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Posts Tagged ‘business success’

Build Culture First, Google it Later

22 Mar

from google/culture

One of the weirdest conversations I have had recently was with a friend of mine who started the topic with something like this:

  • I am thinking about Googlizing the office!
  • Ohh … this sounds interesting … how are you going to do that?
  • I will equip some rooms with beds so the staff can rest and relax!

Maybe to put you in a better position to understand this conversation and give you a better chance to judge the situation, you need to know that this friend of mine is working in a crappy company; I knew it, he knew it!

The problem with his approach is that he is assuming that the whole culture of Google, or any other company with an empowering culture, is based upon these accessories. A big … big … mistake!

I do not think Google executives woke up one morning saying ‘let’s have fun offices so our employees could relax and play,’ no, there are subtle culture and internal values in Google that led to such open, fun environment. BBC once described it as “The unconventional design of the office represents what Google hopes is a free flow of information through all parts of the company.” In other words, Google would not be what it is now without its ‘values’ not its offices’ design.

In a tough market, Google wants its employees to be creative, to think different, to team up, to share ideas and resources, to distinguishably serve clients and users, and all that to be sustainable on the long run. Think about these elements of Google culture before thinking about their lave lamps, free food, firearms poles, and sleeping pods. Michal Lorenc, a Googler, commenting on their office design once said “[it] aids our culture. It doesn’t represent our culture.”

So you want to change, fine, it is a good idea, but think about change in its core, try to renovate your internal values and practices to match your strategic goals. Trespass the conventional thoughts to look beyond your current status, reshape your culture to suite your goals and environment.

New decorations won’t solve your problems buddy!!

What do you think?

p.s. to get a glimpse of the life inside Google offices, check out this link.

 
6 Comments

Posted in General Management, Human Resources

 

Al Baik Restaurant; Revisited!

07 Nov

Image via: jscreationzs/freedigitalphotos.net

Almost two years ago, I wrote this postabout Al Baik; believe it or not, this post is the most successful post I have ever written in terms of comments, responses, and search engines inquiries. There is not a single week passed since I wrote this post without me having some kind of response on it, through emails mostly, or having it attracting more visitors from Google. Most of the notes I am receiving are wonderful memories of those who have been to Jeddah and tried it and now missing it, or those asking me why it is not expanding in their home countries (including USA!) and if they could win a franchise deal, and of course there are those who are asking me about its garlic recipe!

So I decided to revisit Al Baik with another post today, the first one was mostly discussing their strengths, so let’s discuss their weaknesses!

  • Superb Customer Service … is cutting back! 

As I have indicated in the first post, Al Baik has always been known for its fast services, servicescape design, and cleanness of their restaurants environment. Its management maintained all of those up to a certain level of high quality. However, the in-store experience started to decline and becomes seriously annoying recently. Standing there to request your order is like standing in a middle of an old style car auction where everyone is shouting and having some kind of shoulders fights! It is like the whole idea of queuing and standing in line is yet to be invented! Maybe it is harsh to say this, but it is a truly uncivilized scene to see and be part of! I know that Al Baik cannot be blamed for such behavior because it is somehow part of the whole public culture that does not respect waiting in lines and order, but I am blaming Al Baik for encouraging such behavior and not developing some kind of  system to organize the in-store experience. There are different and easy solutions out there that could bring back the peace and order to Al Baik visits.

  • Location … location … location!!

It is not a surprise we all have at least once wondered why Al Baik has not yet expanded locally, regionally, or even internationally! You cannot hear but rumors in this regard because nobody actually knows the true reasons but Al Baik management themselves! There are numerous models and examples already in the market where they could have learned from and improved to suite their strategic goals! I truly believe that they have lost a lot in form of lost opportunities! And I am sure they have received a lot of comments and inquires from fans all over the world … yes from all over the world!

*Image Source

 
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Posted in Branding, General Management, Saudi business

 

Retire the Cubicles

22 Oct
Image via: Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net
It is normal in the corporate world to have ‘office space policies’! You know, those policies stating that your allowed office space and furniture is attached to your position on the organization hierarchy! Have you ever heard of CEO and VPs offices where you can actually play football, I have seen them!

The modern management schools have different opinions about this. Big offices behind closed doors, grey, boring cubicles, and discriminating between employees because of their position in the company are things of the past!

Researchers have found that open unassigned spaces, with relaxed environments dramatically enhance the staff productivity!

Let’s talk numbers; Harvard Business Review (September, 2011) published a glimpse of a study performed by one of the companies that transformed its cubicles legacy to a more modern, open space design. After the change, the staff reporting that workplace was an attractive aspect of the job enhanced from 21% to 58%, the workplace creating a stimulating atmosphere enhanced from 18% to 45%, and the satisfaction with workplace as a whole enhanced from 34% to 64%. Not only this, mostly all the measures of costs per employee were enhanced because of the re-design!

Before leaving here, have a look at this page of Google describing its offices environment! That’s how the big companies, stay big!

Image Source

 
2 Comments

Posted in General Management, Human Resources

 

The GCC’s Top 10 Employers

16 Oct
Image via: digitalart / freedigitalphotos.net
Admit it, you either want to work in a great company with a brilliant working environment, or you want to have your own business and create that awesome working environment.

Arabian Business.com took it on its shoulders to provide us with yet another benchmarking list of the top 10 GCC employers. If you are already in one of them, lucky you, you have been selected. If not, you may have another
opinion and think that your workplace is among the best already, or you could just watch and weep!!

According to the magazine, its researchers conducted a study to determine the best employers in the GCC area. The following items have been used in its comparison list: salary, benefits, chances of promotion, working conditions, perks — and also the quality of the people you will be working for.

Before giving you the list of companies and a link to the website; I have some comments of my own:

-         I have a problem with the methodology, because it is not there! We do not know or have any details about how Arabian Business conducted its research. Questions such as which companies did they approach?
How did they receive the response? and others are not answered! The claim to name a company as a best employer is a considerable one! And in my guess, it is difficult to measure! In all cases, it is not bad to be exposed to some of the professional companies’ practices.

-         Believe it or not, there is not a single Saudi company in the list! It’s shocking to be honest. Yes I
voiced out my concerns about the research methodology, but still, the absence of Saudi companies is alarming and could be used as a justification to re-think our managerial practices.

-         In almost all of the top 10 companies, there is a reference in a way or another to the importance of
work/life balance and the importance of investing in the human element. Or let’s put it in this way, in the selected companies, apparently there is an understanding of the importance of creating a winning culture! Modern management is very clear; have an empowering environment, you will definitely have satisfying rewards and results.

-         While going through the list I remembered one of the concepts Collins and Porras discussed in their
very well known book ‘Built to Last; Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.’ The concept states that successful companies built their whole existence around a core ideology that is beyond making profits. Of course companies are the in the market to make money, but this is not all. They have a reason behind their existence. In the list, you can see examples of companies having the ideology of developing people, or building communities and so on. This is definitely a challenge.

The introduction to the list can be found here, and the companies profiles could be browsed starting from here.

And this is the summary of the list:

  1. Emirates Airline.
  2. MH Alshaya Company.
  3. Omnicom Media Group.
  4. Batelco.
  5. Emaar.
  6. GE (General Electric).
  7. Standard Chartered.
  8. Qatar Foundation.
  9. Siemens.
  10. Aramex.

 

* Image Source

 
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Posted in General Management, Saudi business

 

The US Debt Ceiling; When to Compromise

31 Jul

It is really unfortunate what is happening these days in the US! No, allow me to rephrase that, it is a SHAME!! It is a shame because it is turning to be an ugly and silly showdown of power between the two major parties of the country, and on the expense of whom? the American people, and do not forget … the rest of the world!

Or let’s put it in other words, it happens that the major economic power of the world, the economy that is strongly tied to the well being of this whole globe, is at the center of a furious game, between the hands of reckless players, just to gain some political points!

Anyway, this is not my point of the post, I just wanted to highlight that we could be witnessing a historical moment here. A moment of rise … and fall! You do not have to take my word for it, tune in to any news channel and you will get a glimpse of the heat, or use the power of the social networks and see this hash-tag created by Jeff Jarvis (#fuckyouwashington) to see how the people of the US are reacting to this situation.

However, such events should not pass by with some lessons learned, and one of them is to know that there is always a common ground, there is always a way to compromise, but this ‘always’ has a critical condition; the well being of the group is far more important than the well being of any part of it.

This is not a new invention, the win-win situations, the art of negotiations, … etc are all stressing the importance of compromise, to think of the larger goodness and see beyond the immediate and temporary benefits! It could be happening at home, with your friends, your clients, your customers, your coworkers … etc.

I know .. phrases and concepts of greater good and thinking beyond the immediate results are starting to sound strange on the ears and hearts in a world that is inclined more and more to be self centered around a group of people, around individuals!

 
5 Comments

Posted in General Management, Leadership

 

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

 

The Friday of Royal Decrees

18 Mar

Beside its religious importance for Muslims, Friday seems to be taking another level of significance for Arabs nowadays. It is the day of change or, at least, cries for change.

For Saudis, this Friday was the day of royal decrees. A series of decrees that touched down on most of the ‘operational’ hot topics currently discusses by Saudis everywhere. And I am saying ‘operational’ just to differentiate those topics from the ‘organizational’ ones that are also discussed especially on the more elite levels!

From where I stand, I see these decrees as another leap forward. They have been strategically thought through and have been designed to give immediate, short term, and long term returns.

These are the most important points which sopped me:

  • According to the analysis of Saudi-Fransi bank (mentioned in this tweet), this Friday’s decrees would need about SAR 350 Billion to be covered. Adding this to the measures taken less than one month ago, about SAR 485 Billion (about 29.7% of the last year’s GDP) is entering the Saudi Economical cycle. That is a huge amount of money that should be looked at by both enthusiasm and caution. Enthusiasm because this amount of money means new projects, stronger infrastructure, healthy flow of cash, new jobs, and new economical opportunities. Caution because such huge amount of money could lead to inflation and commodity prices increase. The Saudi financial authorities are certainly up for a challenge this year; let’s just not open the topic of budget and reserves now!
  • The most important decree, in my opinion, was the one dictating the creation of the governmental anti-corruption committee. It is the committee that is supposed to be fighting both administrative and financial corruption and misbehaving within the governments’ work. I would like to stress on the administrative part of this committee work. It’s just about time we truly think about our project management practices in contracts awarding, quality of work, and I hope they will add the principle of ‘citizen services’ to this committee’s list of duties. Let their slogan be ‘to modern management and less bureaucratic practices.’
  • The health care sector took a lion share of the incentives as well. Again, with the new hospitals and research centers, the principles of quality medical services should be integrated to the formula.
  • The 500,000 housing unites all over the country are a good start. I wish this move would prove itself worthy and can be generalized on a later stage to be a project of citizens housing similar to what is happening in UAE and Qatar.

Now the success of these points, and the rest mentioned in the remaining decrees, are subject to the sincere implementation of those entrusted with the work as ‘public servants.’ This is the time for innovative ideas and creative new ways of getting the job done. Saudi Arabia and Saudis have all potentials to positively change and catch up with the rest of the world.

 
2 Comments

Posted in Culture, General Management, Saudi business

 

Management of Saudi Youth and Sport Sector

12 Jan

The ultimate outcome of any management practices is to deliver on an agreed set of objectives. The failure to reach those objectives is an enough reason to start doubting the effectiveness and capabilities of those running the show. Yes, it is not that straight forward, but in ideal cases, when you have all the resources, the authority, and the suitable conditions and circumstances and you still fail to deliver, or at least fail to show some signs of progress, then, this is it, you should be shown the way out!

What I am trying to say could be exemplified in the organization running the Saudi youth and sports sector, namely the General Presidency of Youth Welfare (GPYW). Despite the fact that about half of the country population falls within the customers segment this organization should be serving, the youth and sports sector in Saudi looks like something that has been frozen in time!

Horrible statuses of sports clubs, sports venues, youth services, miserable international presence in almost all fields, and no international or continental achievements for some time now. The common denominator in all this mess is the crew steering the ship for some time now!

What bothers me most is not the failure itself, but the insistence of the people running GPYW that there is nothing wrong to begin with! Sometimes, it is the media attacking them and their scientific plans! Other times it is all about wrong consultations they’ve received (we could consider coaches as consultants in this situation!) And you know, sometimes it is just the damn luck!

What is needed in this organization is a whole new beginning. Fresh blood with fresh minds and new styles. A whole new culture of investing in people and having a long term vision of building infrastructure. Strategies to create and to innovate passionately without fear and with an optimistic look to the future.

 
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Posted in General Management, Leadership, Saudi business

 

The Saudi Trains

12 Dec

Everybody is talking about trains these days in Saudi (read here & here); it is like a newly discovered invention, despite the fact that trains are around since the 19th century!! I cannot even imagine how surprising it must be for anyone outside the Kingdom to know that a country that big and with harsh terrain is falling way … waaaaaaaay … behind in public transportation and especially in trains.

It is really hard to wrap your head around the real reasons behind why we did not invest in public transportations a long time ago. I would not entertain this thought though, let’s talk about something else; let’s talk about how do we want to see these projects once completed:

  • On Time: You know those screens that counts down, in seconds, to the time of train arrival to the station, I want to see it in our local train stations. Not only that, I want it to be respected! I just want to leave my home at the morning and know that in exactly 5 min, I will be in the station next to my work or my kid’s school. Wouldn’t that be cool?!
  • Clean: Do I need to say more? No one please leave soda cans, paper wraps, or Al Baik leftovers in the station or on the train!!
  • No woman, No cry! I want no one to stop my wife or one of my sisters of getting on the train because she has no ‘Mahram’ around!! And when I go alone, please do not tell me that it is for families only. Even more, when I get with my wife and son on the train, I want to sit next to them, no segregation please! Not only that, when we are on board, I do not want to see someone shouting and making a fuss because he wants his mother, wife, and 7 daughters to sit next to each other like we usually see on Saudi Airlines flights!!!

So … if in Saudi, how do you want to enjoy trains?!

 
1 Comment

Posted in Culture, Saudi business

 

If You Want To Reach Mars

20 Nov

If I came to you out of the sudden and told you that Saudi Arabia is preparing its first mission to Mars, there is a huge chance that you won’t believe me if you are a quite good person, or punch me in the face if you are into action movies!

It is not that Saudi does not have the financial resources to do it, we actually do, but we do not have the facilities, the will, the sought after rewards, in simpler words, we do not have the competitive advantage to do it!

That’s why nations, or companies working in nations, should carefully craft their strategical goals when attempting to start a certain industry in or import to its land! The environment any company works in usually plays a major role in determining how its future might turn to be Nations competitive advantages are built with long term plans; the environment that contains materials, technology, skilled manpower, suppliers, distributors, buyers, and eventually a reputable name takes decades to form. That’s why we know Japan for miniaturization of electronics industries, we know Italy for fashion and leather industries, we know the United states for technological industries. Michael Porter has a whole book that provide a lot of insights on this topic (here).

This is not meant to discourage nations of following their dreams and find a spot on the international scene. It is more of an indication that if you want to get bigger and better, you should plan it well. India and China have done that. India for example, invested a lot of time and money in technological education, and now its manpower is the best in anything related to IT and computer sciences. China realized that its competitive advantage is in its people, that’s why almost everything now is manufactured in China or at least part of it is! And they did not stop at that, after rooting certain industries very well in their environments, they are starting to innovate and be creative and come up with new products and services; they’ve got the competitive advantage in place. They are getting bigger, better, and their economies are in a race to take over the world!

If we really want to ever check a spot on the new globalized world, we should really start planning for our competitive advantages!

 
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Posted in Entrepreneurship, General Management, Leadership, Saudi business

 
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