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Posts Tagged ‘ARAMCO’

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!

 
2 Comments

Posted in Communication, Marketing, Public Relations, Saudi business

 

Iconic Companies

28 Apr

Less than 10 days ago, Barack Obama, the president of the United States of America, paid a visit to the headquarters of this decade sensation, Facebook, Inc.

There are many angels where you could look to this visit from, the political angel is no doubt the largest. After all, the visit is a part of the president’s agenda to promote certain politics and to stimulate funds for his upcoming reelection efforts. However, there is another important dimension to this visit, it is acknowledging the significance, the symbolism of Facebook to the whole American business image. Read more this visit here & here. And this is a video as well.

There are companies that turn to be icons representing their countries’ capabilities and competitive edges. The United States has no shortage of supply in this department; you name it, Ford, GM, GE, Apple, Google, etc. In the UK, BP, HSBC, Vodafone group, etc. In Germany, Allianz Worldwide, DaimlerChrysler, Siemens, etc. In Japan, Toyota, Honda, Sony, etc.

Now the question is; which Saudi companies would fall into such category?

Tough question, don’t you think? I can only think of Aramco and SABIC, noting that they are mostly governmental institutions and their operations are based on the country’s natural resources. But still, they are definitely symbols on the the Saudi business scene.

Honestly, it is a bit disturbing to find it hard to think of iconic companies to represent a country that enjoys a powerful economic status as Saudi Arabia, a country that enjoys a seat on the G20!

Anyway, maybe it is appropriate here to mention that the Forbes list of the biggest global 2000 companies mentions 15 Saudi companies (public companies, so Aramco does not count!). SABIC performs well, and comes at the rank of 95 (out of 2000 of course). STC is not doing bad either and comes at 334. You can go through the list in here, however, I would not say that these companies qualify to be iconic (it’s debatable topic though!). This list is compiled based on many factors, assets, profits, etc. To be iconic means that you are bringing something new and special to the table, that you have traditions and exemplary managerial practices, I am not sure any of those companies do any such thing (except for SABIC, for some extend at least!)

What do you think?

 
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Posted in 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

 

Aramco, again?!

17 Feb

If you follow up on Jeddah and its ‘missions impossible’ projects, you must have heard by now that Aramco, the national oil company, has been brought in to help managing the draining and sewage projects in the city (here)!

We certainly hope that it will succeed in its mission, the city of Jeddah and its people are desperate for any little spark of hope!

But I have to say that I am bit, a tiny bit, restless about this news!

It seems that it is turning into a habit to bring in Aramco whenever the government is facing challenging projects. The expertise and reputation of Aramco as a company that has a powerful and effective project management practice and supporting culture seem to be always the last resort of the Saudi government. They have been asked to look after the construction of KAUST, followed by the supervision of the King Abadullah sports city also in Jeddah.

Let’s try to throw some points around here:

  • Given that Aramco is, in a way or another, a governmental organization, a one may wonder, why is it orbiting in another galaxy when compared to the remaining public organizations? Yes, I do agree that the culture of disciplined professionalism of the organization is rooted in the history of its origin, the question stands still, how come no body thought of transferring its experience and practices to other organizations?? Why no body thought of copying its recruiting and training practices so we could eventually have Aramco in each and every public organizations??!!
  • Stripping some organizations the right to carry on their projects and bring Aramco instead is a clear declaration of incompetency of those organizations! For example, whether Jeddah Municipality likes it or not, the message is clear and simple, they are not entrusted with this project?!! So again, back to the first point, why? Aren’t they both Saudi public organizations?
  • The last point is direct, if the managers of a certain organization are not performing well and cannot be even entrusted with projects in their own field of responsibility, why keeping them? If they cannot be trained or developed, then there is no escape from the inevitable, they should be sacked!

 
4 Comments

Posted in General Management, Project Management, Saudi business

 

Saudi Business World and Climate Change

15 Oct

I am writing this blog post in response to the ‘Blog Action Day 09, Climate Change’.

To be honest, writing about this subject, in Saudi Arabia, is a bit weird!! You know why? Because the whole philosophy of preserving the environment and taking serious measures to fight the climate change is still young in the minds of both; the public and the business world.

For that, thinking about the climate change prevention idea in the Saudi business world will definitely lead you to consider the concept that contains such ideas; that is the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This concept is still new in the Saudi business environment. And even more, it is not totally understood, let alone embraced. Following the subject in the media, you would be encountered with a bunch of articles; most of them are written by Saudi academics trying to explain the concept. I am not saying this is wrong; on the contrary, it is advisable and certainly good to bring such concept to the public attention. But still, most of the examples provided to illustrate the concept are based on employees’ benefits and charity. Yes, these are main elements of the CSR, but they are not everything.

I believe it is reasonable to claim that preserving-the-environment awareness is a cultural issue before any nothing else. Unfortunately, showing respect to nature, saving power resources, and respecting the green life in general are some things we are not growing up with around here. So any initiatives to address such matters should always consider this cultural lack of understanding.

Nonetheless, hope is there and it is not all a black picture. There are some companies’ initiatives to promote environmental awareness and practices. ARAMCO and SBIC (Saudi Electricity, to some extent) always come to mind, at least for their fields of interests if not for anything else. However, although the efforts to adhere to modern industrial standards are important, the effort to raise employees’ environmental awareness is something we should concentrate on, at least, to compensate for the lack of it in our normal life. Maybe building this awareness in the corporate culture will be pay its dues and we will start seeing its results in the normal life.

Finally, more regulations, incentives, and programs are required to address this issue. And they better to be real and sincere and not to be used as way of advertisement! Such efforts are needed from both, public and private sectors, to raise the awareness of such critical matters. Critical matters to the essence of our existence on this planet.

 
2 Comments

Posted in Saudi business