Intercultural aspects of doing business with Saudi Arabia Intercultural Communication - TEIM19 Group B - 1
Anna Dadfar (annda719) Reine Norberg (reino115) Eva Helander (evahe439) Sabina Schuster (sabsc791) Arnaud Zufferey (arnzu240) May 15, 2003
Contents 1 Introduction and 1.1 Introduction . 1.2 Background . 1.3 Purpose . . . 1.4 Delimitations
background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . .
3 3 4 4 4
2 Method 2.1 Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Self criticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5 5 6 6
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
3 Theoretical framework references 3.1 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Communication . . . . . . . . 3.2 Cultural levels . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 Single dimension model . . . 3.2.2 Multidimensional model . . . 3.2.3 Layer model . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.4 ABC model . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Swedish and Saudi Arabian cultures 3.3.1 Saudi Arabian culture . . . . 3.3.2 Swedish culture . . . . . . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
7 7 7 7 8 9 9 9 10 10 10 11
4 Empirical study 4.1 The characteristics of the Saudi Arabian culture . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Common inter-cultural problems when dealing with Saudi Arabia 4.3 How to overcome the cultural problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13 13 14 14
5 Discussion and analysis 5.1 The characteristics of the Saudi Arabian culture . . . . . . . . . 5.2 The characteristics of the Swedish culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 Common inter-cultural problems when dealing with Saudi Arabia 5.4 Comparison of Saudi Arabian and Swedish culture . . . . . . . . 5.5 How to overcome the cultural problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15 15 16 16 16 18
1
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
CONTENTS
2
6 Conclusion
19
A Email questionnaire
21
Chapter 1
Introduction and background ”You must learn how to do business on Arab terms, not on Western terms; if you don’t there is a Japanese businessman behind you who will.” Q.W. Fleming
1.1
Introduction
Both Saudi Arabia and Sweden have a long trading history. For thousands of years, the people of the Arabian Peninsula have been at the geographic and cultural crossroads of the world. In Scandinavia the Vikings started the trading tradition some hundred years A.C. However the big geographic distance kept them from doing business with each other. Nowadays, because of the development of the transport, the problem is no longer the distance but the cultural gap (saudiembassy.net, 2002). Saudi Arabia is the largest petroleum exporter in the world and due to this fact it is a very rich country. Therefore it is an attractive market for doing business. At the moment US is the biggest exporter to Saudi Arabia, followed by Japan, Germany and UK and the most important imports commodities are machinery, equipment, foodstuff, chemicals, motor vehicles and textiles (CIA Factbook, 2002). Sweden is at this moment a very small actor in the Saudi Arabian market with only 0,7% of the total swedish export and 0,3% of the total swedish import in 2001 (swedishtrade.se, 2003). On the other hand Sweden is exporting machinery, motor vehicles, paper products, iron and steel products and chemicals. They therefore have the good preconditions for having a good business exchange with each other. We find it interesting to study these two cultures and see what kind of problems could occur due to the cultural differences. We then want to see how these problems could be overcome and how Swedish businessmen/women can have success in Saudi Arabia.
3
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
1.2
4
Background
Since many of our group members have different cultural backgrounds we wanted to make a cultural study involving different cultures were we could benefit from our different cultural perspectives. Since three of us are studying economy we were interested in business behaviour in different cultures. We chose to study Saudi Arabia because it is a very rich country were many industrialized countries are already having a large business exchange with Saudi Arabia and that Saudi Arabia is in a very interesting part of the world that a majority of the group members did not have a lot of knowledge about. We also knew that Saudi Arabian was quite different from Swedish culture and we wanted to see how Swedish businessmen/women could overcome cultural problems, something that all of the Swedish business world could benefit from.
1.3
Purpose
To understand the cultural problems that Swedish businessmen/women are facing when doing business with Saudi Arabia.
Subproblems 1. What are the characteristics of the Saudi Arabian culture? 2. What are the characteristics of the Swedish culture? 3. What are the common inter-cultural problems that Swedish businessmen/ women have in dealing with Saudi Arabia? 4. How could the cultural problems be overcome?
1.4
Delimitations
Geographically we have limited ourselves to study only the culture of Saudi Arabia and Sweden. Theoretically we have limited ourselves to use only cultural theories. We do not for example handle the political risks. In the rapport we have taken Swedish businessmen’s perspective. Our empirical part will only consider the aspects of Saudi Arabian culture. However when it comes to the characteristics of the Swedish culture, we are relying on the literature research.
Chapter 2
Method Our work method is that we start by getting information about the Swedish and the Saudi Arabian cultures and about the different theories that we are going to use. We then collect our empirical material. Afterwards we analyze the two cultures and the empirical material by using the models we have found appropriate, in order to be able to answer to our problem question. In the end of our project, the conclusion part, we present the conclusions we have drawn and answer to our problem questions. We have tried from the beginning to have a good structure on our work because for us that was something very important and we felt that if we had the structure clear the rest would be much easier. Especially since the group members have very different background, cultural and scientific, we felt that it was very important that all the group members had the same idea about how the structure should look like. We have regarded carefully the document that was handed out during the lecture in assignment support by Hossein Dadfar and also tried to fulfill all the criteria on the project assessment folder. We also have had the intention to structure our work as if it was a project of greater importance, e.g. an exjob, to get experience in writing these kinds of works. During our study we have tried to use the different cultural background of our group members to our advantage. For example, it is easier for a person that is not Swedish to see the characteristics of the Swedish culture, and also regarding the Saudi Arabian culture we see different aspects.
2.1
Literature
We have tried to find suitable literature about our subject by searching the Libris database, searching on Internet and using our personal networks. We divided the literature we found among the group members and then made a study of the most relevant literature on these topics and wrote together the theoretical framework.
5
CHAPTER 2. METHOD
2.2
6
Interviews
We have based our empirical part on interviews of Swedish businessmen who have been to Saudi Arabia. What kind of problems can appear for Swedish businessmen/women? In order to get these interviews we have contacted the Saudi Arabian embassy in Stockholm which has kindly provided us with several addresses and telephone numbers to Swedish companies that are, to their knowledge, doing business with Saudi Arabia. We then called the companies and asked them in which way they preferred to be interviewed. We got one face-to-face interview with Rouzbeh Heidarzadeh Pasha, Head of Business Development team at Pilotfish Networks AB, one email reply from a project manager at ABB in V¨aster˚ as. and one phone interview with a customer support salesman at ABB V¨aster˚ as. We then brought together the interview answers in the empirical material part of our work.
2.3
Self criticism
Due to the lack of time we made only three interviews and one of them was made by e-mail. This kind of interview can lead to misunderstandings and brings less than a verbal interview. Our interviewees are only businessmen, due to the fact that we could not found any businesswoman working with Saudi Arabia to interview.
Chapter 3
Theoretical framework references 3.1
Definitions
3.1.1
Culture
The origin of the word ”culture” comes from the Latin word ”cultura”. ”Cult” signifies ”worship”, which means that culture is the result of people’s actions. Culture is a general and complex concept and therefore there is no absolute definition. We have chosen some of them to give a broader overview: Culture is interlaced system of learned behaviour patterns according to which people in the society live and work. It means that culture includes everything that people think, say, do and fabricate, their costumes, traditions, language, art, literature common excepted attitudes, feelings and values. Culture is learned and transmitted from one generation to another (Rabe, 1992, translation from page 10). Culture is everything that people have, think, and do as members of their society (Ferraro quoted in Dadfar, 1990, page 17). Culture is a way of living. People of the same culture share the same ideas and values. Culture also includes traditions and common norms, written and non-written rules (Simon & Yaras, 2000, translation from page 7).
3.1.2
Communication
The general concept of communication is ”intentional transmission of a message from one individual to another”. As you can see on the figure 3.1 the sender encodes a message and transmits it to the receiver. In-between the message can be affected by noise, i.e. factors interfering communication ex. culture. As a final point A gets feedback, receives a verbal or nonverbal response, from B.
7
CHAPTER 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK REFERENCES
Sender Encode meaning Message
8
Receiver Decode meaning
Medium Message
Noise
Culture Feedback
Figure 3.1: Communication Process Model
However when it comes to intercultural communication it goes beyond the previously mentioned definition, and the UMPI model gives better understanding (cf. figure 3.2). UMPI stands for Understanding, Making understood, Persuading and Influencing (Dadfar, 2001).
Understanding
Making understood
Influencing
Persuading
Figure 3.2: UMPI model
3.2
Cultural levels
There are several models to analyse culture. According to Dadfar (2001) the models can be classified in the following categories: 1. Single dimension models 2. Multidimensional models 3. Layer model
CHAPTER 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK REFERENCES
9
4. ABC model We will give a brief description of each model and choose the most suitable for our study.
3.2.1
Single dimension model
Single dimension models are focused on only one dimension of culture, for example Hall (quoted in Dadfar, 2001) suggested the criteria: High versus low context, where context defines the way people search for information and knowledge. People from low context culture express their feelings and thoughts in words and rely mainly on written information, while people from high context cultures have more implicit feelings and thoughts. One often has to read between the lines to get whole meaning. Monochronic versus polychronic, concern the relation with time. In monochronic cultures time is perceived as a resource (”Time is money”). They tend to do only one thing at the time, while people from polychronic cultures do many things at once and are less interested in time.
3.2.2
Multidimensional model
Hofstede analyses culture through the following four dimensions: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus collectivism, and masculinity versus femininity. The power distance in a culture is the degree to which the power is distributed between the group members and the leader. Low power distance means that the power is more equally distributed and that the decision made by the leader can be challenged. In large power distance cultures the leader’s decision has to be accepted and the power is unequally distributed. The level of uncertainty avoidance of a culture reflects to which extent people feel threatened by ambiguous and uncertain situations. In an individualistic culture the groups in the society are not so important and the people there seek success for themselves rather than for the group. In the collectivistic culture belonging to a group is very important and people think in ”we” and ”them” terms. In a masculine society there are different roles between men, women and objects and being successful in live is very important. In the feminine societies the roles for men and women are more equal, the quality of life is more important and people are less competitive (Hofstede quoted in Dadfar, 2001).
3.2.3
Layer model
The layer model represents culture as an onion, with three different layers. The outer layer illustrates things that you can easily see in a culture, like artefacts and products. The norms and values belong to the middle layer while the most hidden aspects of the culture, like the basic assumptions about life, belong to the core of the onion (Trompenaar quoted in Dadfar, 2001).
CHAPTER 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK REFERENCES
3.2.4
10
ABC model
The ABC model is divided into two different parts, namely ”ingredients components” and ”segment components”. The segment component is related with the people of the group that are involved and where this interaction takes place, for example national culture, regional culture company culture, department culture and group culture. The ingredient components are called ABC and refer to Artefacts, Behaviour, and Core values. Artefacts are the visible part of culture and they are easily noticeable when you meet someone from a different culture. Artefacts include language, table manners, greetings, clothes, music, sport, literature and titles. The components of the behavior dimension are more difficult to detect than the components of the artefacts dimension, but if you are aware of them it is possible to change them. They are for example decision-making, problem solving, communication style, how you express yourself etc. The core values consist of attitudes and values of what you think is right or wrong, fair or unfair. They are very difficult to detect, influence and change (Hall quoted in Dadfar, 2001). We have decided to use mainly the ABC model as the framework for our analysis. We have chosen this one because it covers the different aspects of culture. For example Hofstede’s model focuses only on the core values and doesn’t consider artefacts or behavioural aspects. The ABC model is also quite easy to understand and is suitable for comparisons. If needed, we will use the others models, e.g. Single Dimension model, Hofstede’s model or Layer model, as a complementary source for analysis .
3.3 3.3.1
Swedish and Saudi Arabian cultures Saudi Arabian culture
The Saudi Arabian culture consists of three different systems: Islam, Tribalism, and Westernization (Dadfar 1984, 1990). In Saudi Arabia Islam is the national religion. The inhabitants’ lives are directed daily by the religion and the rules are based on the religious law, Sharia. Islam means peace, purity, submission and obedience to God. The religion is a system that contains rules about the people’s life, for example as a Muslim you are prohibited to eat pork and drink alcohol. It decides the family life, attitude to other people, relationship between individuals in the society, etc. By tribalism Dadfar (1984) refers to values that are left from ancient times before Islam. The tribe value system is a kind of gathering intended to protect your interests. Here the family has a central role, and the loyalty towards it is fundamental. The father is the main authority and is responsible for the family. In the family the respect is due to the older people, and the family is obliged to take care of them.
CHAPTER 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK REFERENCES
11
Hospitality is a natural consequence of the generosity and friendliness of the tribe members. Pride is very significant for the Saudi Arabian culture. It is also a base for loyalty, rivalry and revenge, which appears when anything harms the family. Westernization includes values, norms and habits, which are brought from the Western countries. Among other, western technology and lifestyle have a big influence on the traditional Arabian life. Furthermore Dadfar has mentioned some important factors that one should have in mind: • The honor is highly valued in the Arabian societies. Arabians are because of this very polite and respect others in order to be respected in return. • Patience is highly appreciated because it is often mentioned in the Koran. • It is offending to show interest in the female family members by for example giving presents to them. • People of the same gender usually greet each-other by a kiss on each cheek. • It is expected to always let the guest enter the room first. • It is polite to stand up when somebody enters the room, except if it is a servant. • For Arabs it is very impolite to show the sole of the shoes to anybody.
3.3.2
Swedish culture
Several authors have made attempt to highlight the characteristics of Swedish culture, including Daun (1989), Rabe (1992), Yaras and Dilek (2000) , Herlitz (1999) and Morrison (2003). However their views are similar and there are no significant differences in their views. Therefore we present Rabe as representative. According to Rabe (1992) most Swedes think that punctuality is very important, and it is considered rude to keep somebody waiting. They are quite organized and usually prefer to do one thing at a time. They don’t like being interrupted and can feel stressed if they have to many thing to do. Furthermore in the Swedish culture it is appreciated to be honest and diligent. In general swedish people don’t like conflicts and try to avoid confrontations unless necessary. Responsibility is often shared between the group members and if conflicts of interest appear in a group the solution is usually reached democratically involving all the group members. According to Morrison (2003) Swedes normally work according to schedules and they are very precise and concrete when expressing themselves. Swedes do not show emotions during negotiation and do not use many gestures. They are also very informal and normally people address each other by their first name.
CHAPTER 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK REFERENCES
12
The handshake is the standard greeting. In business Swedes don’t like openended meetings but prefer if a firm date is set for the next encounter. They tend to pay little attention to form, style and appearance. In Sweden the society has a lot responsibilities that are, in some other cultures, the responsibility of the family. For example almost all children go to kindergarten and the old people live in old people’s homes, etc. this shows that the family bonds are not very strong (Simon and Yaris, 2002). Rabe (1992) is also mentioning the following characteristics: • The Swedes are very nature and peace loving. They appreciate very much to be out in the nature and the unique Swedish ”allemansr¨atten” gives the Swedes access to all the forests in Sweden. • According to the very famous Jantelagen, a old swedish saying, the Swedes are trying to avoid to put themselves forward and being too self confident. The concept of ”lagom” means that the middle way is the best, that it is always better to have ”lagom” than to have to much or to little of something. • Generally the Swedes consider themselves to be silent and reserved. This can be interpreted as arrogance or lack of interest by people from other cultures which can be a problem for swedish people. Swedes usually don’t small talk a lot and it can appear that they’re difficult to get to know, but on the other hand they often build strong relationships. • In generally Swedes are price aware and prefer saving to spending. They don’t like to be in debt to anybody doesn’t invite others very often. • The majority of the swedish people is member of the Swedish church, but only a minority is participating regularly in any religious activities. However most Swedes attend church at special occasions like weddings and funerals. • Sweden is known as one of the most equal countries in the world regarding men and women. A large majority of the Swedish women is working and it’s normal that also the father stay at home with the children while the mother is working. • Topics that Swedes can get very upset about are the following: pollution, drugs, extreme poverty, methods of raising children that they don’t agree with and unfairness.
Chapter 4
Empirical study Our empirical study consists of three interviews. The first one was with Rouzbeh Heidarzadeh Pasha, who is Head of Business Development team at Pilotfish Networks AB. He is the main contact person and in charge of international sales including Saudi Arabia. We have also interviewed two managers that wish to be anonymous: a customer support salesman at ABB who is in charge of after sales services and spare parts supply and a project manager at ABB.
4.1
The characteristics of the Saudi Arabian culture
According to Pasha the Saudi Arabian culture is a hierarchical culture. He noticed it when he was in Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian team members were waiting for the management director to take the first initiation. He was greeted friendly with a kiss on each cheek. Pasha emphasizes the influence of Islam in all aspects of life in Saudi Arabia. He maintains that a businessman should not ask about Saudi’s wives or give present to her. For the Saudi Arabs the family is very important and private life is not separated from the business life. For example, it is commonly accepted that one gives preference to his family, relatives and friend for providing them job and working facilities in the company or public organization that he has a high rank position. Pasha indicates that the work process in Saudi Arabia is slower than the Swedish one and that the Arabs rely on the concept ”insha-allah”, which means it happens if Good will. One has to take this into account when doing a planning. Furthermore, business is based upon interpersonal relationship, therefore, establishing social network is a must, if one wish to success in Saudi Arabia. They also believe very much in metaphysics. According to Pasha in Saudi Arabian culture one’s verbal agreement is very important and has the same value as a written contract. The foreign businessmen should avoid putting Saudis under pressure to get a written agreement, because it can be seen as an insult and loosing face. According to the support salesman at ABB, the Saudi Arabs are hard negotiators when it comes to the price. He describes them as people who love
13
CHAPTER 4. EMPIRICAL STUDY
14
bargaining. The project manager added that even when the contract is signed they still consider it negotiable.
4.2
Common inter-cultural problems when dealing with Saudi Arabia
Interviewees’ state that even though Arabs are good in English language, there are still communication problems associated to language differences. Furthermore, the role that religion plays in Saudis lives is beyond the Swedish businessmen’s expectation. Another problem highlighted by Pasha is that Swedish businessmen are confused of the inseparability of private and business life. He adds that the Saudi culture is a hierarchical culture, therefore, the decision making is highly centralized, a problem that Swedes are not used to.
4.3
How to overcome the cultural problems
Pasha gives the following advice to Swedish businessmen that are going to do business with Saudi Arabia: ”Learn to respect what is different and not be too critical of how other people conduct. Do not judge people, there is no right and wrong when it comes to culture. Only different!” He suggests that the Swedish businessmen ”let these people lead the dance”. The Customer support salesman at ABB suggests that Swedes should be open-minded and respect cultural differences.
Chapter 5
Discussion and analysis Based upon the empirical study presented in previous chapter and along with our theoretical framework presented in chapter 3 we have dedicated this chapter to discussion and analysis.
5.1
The characteristics of the Saudi Arabian culture
At the empirical section 4.1 Pasha points out the influence of Islam in Saudi Arabia. This view confirms the theories we reviewed in part 3.3.1 (Dadfar, 1984, 1990), which stress the importance of the Islamic religion and tribalism in Saudi culture. Furthermore, Pasha talks about their strong believe in Metaphysics, which is online with our theoretical framework and is in C-level of ABC model. He also emphasizes on the slow working process in Saudi Arabia, which is taking time for enjoying life. This is a characteristic of polychronic culture (see single dimension model). Moreover, Pasha states that verbal agreement is very important in Saudi Arabia. This issue corresponds to high context culture, and from ABC model point of view, this behaviour is at B-level. According to the support salesman and project manager at ABB in the empirical material (section 4.1), the Saudi Arabs love bargaining and consider that contract always are negotiable. This behaviour is also at the B-level of the ABC model. According to our interviewees, whose views are confirmed by the literature reviewed in part 3.3.1, the Saudi Arabian culture can be summarized as following: • Family and respect to elder are important. • Islam guides their life. • Lack of punctuality, polychronic and using the concept ”insha-allah” frequently. • Man dominated culture (men are the head of the family). • Hospitality is important. 15
CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
16
• Valuing the honour (”saving face” concept). • Love of bargaining. • Business and private lives are not separated.
5.2
The characteristics of the Swedish culture
According to our literature review in part 3.3.2 the main characteristics of the Swedish culture are as following: • Emotions are not shown. • The family bond is not very strong. • Punctuality is important. • Only one thing is done at the time and schedule are used (monochromic). • Equality between man and woman is important. • Swedes do not put themselves forward. • Conflicts are avoided.
5.3
Common inter-cultural problems when dealing with Saudi Arabia
Based upon the empirical study the major problems of Swedish businessmen/ women are as following: • Being confused for lack of clear borderline between business and private life. • Lack of understanding the working process and the Arab way of doing things. • Differences in tradition of agreement, for Swedes contract means ”get it on paper”, while for Arabs ”the man’s word is his bound”. • Different levels of hierarchy.
5.4
Comparison of Saudi Arabian and Swedish culture
The preceding sections present a brief picture of Saudi and Swedish culture. To show the significant differences between them we have summarized them in the following table based on the ABC model.
CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
17
Table 5.1: Cultural differences between Saudi Arabian and Swedish culture Level
A (Artefacts)
B (Behaviors)
C (Core values)
Saudi-Arabia Have food and beverage restrictions (ex. pork, alcohol) Arabic as language High emotional Use titles (ex Your Honour) Men are prioritised Family is very important, (several generations live together) Attend service once a day Not punctual, ”Time is for life” Love bargaining on prices Verbal agreements are as important as written ones Sharia, religious law Strong believes in goodness and evilness Believe strongly in metaphysics
Sweden Food and beverage are chosed in matter of taste Swedish as language Low emotional Do not use titles Equality Family bond is not so strong Attend church a couple of times a year Punctual, ”Time is money” Fixed-price oriented Accept only agreements
written
Swedish law Weak believe in goodness and evilness Believe weakly in metaphysics
CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
5.5
18
How to overcome the cultural problems
In the table 5.1 we illustrated the major differences between the Swedish and Saudi Arabian culture. This section is dedicated to answering the question: How to overcome the cultural problems. To shorten the discussion, the result of our empirical study shows that following points should be considered to prevent cultural misunderstandings: • In Saudi Arabian culture age is a sign of wisdom, therefore one should send an elder negotiator. • Personal relations are important in business relation with Saudi Arabia, which is why it is necessary to build up confidence between the partners. • Be careful in Saudi the write and verbal arguments are of the same value, therefore one should not make any promise that cannot be kept. • Understand the Saudi Arabian behaviour and learn how one can influence them. • Do not touch their core values, especially their believe system (religion). • Be flexible when it comes to time. • Status and titles are important in business contacts, therefore it is good to present oneself with title and position. • The price should be the last thing one negotiate, be prepared to give discount. • Do not ask about the female family members. • Be open-minded and aware of the cultural differences. • ”Let them lead the dance” (Pasha)
Chapter 6
Conclusion In this study we learned about Saudi culture as well as Swedish culture and examined how the cultural differences may cause problem in business relationship. The details are presented in chapter 5. In this section we briefly answer our research questions based upon the discussion and analysis made in the preceding section. What are the characteristics of the Saudi Arabian culture? The characteristics of Saudi culture are: familism, Islam religion and believe in metaphysics, lack of punctuality, man domination, hospitality, bargaining on prices, honour, high emotional, etc. What are the characteristics of the Swedish culture? The characteristics of Swedish culture are: punctuality, equality, fixed price orientation, low emotional, conflict avoidance, lack of strong family bonds, etc. What are the common inter-cultural problems that Swedish businessmen/women have in dealing with Saudi Arabia? The common problems are: unclear boarder line between business and private life in Saudi Arabia, understanding the work process, written and verbal agreements, levels of hierarchy, strong social relationship (establishing business network), the shadow of Islamic religion over all aspects of life and business, etc. How could the cultural problems be overcome? To overcome the problems Swedish businessmen must: send elder representatives, have personal relationship, be flexible, give discounts, don’t ask about female family members, respect religion, do not injure the Saudi Arabs sense of honour, etc. More detailed findings have been presented in the discussion and analysis (see section 4.1-4.5). Our study has both academic and managerial implications. From academic point of view we learned and showed how cultural theories could be applied in reality. From managerial point of view we believe that businessmen can use the results of this study for doing a better business with Saudi Arabia. 19
CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSION
20
Even though our findings are very significant we believe further research is needed in areas like Saudi Arab’s negotiation behaviour, Islamic business culture etc.
Appendix A
Email questionnaire 1. What is your position in the company, and role in the business relation with Saudi Arabia? 2. How long have you been doing business with Saudi Arabia? 3. Did you get any special preparation concerning cultural differences before going to Saudi Arabia? If yes what training and how useful was it? 4. What difficulties or problems did you encounter due to cultural differences? 5. What are the major differences between the Saudi Arabia and Swedish culture? 6. How do you characterize Arab culture? 7. How do you describe business protocol concerning greeting, dressing, addressing each other? 8. How do you describe the business behavior of Saudi Arabs concerning planning for future, scheduling, meetings, verbal and nonverbal agreements etc? 9. What do you think are the major Saudi Arabic values? 10. What cultural problems do Swedish export firms encounter when doing business with Saudi Arabia? 11. What would you recommend other companies for doing business with Saudi Arabia?
21
Bibliography Books • Dadfar Hossein (2001). Intercultural Communication, Theory and Practice. Compendium. Link¨oping university. • Dadfar Hossein(1994). Marketing Progress and Buyer Behavior in the Middle East. Link¨oping university. • Dadfar Hossein (1984). Aff¨ arsguide till Saudi-Arabien. Link¨oping university. • Dadfar Hossein (1990). Industrial Buying Behavior in the Middle East. Link¨oping university. • Rabe Monica (1992). Kulturella glas¨ ogan med svensk syn utomlands. Tre B¨ocker f¨orlag AB G¨oteborg. • Doroth´ee Simon & Yaras Dilek (2000). Lagom svenskt. Bilda f¨orlag. • Herlitz Gillis (1999) . Kulturgrammatik. Uppsala Publish House AB. • Daun ˚ Ake (1989). Svensk mentalitet. Raben & Sj¨oberg.
Web sources • Central Intelligence Agency (2002). CIA Factbook. cia.gov • Saudi-Arabia Embassy in US saudiembassy.net. • Terri Morrison getcustoms.com/articles/oag 4.html. • Swedish Trade swedishtrade.se/saudiarabien
Interviews • Rouzbeh Heidarzadeh Pasha, Head of Business Development team at Pilotfish Networks AB, Gothenburg. • Customer support salesman at ABB in V¨aster˚ as • Project manager at ABB in V¨aster˚ as
22
