The Arab - Western cultural relations

Thèmes abordés

Arab, Western cultural relations

Résumé du document

Since the transatlantic declaration in 1990, American and European enjoy a strong relationship with an active cooperation in several sectors as Justice, Energy, Environment, Science or Education. They represent the largest bilateral trade and investment relationship in the world with roughly 40% of the world trade and over 60% of the world GDP1. Opposite to them, China, a 1.3 billion people country with labor resources, more educated people launched into the international competition.

Those three huge countries understood that a new market emerged: the Arab market. With 25 countries and more than 325 million people, the Arab market proposes new ways to make business. When the world economic powers confront on the Arab market, the question arises about the value added of this approach. It is easy to understand that Arab market is a strategically place to invest. Thus, the ambition of this paper is to analyze the European / American competition with China in the Arab market.

The first part will be devoted to understand the introduction of greater competition in the Arab market with a selection of sectors: banking and telecom sectors. The second part will be focused on that how the Arab market is running? How do the Arab culture, values, policy and religion influence the trade?

Extraits

[...] However, the Arab market is still conservative, with a cultural and religious omnipresence. In fact, foreign companies wish to penetrate the Arab market must comply with certain rules as in the banking relationship with money and the Koran. Indeed, when foreign companies wishing to enter the Arab market, they must show full respect towards the Arab culture. "Today, the Arab world is at a critical juncture. Although the region's economies are currently very dynamic and offer tremendous business opportunities, there is no doubt that improvements to national competitiveness and closer integration with the global economy and within the region are necessary if this growth momentum is to be sustained." Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum www.oboolo.com REFERENCES The Arab World Competitiveness Report 2007, MARGARETA DRZENIEK HANOUZ, World Economic Forum TARIK YOUSEF, Dubai School of Government pages. [...]

[...] Middle East markets have opened; and western companies gain a slice of the rapidly growing Arab sector. Vodafone which is English telecommunication firm has a large presence in the Middle East, owning around 55% of Vodafone Egypt, which is the largest mobile operator in the country, and the Vodafone brand is used in Bahrain and Kuwait via a partnership with Zain. The company also has recently bid for a license in Qatar. Another European company is France Telecom which owns 71% shareholder in Egypt's Mobinil and the majority shareholder is Jordan Telecom. [...]

[...] How do the Arab culture, values, policy and religion influence the trade? Sources: Arab countries, Arab Countries Regional Report, Final Draft as of February United States of America, External Relations, European Commission, http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/us/index_en.htm, 11/15/ www.oboolo.com I. POWERFUL COUNTRIES COMPETITION INTRODUCTION IN THE ARAB MARKET To understand the competition in such a big market, it is important to analyze benefits of this matter. A. EUROPE / USA VS CHIN THE SAME GOAL IN ARAB MARKET? As the main black gold producer, each day importance of this market is increasing. [...]

[...] They represent the largest bilateral trade and investment relationship in the world with roughly 40% of the world trade and over 60% of the world GDP1. Opposite to them, China, a 1.3 billion people country with labor resources, more educated people launched into the international competition. Those three huge countries understood that a new market emerged: the Arab market. With 25 countries and more than 325 million people, the Arab market proposes new ways to make business. When the world economic powers confront on the Arab market, the question arises about the value added of this approach. [...]

[...] Since the financial crisis, both of them dropped. Companies did not invest continues or preferred to leave. At this point, Chinese companies got advantages than U.S. and European companies because of their cheap products. So, they increased their market share in the region. After the financial crisis totally finish, what will be the preferences of the consumers, companies and investors? This question's answer is important. This condition was great opportunity for lower cost productive companies. Also, it was bad and nightmare times for the Western Companies. [...]