Page 312 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

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processes: events related to strategic planning and business
reviews. Ensuring a GCC voice in these corporate events keeps the
Gulf from being a management fad and helps it become an integral
part of the firm’s overall strategy development process.
Figure 11.2 provides an illustrative view of a Gulf planning
cycle, from developing a multiyear GCC strategy to performing
annual reviews of the regional business. Depending on a firm’s
organizational structure and planning processes, different parts of
the cycle will occur within the region and at the head office. What
matters most is that the GCC-specific cycle takes place, and that
both the region and the head office share responsibility for the
process and for the results.

Figure 11.2 The Gulf strategy cycle

The strategy cycle begins with a multiyear plan for the firm’s
growth in the region. Like most medium-term strategies, the plan
needs to be directional and aspirational in nature, rooted in both
external trends and internal capabilities. Growth and contribution
figures can be projected based on assumptions about the market
size, growth, and potential share. A packaged-food company that
has around 10 percent market share in other emerging markets, for