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1 – 10 of over 39000Sami M. Abbasi and Kenneth W. Hollman
The Middle East has been overlooked by American companies as aregion in which to explore market opportunities. Suggests that this islargely due to ignorance of, and bias towards…
Abstract
The Middle East has been overlooked by American companies as a region in which to explore market opportunities. Suggests that this is largely due to ignorance of, and bias towards, the culture and politics of the Middle East. Discusses aspects of Middle East culture and situational determinants which American companies would be wise to assimilate and suggests practices to carry out or avoid when attempting to form business relationships in the Middle East.
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Marwan Abdeldayem and Saeed Aldulaimi
The purpose of this study is to analyze crowdfunding (CF) as new entrepreneurial finance (EF) tool and to predict the success of CF projects in the Middle East region.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyze crowdfunding (CF) as new entrepreneurial finance (EF) tool and to predict the success of CF projects in the Middle East region.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted in seven Middle Eastern countries (i.e. Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and UAE) in addition to serval CF platforms that are commonly used by crowd funders in this region (such as Kickstarter, GoFundMe, Beehive and Zoomal) with total members (195,193). A pilot sample of 20 units was used to validate and verify the research instrument of the study. The research sample consists of 1,910 respondents from the seven countries included in the study. The study emphasizes the partners, micro-structures, administrative conditions and CF advancement in the Middle East.
Findings
The findings reveal that CF’s presence positively impacts fundraising success and that CF platforms are an effective financial technology (Fintech) tool for financing entrepreneurs in the Middle East. The study shows that the success of CF projects in the Middle East can be anticipated by estimating and breaking down enormous information of web-based and social media movement, human resources of funders and online venture introduction. The authors conclude with recommendations for future EF and CF research.
Originality/value
This study aims to analyze the CF and EF principles in the Middle East region as the CF experience and practice in this part of the world tend to be unexplored in terms of research. Presently a very few numbers published research on CF exists. Moreover, to the best of the knowledge, there is no single study investigating CF as an alternative financing source in the Middle East. In particular, the study.
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The rise of Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways in the Middle East (collectively referred to as “ME3”) has been absolutely dramatic. How should other full-service carriers…
Abstract
The rise of Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways in the Middle East (collectively referred to as “ME3”) has been absolutely dramatic. How should other full-service carriers respond? This study takes a look at how one carrier, Singapore Airlines, has responded and may offer clues to how others may choose to respond. Facing ME3’s ascent in service quality and rapid capacity expansion, Singapore Airlines stuck to its niche as a premium carrier and refrained from tit-for-tat type competition. It managed to command a fare premium in select markets even in the presence of ME3, but had to sacrifice growth in its passenger count. This offers valuable lessons for other full-service carriers.
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Romie Frederick Littrell and Andy Bertsch
The purpose of this paper is to address issues relating to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG) in the Middle East, analysing socio‐cultural issues having…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address issues relating to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG) in the Middle East, analysing socio‐cultural issues having direct relevance to the region's progress toward “Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women”.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ meta‐analyses with data from the United Nations, the Arab Human Development Report, and various sources of measurement of national means for Hofstede's five‐dimensional model of cultural value.
Findings
The authors find that the percentage of women in employment, excluding the agricultural sector, in their sample of Middle East countries has declined since 2000, while in the samples of other Muslim‐majority and all other countries the percentage employed has increased.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of the authors' research are that complete sets of data for women in employment are not available for all years for all countries in their samples.
Practical implications
Implications for practice for governments and businesses in Middle East countries are that women are a valuable economic resource which is being excluded from contribution and for the past decade the change in the Middle East has been in a negative direction.
Social implications
The economic contributions and rights of women in the Middle East lag behind most of the developed and developing nations, including other Muslim‐majority nations.
Originality/value
This study provides empirical evidence from publicly available data concerning the employment status of women in Middle Eastern nations. The authors found no similar empirical studies in the literature. The study is of value to planners and policy‐makers in business, government, and non‐governmental organisations.
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Roger Moser and Gopalakrishnan Narayanamurthy
The subject area is international business and global operations.
Abstract
Subject area
The subject area is international business and global operations.
Study level/applicability
The study includes BSc, MSc and MBA students and management trainees who are interested in learning how an industry can be assessed to make a decision on market entry/expansion. Even senior management teams could be targeted in executive education programs, as this case provides a detailed procedure and methodology that is also used by companies (multinational corporations and small- and medium-sized enterprises) to develop strategies on corporate and functional levels.
Case overview
A group of five senior executive teams of different Swiss luxury and lifestyle companies wanted to enter the Middle East market. To figure out the optimal market entry and operating strategies, the senior executive team approached the Head of the Swiss Business Hub Middle East of Switzerland Global Enterprise, Thomas Meier, in December 2012. Although being marked with great potential and an over-proportional growth, the Middle Eastern luxury market contained impediments that international firms had to take into consideration. Therefore, Thomas had to analyze the future outlook for this segment of the Middle East retail sector to develop potential strategies for the five different Swiss luxury and lifestyle companies to potentially operate successfully in the Middle East luxury and lifestyle market.
Expected learning outcomes
The study identifies barriers and operations challenges especially for Swiss and other foreign luxury and lifestyle retailers in the Middle East, understands the future (2017) institutional environment of the luxury and lifestyle retail sector in the Middle East and applies the institutions-resources matrix in the context of a Swiss company to evaluate the uncertainties prevailing in the Middle East luxury and lifestyle retail sector. It helps in turning insights about future developments in an industry (segment) into consequences for the corporate and functional strategies of a company.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or e-mail support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Subject code
CSS 5: International Business.
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This chapter focuses on South Korea’s newly found regional leadership, as the emergent middle power of East Asia, in order to advance regional integration and…
Abstract
This chapter focuses on South Korea’s newly found regional leadership, as the emergent middle power of East Asia, in order to advance regional integration and institution-building. Policy leadership is observed and analyzed from an international lens, linked to the literature of middle powers. The chapter first conceptualizes middle powers in connection with the issue of international leadership, since such states often play important roles in promoting cooperation. The chapter looks especially into South Korea’s foreign policy behavior toward East Asian regional processes and how it has manifested innovative and capable leadership. More specifically, the last three presidencies of Kim Dae-jung (1998–2002), Roh Moo-hyun (2003–2008), and Lee Myung-bak (2008–2013) are scrutinized in the hope of underscoring how their particular administrations, political leadership, and strategic approaches to foreign policy toward the region influenced South Korea’s regional leadership attempts and middle power status.
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This article calls for closer attention to the Middle East in the wider debate on the purported rise of new modes of armed conflict following the end of the Cold War, particularly…
Abstract
This article calls for closer attention to the Middle East in the wider debate on the purported rise of new modes of armed conflict following the end of the Cold War, particularly in relation to the notion of ‘regional conflict formations’ (RCFs). In so doing, it presents and analyses three main paradoxes. First, though the contemporary Middle East had its own share of intrastate conflicts that generally grew into regional constellations, a look at the region's post-colonial history suggests that such trends are not as novel as has often been claimed. Second, the striking longevity of regionally entwined conflict in the Middle East calls into question the common and generalizing argument that it was the end of the Cold War, together with the alleged disengagement of the superpowers, that constituted the radical shifts – including the rise of RCFs – that signalled the demise of old forms of politics and conflict involving weak states. Third, Middle Eastern states, mostly authoritarian in outlook, have over recent decades become stronger despite prevailing conditions of regionalized conflict; indeed, as tentatively suggested in this article, to some extent because of those factors.
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the regional perceptions of the Middle East region in relation to international commercial arbitration and show how these perceptions…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the regional perceptions of the Middle East region in relation to international commercial arbitration and show how these perceptions influence the attempts to harmonise the modern international law in the Middle East region.
Design/methodology/approach
Legal positivism as a general philosophy, mainly influenced by John Austin, is used as an analytical tool in order to identify the general trends from Western and Middle East cultural perspectives that relate to international commercial arbitration.
Findings
The paper shows how the Middle East region has different social and legal values between the West and the Middle East region in respect to the primarily three general and important features of the law – namely, normative, institutionalised, and coercive. Positivism legal theory shows that such success in the context of western European commercial law is inappropriate in the Middle East where different cultural norms make its wholesale and unqualified transferability problematic, notwithstanding its acceptance in highly generalised terms.
Practical implications
The paper generates a proposition that reforms are more likely to succeed if adjustments to the cultural environment are made. Thus, it supports the argument that regional values can add to the global activities of the harmonisation process of international commercial arbitration law.
Originality/value
The paper provides a clear understanding of the guidelines for the reform and development of Middle East international commercial arbitration. Legal culture should be taken into consideration if a successful reform is to be achieved.
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The purpose of this article is to be a conceptual contribution to the special issue on “Is the Middle East the land of the future?”. It aims to provide a holistic picture of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to be a conceptual contribution to the special issue on “Is the Middle East the land of the future?”. It aims to provide a holistic picture of the efforts of the Middle East towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), using investments in sports, as a galvanizing force. The paper concludes that, on the balance of probability, this might not be a given.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on personal observations and documentary analysis of numerous studies including those in this special issue.
Findings
Although the Middle East has made “front page” news on most global media platforms – albeit for a variety of reasons, there are signs not to be too optimistic as to whether this geographic entity is, by default, the land of the future.
Research limitations/implications
As a conceptual piece, this article cannot be generalized across the expanse of what constitutes the Middle East. Most of the observations are based on the most boisterous in the region – notably members of the Gulf Cooperation countries (GCC) and Turkey with its rising regional influence.
Practical implications
While the Middle East may have been in the global spotlight, there remain challenges that cannot be so easily wished away. One such is the inability to leverage the investment in sports in a sustainable global partnership that spills over into other MDGs. There are persuasive arguments for deeper integration rather than what seems to be the fragmented sibling rivalry across the Middle East.
Originality/value
This study provides a holistic framework for analyzing a region that has been bedeviled with unrest in recent years; and one that has, to a very large extent, weathered the storm of the Arab Spring and attracted global attention.
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