Middle East luxury retail sector – opportunities or uncertainties in the future?
Publication date: 30 September 2016
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.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The case was compiled from interviews with retail experts in the Middle East and publicly available sources. The authors are grateful to the numerous experts who have participated in the Delphi study and have provided input in improving this case. The authors are further grateful for the collaboration with Switzerland Global Enterprise that supported the case development.
Citation
Moser, R. and Narayanamurthy, G. (2016), "Middle East luxury retail sector – opportunities or uncertainties in the future?", , Vol. 6 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/EEMCS-05-2014-0146
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited