

These are only some remarks on the Saudi business’s culture. It is common, yes; but that does not mean that there are no exceptions!

 
1 Comment

Posted in Communication, Communication, Culture, Saudi business

 

Saudi Airlines; The Smell of Corruption

06 Jun

It is very low even for a lousy service provider as Saudi Airlines; in a response to the serious accusations of spending more than SAR 5 billion in petty cash; yes, you read it correctly, SAR 5 billion in petty cash, Saudi Airlines, according to this piece of news, decided not to distribute Okaz, the newspaper published the report, on board of its flights!

Not only that, on Sunday evening, a number of Saudia staff appeared on a popular TV show  bashing the company with even more serious accusations. Honestly, this is the first time I ever witness, or at least remember, such a public organization going through such tough scrutiny … in public!

The fact of the matter is that Saudi airlines did not give its observers much of a choice. Its services are deteriorating in a very shocking and alarming pace. I had written several posts about them already, let’s hope they won’t limit access to my blog if they ever provided online access on their flights!

Now, two aspects to this story:

  • Corruption: petty cash should be … you know … petty!!! there is no chance that SAR 5 billion can be considered petty. You can start up new businesses, from scratch, with such amount of money. So there must be something wrong going on. The accusation about the food quality is another disaster. Benefiting on some cash on the side is something, and playing with human well being is another thing altogether. Again and again, the smell of the miserable managerial style within Saudia is smothering us all. The surprising thing is that everyone is smelling it except the huge number of VPs and managers resting in peace on the top of the organization!
  • Transparency: the decision of banning the newspaper because of its report is another miserable example of a low quality management. It is a classical PR failure. However, it should not come as a big surprise. It is not new to find that companies with power use that power to control what is published on the media about them. It is a common practice everywhere in the world to use advertising budgets and alike to color the public image of any organization in the media. It is just good to know that it is widely used in the local market as well. It is really unfortunate to realize that the poorest service providers in the country are the one with the big cash; you know whom I am talking about, right??

Last question before I leave you here, I wonder what the new Saudi Anti-Corruption Commission would do about this?

 
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Posted in Communication, Communication, Public Relations, Saudi business

 

The Woman who Inaugurated Jeddah Projects

17 May

The school principal and the mother of four, Mrs. Al Touariki, is the first Saudi woman ever to inaugurate a public project in the whole Kingdom!  This is the piece of news that filled all the Saudi media outlets during the past couple of days. What is the project, you may ask; it is one of the projects that promised to protect the city of Jeddah of any possible floods in the coming years.

It is most certainly a good news for all those concerned about this dreamy city named Jeddah. It is a message that the wheel did not stop, and there are still sincere efforts to realize the promises that were given after the second flood hit the city few months ago.

Let’s go back to Mrs. Al Touariki because her presence in the inauguration is one of the most clever PR and marketing moves that I have witnessed recently!

For those who do not know her story, she is the woman who stopped Prince Khalid Al Faisal, the governor of Makkah province, and openly complained about the disastrous state of the infrastructure of her area and the whole city in general. That move during the Prince visit to her area after the floods was circulated by the media as nothing less of a tale of bravery from her side and a story of a great humbleness from the Prince side, and both are true up to some extent.

The decision of asking her to be part of the inauguration is cleaver because it somehow gives the project both a human face and credibility. She has been presented before as the voice of Jeddawies (people of Jeddah), she has been turned into a symbol that keeps reminding us of the event and its aftermath, and in marketing, symbols are considered of a great value!

People could get skeptical about the efficiency of these projects, they have witnessed broken promises before, they have been through the disaster twice already. So to contain all this, let’s bring the symbol to witness the realization of her dreams of a safe house and city, let her represents the city inhabitants and make them feel that they are there themselves, her presence spreads sincerity, we would not bring her if it was for nothing you know!

I think the message was well received by the audience, which means it was both smart and successful. Now let’s sit back and watch the implementation, this is the most important part!

 
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Posted in Communication, Marketing, Public Relations, Saudi business

 

The Saudi Anti-Corruption Commission; The Fast & Furious

09 May

So by the approval of the Saudi cabinet of ministers on the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Commission, the royal decree that guided, or better to say, sponsored the idea of a national anti-corruption commission comes into effect.

As outlined in this announcement, the commission responsibilities revolve around combating all forms of administrative and financial corruption, following up on plans concerning the public interests to ensure fair execution and compliance to laws, that’s in addition to promoting transparency in all governmental work.

Quite goals to accomplish and objectives to satisfy. Given that the commission is just starting, we, as Saudis, certainly hope that it will reach those nicely put strategic goals. However, strategy won’t move unless carried on tactical wheels, so to speak. If it is legitimate to ask how Saudis are reacting to the announcement of such commission. I would say that they are full of hope, but yet skeptical! Public policies, for some reason or another, are usually doomed with slowness. Once you got caught at the web of bureaucracy, it is extremely hard to break out!

For that, and if they are willing to take my advice, for this commission to establish itself on the scene and to gain credibility and respect, I would say that they should adopt the slogan of ‘Fast & Furious.’

Be Fast: Do not allow much of a time to pass without issuing some kind of comments, reports, or even punishments against those practicing any kind of corruption or misusing power! I agree that the commission is new and it would definitely need some time to create its own organizational structure and culture, and I know that it will be dealing with sensitive cases that need to be investigated independently and thoroughly, but acting fast would give it an immediate presence on the scene and, most importantly, it will be taken seriously!

Be Furious: be furious in the sense of not adhering to normal and usual bureaucratic obstacles. And more importantly, not submitting to ‘Wasta’ and people of power and influence. After all, the King himself got your back! There are many managerial initiatives and techniques that could be used to maneuver obstacles and constraints. They just need fresh innovative minds, and the desire to embrace modern managerial practices!

 
7 Comments

Posted in Communication, Culture, General Management, Saudi business

 

Doubling the Salaries, or Not!

21 Mar

The generosity of the Saudi government with its workforce left the private sector in a very awkward position. Just after the series of royal decrees that carried in one of them the good news of the two months bonus, the speculation game started amongst the private sector employees. Will there be a salary doubling, or not?!!

The big cats in the Saudi market followed suit almost immediately and started announcing the same bonuses for its staff. Aramco, SABIC, Saudi Airlines, STC, and more. But still, the majority of companies did not, and their employees kept wondering, hoping, and asking for some good news, but their managers kept saying that the big bosses are in a closed meeting, and in some companies, the meeting is yet to finish!!

Now the question is, should they double the salary, or not?

The fact of the matter is that it goes both ways; there are reasons supporting the doubling decision, and there are arguments that just go against it. But before that, it should be highlighted that when talking about private sector, it is inevitable to differentiate between the big and well known cats, I just mentioned some of them above (although some of these companies are not totally private), and the rest of companies which vary in size from medium to small. Someone could argue that the employees working for the big cats do not actually need such a bonus, they already have relatively high salaries and a strong bonuses system. For those arguing this point just be reminded that some of the big, I mean, HUUUUUGGGGE cats, those who profit in millions, do no actually give high salaries or anything, you can call them cheap if you want! And you don’t want me to give you examples, I am sure you know plenty of them!!

Now; these are some of the most important reasons why a company could decide to double:

  • Playing the patriotic card: in times like these, playing on patriotism could send some gratifying signals to customers, staff, and, of course, the government itself. I am not trying to imply that such patriotic waves of feelings should not be true or sincere, I am just saying that playing such a card scores sometimes. Now add to the mix the unrest already taking place in the area, the normal card just turns to be an Ace!
  • Engaging employees: It is a message that you care, you do not want your staff to feel less happy or disadvantaged. Consider it a motivating surprise.
  • Adding to the brand value: getting the word heard that you care about your staff and that you actually have some good cash to distribute around could add some edge to your brand. Customers could trust you more, regulators could love you more. Also, your whole working environment might seem more appealing to top talents everywhere, you know how to take care of your staff, right!

Now what about the arguments supporting the decision of not to double:

  • It’s too late: most of the Saudi companies already prepared their 2011 budgets. It is just not practical to disturb the whole year’s plans and start playing with the cash flow and reserves. That’s a strong argument especially for the medium and small organizations.
  • I am fair: some companies might argue that their salaries and bonuses system is robust, and that its employees do not need any extra incentives, they are happy and satisfied. The tricky part in this argument is that the employees themselves should be believing in such claims, not only the managers! If this I-am-fair-card played very well, it could lead to both employees engagement and brand value addition as just mentioned above.

On which side do you stand?

 
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Posted in Communication, Culture, General Management, Saudi business

 

The Jeddah Anti-littering Campaign

19 Dec

I was sitting in my car, minding my own business, waiting for the traffic light to go green when I saw that smiling gentleman flying from car to car distributing plastic bags and saying somethings to the drivers. My turn came and I received the below shown plastic bag and the gentleman said something like ‘Throw it right or you will be fined SAR 150,’ in other words, he was threatening me!!!

This is all a part of the anti-littering campaign that is currently carried out by the city municipality. The campaign started few days ago and the posters are all over the place advertising the fine that the city is imposing on Jeddawies throwing trash wherever they want! To see a photo of the street ads, check out this post by Deadul, and notice how she described them as ugly and creativity lacking, so now I am sure that I am not the only one who thinks this campaign is … read on …

So the campaign is built around the fines the city is imposing on people throwing trash around, in other words, the campaign is more advertising the fine rather than the cause itself. And in my opinion, this approach won’t work and won’t give the desired results!

Let me tell you why, usually the targeted audience of such campaigns are the youth sector between 20 and 35 or 40. And using the authoritative and/or threatening approach with such young audience won’t usually resonate with them, let alone the probability of leading them to the total opposite behavior.

If you remember, this same approach was also used by Saher, the traffic monitoring and ticketing system. Now, you cannot help but wonder why our government bodies are so convinced that Saudis won’t commit to such social causes unless threatened to subjected to punishments. I would bet my largest amount of money on the marketing agencies developing those poor campaigns.

Moreover, it is important to notice that even if we decided to let go the authoritative and threatening approach and adopted the softer one of appealing to people and nicely asking them to throw trash into cans and so forth, the campaign message won’t work as well!

So what should we do? many studies under the topic of social causes marketing suggest that for a campaign to be successful, it is better to be emotionalized. It should relate to the audience feelings, to trigger their shared responsibility, and to make them aware of the impacts and consequences of their decisions whether to adhere to the campaign message or not! Many techniques can be used to achieve this target, humanizing the face of the message is one, calling for the sense of the group/community or national pride is another, officials engagement to promote the message, or eliciting peer pressure (e.g. honoring those adhering to the message) are all possible ways of delivering an emotional social message.

To get things clearer, please allow me to close with an example that some would consider as the best anti-littering campaign ever made; it is the campaign branded as ‘Don’t mess with Texas.’ Back in the 80’s, the state of texas started to realize that it has a real problem of littering, especially on its highways, that was costing the city a lot of money to clean and look after to. The city went through the usual, they nicely asked the people to use trash cans, it did not work. They moved to threatening, it did not work neither. Then, they realized that they need to engage audience.  They humanized the message and used many celebrities in their campaigns. Within few months, it has been reported that littering has been reduced in Texas by about 72% …

Now … that’s what I call a successful campaign.

 
4 Comments

Posted in Advertisement, Communication, Culture, Saudi business