Page 22 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

8 Dubai & Co.

making the GCC nations a natural destination for talent and entre-
preneurial ventures within the Arab world.
Having placed the GCC in the broader context of the Middle
East, Chapter 2 sheds light on some aspects of the GCC that are
often misunderstood and can lead multinationals to overlook the
region’s strategic opportunities. One core misconception is that oil
is the only meaningful business sector in the Gulf. While it is true
that oil revenues comprise the bulk of government revenue in most
GCC economies, it is also true that the liquidity created from oil
exports is channeled into a broad range of economic sectors. All
GCC economies are intent on diversification, and it’s no surprise
that service sectors, consumer goods, and other nonenergy
industries often present the most attractive opportunities for
multinationals.
Another common misconception about the GCC is that
women play a passive role in the economy. The reality is that—like
elsewhere in the world—women control the bulk of purchasing
decisions within the GCC countries, and so ignoring female con-
sumers would be a costly mistake for businesses targeting the
region. Women’s economic power extends beyond consumerism.
Some readers may be surprised to learn, for example, that Saudi
universities now produce, each year, more female than male grad-
uates, and that Saudi women reportedly hold 40 percent of the total
real estate assets in the country. 14 These educated women are
actively recruited by leading firms that seek to have a workforce
reflective of their customer base and of society at large.
Chapter 3 will discuss, in greater depth, the elements that make
GCC markets so attractive for global companies today. The combi-
nation of prosperity, demographic change, and deregulation has
made these markets among the most dynamic in the world. Not only
does the GCC have a GDP per capita several times that of China; it
also is a region full of young consumers, ready to form lifetime asso-
ciations with brands and companies that know how to meet their
needs. Young populations in GCC countries have had a profound
impact on both the public sector—keen to build infrastructure,
diversify the economy, and create jobs for young people—and the
private sector in which firms compete for the youth market.
Deregulation in the GCC is occurring at a massive scale. The
phenomenon is fueled by both inherent interest in economic