Page 314 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

296 Dubai & Co.

Systemic Changes
One-time events raise the profile of the GCC and signal the firm’s
seriousness about the region. Regular events reinforce that profile
and ensure attention for the region on an ongoing basis. As the Gulf
becomes an increasingly important part of a global company’s busi-
ness, there often is value in codifying GCC awareness even more
deeply by making systemic changes to how the organization works.
The most common type of systemic change, both powerful in its
effect and lasting in its impact, is to change the reporting line by
which the GCC business reports to the head office. A more direct
line generally ensures greater ongoing focus from the CEO and
from the global strategy team.
Typically, the Gulf business is included in a global firm’s “Middle
East” or “Middle East and North Africa” region. This region, in turn,
often reports to what might be called a “megacluster” of regions: an
amalgamation such as “Europe, the Middle East, and Africa” or
“Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.” When used, these mega-
clusters tend to be referred to in the organizations through acronyms
(EMEA or APMEA, for example). Figure 11.3 illustrates three basic
models through which the GCC typically reports to the head office.

Figure 11.3 Reporting lines from the Gulf to the head office