Saudi Arabia'S Dynamic Culture: Case Study

SAUDI ARABIA’S
DYNAMIC CULTURE
CASE STUDY
Empire State College
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Saudi Arabia’s Dynamic Culture
Saudi Arabia is a mixture of strict religious convictions, ancient social traditions and
governmental economic policies which results in laws and customs that contrast with those in the
home countries of the companies doing business there. Therefore, foreign companies and their
employees must determine what these differences are and how to adjust to them.
I would advise my team of the strict religious preservation that Saudi Arabia has; a fine
line between religion and state. The Islamic traditions prohibit the sale of pork products and
alcohol in Saudi Arabia. I would advise my team that during the holy period of Ramadan,
restaurants only serve customers in the evening because people fast during the day. Additionally,
while the men pray five times a day, restaurants such as McDonald’s close during that time
period. (DANIELS, RADEBAUGH, & SULLIVAN, 2015, 2013, 2011, 2009, 2007, p.46)
Based on culture, restaurants are considered “closed areas” and proprietors must maintain
separate dining rooms and entrances for men without female companions. While my team
pitches the product I would convert space to prayer areas because most likely the people who are
going to listen to the pitch will abide to the Islamic religious traditions. I would also try to sell
my company’s products in the port city of Jeddah being that there is more contact with foreigners
and it is less conservative. This would allow the members of my team to be more “accepted”
throughout the community and have more success being that the dress codes are more relaxed in
which women aren’t necessarily required to wear niqabs (a veil worn by some Muslim women in
public, covering all of the face apart from the eyes). Even though it is not required I would
highly advise my team (if there were women going) to respect the culture and wear the head
scarves to avoid being reprimanded by the Saudi community. (DANIELS, RADEBAUGH, &
SULLIVAN, 2015, 2013, 2011, 2009, 2007, pgs. 46-47)
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Furthermore, my team would have to be up-to-date with the ban lifted in 2008 allowing
men and women to work amongst each other in the workplace. Males and females within the
public sector work in separate buildings but when they must collaborate they do so within
meeting rooms in the Governor’s office where they must use separate entrances. In Saudi Arabia,
gender plays a significant role as for every seven employed men, one woman is employed. Even
though only fifteen percent of females work due to cultural tradition they do interact in
multinational companies, my team would have to be prepared for providing things such as but
not limited to separate entrances and separate toilets for women to use aside from the men. The
economic factors do tie in with the cultural factors because companies incur additional costs by
providing these extra commodities. Most likely women would be limited in traveling abroad on
company business because of their male relatives; therefore my company would pay the travel
cost for the male relative to accompany the woman abroad. Of course this would be an extra
expense and additional cost that our company would have to fit based on cultural impact. With
all of this being said if I plan on sending single women to Saudi Arabia I must be aware that it is
hard for them to obtain a visa. However, a visa can be accessed to send female executives
(especially over forty) for short-term and long-term assignments. (DANIELS, RADEBAUGH, &
SULLIVAN, 2015, 2013, 2011, 2009, 2007, pgs. 48-49; 60)
If I brought a specialized team from America to sell products to Saudi Arabia the Saudi
Arabian community would allow the people to dress and live the way they do back home
(alcohol, pornography & drugs still prohibited). Additionally, if my company displayed clothing
and used mannequins’ I would tell my team to remove the mannequins’ heads and hands to
prevent public objections. (DANIELS, RADEBAUGH, & SULLIVAN, 2015, 2013, 2011, 2009,
2007, pg.47; 48)
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I would also tell my team to take their time with the clients as they like to get to know
people especially foreigners before discussing financial disclosures outside of their family.
Ultimately, they want to get to know you well and develop a certain level of friendship over a
period of time to discuss business in which they abide by a system known as wasta
(connections); they find this as an attribute of their culture. One must have cultural awareness
and know the variable factors that play a role in different cultural traditions. Even though my
potential Saudi customers weren’t punctual my team had to be aware that they were going to
spend more time on each business transaction with their client(s). A company’s motto “time is
money” wouldn’t apply to Saudi culture as they want to take their time to get to know the foreign
people before they make financial disclosures. Usually, they want to get to know people well,
perhaps invite one into their homes and develop a certain level of friendship before discussing
business. Saudi businesses are owned and operated usually by hiring family members and partner
with foreign firms to gain expertise. (DANIELS, RADEBAUGH, & SULLIVAN, 2015, 2013,
2011, 2009, 2007, pg.48)
If my team ended up getting an office in Saudi Arabia an additional expense would be to
partner up with Saudi businesses to help them gain expertise. This would be costly on time but
on the other hand the people would gain more trust toward us. In Saudi culture, in order to
perform business loyalty is of the upmost importance. It would cost my team additional money to
sit down and talk in a café because we would have to pay for it and the leisure of time would
result in not being able to speak with the same number of clients and resulting in my team
making less of an income. In America, people tend to stick to schedules even if taking longer
would yield better results rather than in Saudi Arabia where people view time as an event prefer
to take as long as necessary to a complete a task. Another contrast is that Saudi Arabian people
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like to be close and personal with people before they discuss business but in the United States
people like to maintain their distance. (DANIELS, RADEBAUGH, & SULLIVAN, 2015, 2013,
2011, 2009, 2007, pgs.48-49, 51)
Ultimately, in order for my team to go to Saudi Arabia my team must do extensive
research and have knowledge regarding Saudi Arabia’s cultural customs in order to be able to
test market potential and conduct their own research. In addition, when my team travels to Saudi
Arabia they will use a policy called geocentrism which is a balance between the policies of
polycentrism (its business units abroad should act like the local companies) and ethnocentrism
(one’s own culture is superior to that of other countries). Geocentric management uses business
practices that are hybrids of home and foreign norms. For example, in department stores they
used geocentrism and had knowledge on gender roles in order to level the department store
correctly. In the department stores mixed shopping is allowed on the lower levels; while the
upper floors are for women. The men who drove the women there have a separate space in the
store set aside for them. However, one limitation is that being all the salespeople are men, male
managers can only visit the upper floors while the store is closed and therefore are limited in
their ability to observe operations. (DANIELS, RADEBAUGH, & SULLIVAN, 2015, 2013,
2011, 2009, 2007, pgs.48, 69, 72)
I believe that my team would eventually become subject to cultural imperialism which
involves the team imposing certain elements from the Saudi Arabian culture, such as a forced
change in laws by Saudi Arabia that over time becomes part of the team’s culture.
In conclusion, I think that my team would gain a great wealth of knowledge from
learning abroad and gain more experience in foreign operations.
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Bibliography
DANIELS, J. D., RADEBAUGH, L. H., & SULLIVAN, D. P. (2015, 2013, 2011, 2009, 2007).
International Business: Environments & Operations (15th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ,
New Jersey: Pearson Education.
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SAUDI ARABIA’S

Empire State College

SULLIVAN, 2015, 2013, 2011, 2009, 2007, pgs. 46-47)

SULLIVAN, 2015, 2013, 2011, 2009, 2007, pgs. 48-49; 60)

2007, pg.47; 48)

2011, 2009, 2007, pg.48)

If my team ended up getting an office in Saudi Arabia an additional expense would be to

2011, 2009, 2007, pgs.48-49, 51)

Ultimately, in order for my team to go to Saudi Arabia my team must do extensive

2011, 2009, 2007, pgs.48, 69, 72)

learning abroad and gain more experience in foreign operations.

New Jersey: Pearson Education.

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