Doing Business in Saudi Arabia – American Companies
Saudi Arabia has a high market growth, there are significant opportunities for the international market, to come to Saudi Arabia and start their businesses. For the U.S companies there are various opportunities, as the U.S companies are talented and can enhance their business, the U.S companies need to understand the cultural and market different that exists in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabia, have major projects regarding, power, oil and gas, communication, mining, transportation etc. by investing in the project many favorable opportunities could be get by U.S companies.
For doing business in Saudi Arabia, the first preference should be given to their culture, as the people of Saudi
Arabia are very concerned about their culture and are very family oriented. They believe on, “Collectivism” and “Masculine”, Saudi Arabia is the most masculine society. The one, who is going there from U.S and want to do business with them, must know about the tradition and norms of the society, the business can only be successful if one fully knows about the culture and trends of the market. The individual want to do business should be sensible, as there are strictly observed Islamic customs; they ensure documentation and maintain the contracts with their business partners and they value their stakeholders.
Doing business in Saudi Arabia, could be difficult for one, as one could face the commercial problem and the Islamic tradition they follow about ‘Haram’ and ‘Halal’, the things or the products that the U.S companies are promoting must be according to the market and business preferences (Alamri, 2011).
Saudi Arabia, even in business always value their families, they stress on belongingness, for them the opinions of their family and partners matter a lot, however, they do not talk about their families and wives when they are doing business, there are just talk about health and business regarding possessions.
There should no business visits during the month of Ramadan (fasting month), as very less official meetings take place, the executives give the importance to their religion first, for them their religion is priority. The businessmen available for very short time in those days, they like to talk less, the introductory conversation start with greeting, they warmly welcome, and there are often refreshments. If a girl wants to do the business in Saudi Arabia, then she should go in the form of or as a part of delegation, women alone cannot get visa easily, she should have the male representatives.
They are rich in social etiquettes, they respect the senior citizens, and the senior citizen first goes out of the door then the others, the social norms should be clearly known, if U.S companies want to get success there. They are very much different from the American cultures, in their function men and women are separated. The people of Saudi Arabia love sharing information; they have their own style of negotiations, they are calm, friendly and loving people but there are need to understand them fully for the business purposes, because acceptance of everything or product is difficult there. They love to keep long-term relationships, so there could be long-term benefits (Leadershipcrossroads, 2010).
The people of Saudi Arabia care for everyone but they do not tolerate the misbehaviors in the business market, there is need to understand their culture very deeply, before starting and profitability of the business.
References:
- Alamri. (2011). DOING BUSINESS IN SAUDI ARABIA 2010 . 1-32.
- Leadershipcrossroads. (2010). Negotiating International Business – Saudi Arabia. 1-7.