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      Edward Burton

      Business and Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia

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Business and Entrepreneurship in Saudi ArabiaOpportunities for Partnering and Investing in Emerging BusinessesEDWARD BURTON

      Copyright © 2016 by Edward Burton. All rights reserved.

      Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

      Published simultaneously in Canada.

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       Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available:

      ISBN 9781118943960 (Hardcover)

      ISBN 9781119296188 (ePDF)

      ISBN 9781119296171 (ePub)

      Cover Design: Wiley

      Cover Images: (top) © Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Royal Commission for Jubail & Yanbu; (bottom) © Saudi Desert Photos by TARIQ-M/ Getty Images, Inc.

To my mother and father

      Preface

      This book is about business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and how change occurring within the Kingdom is transforming how business is done. It is about Saudi Arabia's business community and the importance and relevance the Kingdom's economy and its industrial and commercial centers have to global business. But, more importantly, it is about the people, companies, and business environment that make doing business in Saudi Arabia such a unique and rewarding experience.

      I have spent most of my professional career assisting American enterprise in the trade of their goods and services, and placement of their capital investments in markets around the world. During the course of this vocation, I have gained knowledge in the art and science of evaluating foreign markets for business and learned what to look for when identifying countries representing the best prospects for gaining and growing market share for American businesses. I have found no market more thought-provoking nor engaging than the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

      There have been numerous books written about Saudi Arabia over the past 25 years. However, a cursory review of those works show their subject matter primarily centers on oil, internal, regional and international politics, the Kingdom's economy, or its social questions of the day. To be sure, studies of these topics are valuable to a rounded understanding of Saudi Arabia. But the dearth of books dedicated to the subject of commercial affairs inside the Kingdom has assumed a deafening quality given Saudi Arabia's importance to the world. And, there are reasons for the absence of credible literature on the subject.

      Culturally, Saudi Arabia has often been labeled a closed society. Many who approach the market for business comment on the insular nature of the Kingdom's culture, which in turn casts upon it a facade of inscrutability and impenetrability. For those electing not to spend the time to get to know the country and its people, an inevitable feeling of enduring challenge characterizes doing business there. However, with modest and sincere effort, the Kingdom's enormous market opportunities and an enriched experience with its businesses eagerly await those who wish them. It is for this reason, and my enduring respect and admiration for the Saudi business community I have written this book.

      I lived and worked in Saudi Arabia for three years. Considering there are American “long-termer” expatriate workers with more than 30 years in the Kingdom, I am always on guard against exaggerating my familiarity with the Kingdom. However, I believe that for one to have some sense of the Kingdom's vitality, exceptionality, and promise, one must spend significant sustained periods within its borders. I gained my sense of the Kingdom through those three years serving as commercial attaché in the American embassy in Riyadh as well as almost 10 years now as president and CEO of the U.S. – Saudi Arabian Business Council. Through these unique and valued professional appointments, I have been fortunate to have gained the trust, confidence, and support of some of the Kingdom's most respected and esteemed business people. Owners and senior management of small, medium-sized, and large Saudi companies have enthusiastically supported bringing this book to market because their story is not being told. It has only been through the privileged access afforded me over the years that this book and its glimpse into the Kingdom's private world of business were made possible.

      The chapters of this book are summarized as follows:

      A current view of Saudi Arabia's economic strength and rapidly expanding industrial complex is given in Chapter 1. The period between 1938 and 1970, from the discovery of oil to the nation's first formal economic development effort and onset of industrial expansion, is given significance since this is when many of the Kingdom's well-known businesses were established. The chapter examines the Kingdom's national economic development plans, especially the first and most recent ones, and looks at historical efforts by the Saudi government to integrate the Kingdom's business sector into serving the nation's development goals. The chapter examines the question whether adequate coordination between and among the public and private sectors has attended implementation of these plans. Two of the most important topics of influencing economic development, Saudi Arabia's pursuit and achievement of membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its relentless drive toward economic diversification from an oil-based

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