Page 286 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

268 Dubai & Co.

or even months to secure. In the meantime, the market was passing
them by. The multinational, despite its strong product line and
global expertise, was simply not set up for success in the Gulf.
A team of external advisors was needed to prod the organization
to restructure and adopt new processes that gave greater focus to
the GCC.
So far in this book we’ve discussed market-entry strategies,
marketing approaches, human resources, financial strategies, and
nuts-and-bolts operations issues in the GCC. Strength in all of these
areas is important for long-term business success. Equally crucial,
however, is the need to ensure that the organization charged with
capturing the Gulf opportunity is set up for success. Without the
right organizational design, the best-laid strategies and marketing
campaigns may fail to deliver results, and high-caliber talent will
become frustrated. In the long term, the sustained growth and evo-
lution of local business will be jeopardized if the team in the region
is not organized appropriately.
To effectively capture the market opportunity, the Gulf organ-
ization must be both rooted and empowered. The team in the GCC
region needs to have the in-country presence required to under-
stand market realities, many of which are apparent only after
spending time there and becoming connected to the local business
community. The team must be empowered—within limits, of
course—to make critical decisions involving such things as
marketing strategies, local hiring, and bids on government tenders.
Without control over the basic resources needed for the regional
business, Gulf management can be severely hindered in its
ability to deliver the strong results that global head offices should
expect.
Within the region, Dubai (and the UAE more broadly) has
emerged as the preferred location for multinationals’ regional
offices. This preference is rooted in Dubai’s strong infrastructure,
dynamic business culture, and accommodating lifestyle for expatri-
ates. Major multinationals like Pepsi and Merck have set up their
regional headquarters in Dubai, often having the broader Middle
East report into the Dubai office. For consumer product companies
like Procter & Gamble, however, a substantial presence in Saudi
Arabia is important. Saudi Arabia is, after all, the core market,
having well over half the total population of the GCC states.