Who: Executive members of DevComm a developmental

communication business.
What : Short report on Qatar. Personal Recommendations on
whether we should expand to Qatar
When: Monday October 5th 2014
How: hand in through mycourses. Hand in paper copy to
teacher with attachment of business article. Potentially hand
out copies of short report to executives, or visuals.
Why: To help the executive members decide if we should go
ahead with expanding to Qatar, and if we should do further
research.

DevComm
Charlotte, NC 28274 Phone: 999-888-7777 Fax: 999-888-7776
www.DevComm.com
October 6

th

2014

Executive report
1900 Selwyn Avenue
Charlotte, NC 28274

The following short report has information to help further the

decision making process behind DevComm expanding to Qatar. To be
competitive with existing companies we must enhance our business to
appeal to diverse international markets (Kolin, 2013). By creating
strong relations in Qatar. This report outlines important details about
Qatar, business etiquette, and recommendations for why we should
expand.
Background
Qatar is a country with small human capital but holds large
amounts of industrial capital. The economy is centered on their
production and export of crude oil and other hydrocarbons(Al-Esmael
& Faisal, 2012). The population of Qatar according to the Central
Intelligence Agency (2014) is 2,123,160 million, growing annually by
3.58%. This may increase potential doubt but their access to natural
hydrocarbon reserves has provided an influx of Qatari Riyal. Qatars
GDP per capita is currently the best in the world at $102,100 per
capita. 72.2% of the GDP is comprised from the industrial sector,

27.7% comes from the services sector (Central Intelligence Agency,

2014). These percentages are important to us because our business
applies mainly to these two sectors appose to the agriculture sector. A
small portion of the population is actually native to Qatar; as of
December 2013 it was approximately 260,000 citizens (Siegel, 2013).
This will help us assimilate into the business culture, because the
country is open to outside sources.
Etiquette
Etiquette when going to Qatar is similar to Middle Eastern
standards. Qatar employs a lot of their labor from Arab countries
without the same abundance of money, so the spread of nationalities is
very diverse (Al-Esmael & Faisal, 2012). This means that you have to
be very careful not to generalize amongst the workers in any class. An
important reminder is the Persian Gulf is predominantly Muslim, so
etiquette is mostly to their standards. The Muslim world follows the
lunar calendar, although they often try and use the Gregorian calendar
when interacting with the rest of the world. It is important to remember
that the holidays are on a backwards rotation yearly. This means a
Muslim holiday may occur in our Gregorian calendar on July 5 one year,
but 5 years later the holiday will fall in early spring. This is important
when scheduling meetings because your business associates could be
on holiday. When working in Islamic countries it is advised to dress
conservatively, men and women especially (Firoz & Ramin, 2004).

Employees should also be careful about workweeks, because in most

Islamic countries it is common to attend mosque on Fridays. Therefore
the workweek usually starts on Saturdays. Qatar is an Islamic country;
you should not give any alcohol gifts to stay on the safe side (Firoz &
Ramin, 2004). It is important that we show respect and the appropriate
etiquette when working abroad, ignorance is not a smart image.
Recommendations
Qatar is in the long-term process of transitioning from an
industrial based economy towards a knowledge-based economy. If we
can work our way into current corporations such as, Mannai
Corporation, Vodafone Qatar, or even Industries Qatar, it will help earn
a good reputation. I think if we can get a foothold on Qatari businesses
before the transition, it will provide greater opportunity for future
partnership with companies that will surface in the knowledge
revolution.
A potential risk is Qatars inevitable depletion of producing
hydrocarbons. However, this should not worry us; Qatar has been and
continues to invest in its future, something that shows intelligence in a
nation. Adapting to survive is a trait that strongly suits our business of
Organizational development.
Forbes published an article about the strength behind Qatars
motivation to stay ahead of the curve, something we can use to market
ourselves to them. Chris Wright explains how Qatar is using vehicles

such as Qatari Holding; the direct investment arm of the Qatar

investment authority sovereign wealth fund(Wright, 2014), to
tactically reassure their future. In fact Qatar is using many different
vehicles to invest, but the point being made is it does not matter. No
matter where the money is coming from it seems to be for the same
reason, future security. Qatar is investing in powerful world banks
around the world such as Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Barclays
Bank, and many other significant banks. The belief is that most of
these western banks trade nowhere near full potential since the
financial crisis and by investing now, and a fair bit of patience, their
investments will turn good(Wright, 2014). This is key to us because it
gives our company a long future in Qatar.
I recommend we advertise to Qatars financial sector because
these corporations will survive the revolution. American influence is
already spreading across Qatar by storm. Universitys like Cornell,
Texas A&M, Georgetown are three of the six American universities that
have branches in Qatar. This shows that Qatar is investing in their
knowledge-based economy with strong education funding. I
recommend we partner with the universities and set up internship
programs to give us a pool of intelligence to pick from for our future
employees. Education City, in Doha, Qatar is a testament to their
dedication, it has already attracted corporations abroad such as
Microsoft, ExxonMobil, GE, Shell to name a few (Chouchane et al.,

2011). Which are important names in the business world we want to

work with.
I recommend that we invest our time and money in this growing
market before we lose the first move.

References
Al-Esmael, B., & Faisal, M. N. (2012). Organizational commitment:
Status quo in qatar. SCMS Journal of Indian Management,9(3), 520. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.queens.edu:2048/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1537046009?
accountid=38688
Central Intelligence Agency. (2014). Qatar. In The World Factbook.
Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld-factbook/geos/br.html
Chouchane, L., Mamtani, R., Al-Thani, M., Al-Thani, A., Ameduri, M., &
Sheikh, J. I. (2011). Medical education and research environment
in qatar: A new epoch for traslational research in the middle

east. Journal of Translational Medicine, 9, 16.

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1479-5876-9-16
Firoz, N. M., & Ramin, T. (2004). Understanding cultural variables is
critical to success in international business. International Journal
of Management, 21(3), 307-323. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.queens.edu:2048/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/233231806?
accountid=38688
Kolin, P. C. (10th ed.). (2013). Successful writing at work. Stanford, CT:
Cengage learning,
Wright, C. (2014) Why Is Qatar Investing In Deutsche Bank? Forbes
Magazine. 171 (8), 64a. may 19, 2014 from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/chriswright/2014/05/19/why-is-qatarinvesting-in-deutsche-bank/
Siegel, R. (Host). (2013, December 13). As World Cup Looms, Qatars
Migrant Worker System Faces Scrutiny Washington, DC: National
Public Radio. Retrieved from
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/12/23/256599114/asworld-cup-looms-qatars-migrant-worker-system-faces-scrutiny