Saudi Arabia and Culture

Saudi Arabia Culture & Doing Business There

The term "culture" refers to the complex accumulation of knowledge, folklore, language, rules, rituals, habits, lifestyles, attitudes, beliefs, and customs that link and provide a general identity to a group of people. Culture takes a long time to build up it may take generations to develop. So, it becomes very difficult to move to some other country and communicate with that culture in a proper way. The case at hand and a study of the cultural traits and traditions of Saudi Arabia would help the sale investigation team to understand the prospects of selling their products in the kingdom with respect to the prevalent culture in the country (Shoult, 2006).

As already mentioned, the culture of a country or a region is defined by and based on the beliefs, values, and attitudes of the people residing there or those who have been influenced by these factors. Often these values, beliefs, and attitudes become the backbone for a nation's operating environment. This therefore also applies to business and trade (Shoult, 2006).

Suggestions about cultural issues for team that is traveling to Saudi Arabia

The culture of Saudi Arabia is significantly different from that of western countries - countries of North America or Europe.

One has to keep in mind the religious factor. In Saudi Arabia, there is a great influence of religion in business. For example, it is prohibited to sell pork or alcohol in the country due to religious beliefs. As is the culture of the country, restaurants do not serve food during the day in the holy period of Ramadan as Muslims in the country fast during the day. Businesses often close their doors or dim the lights during the period of prayer every day keeping in mind the religious culture in the country. Even companies like McDonalds do so there. To cater to the cultural and religious beliefs there, many outlets and companies convert revenue-generating areas into prayer areas.

The people and the gender roles is also an important part of the culture o fSaudi Arabia. There is very little interaction between men and women in the country in public places. Men and women working for government agencies do so in separate buildings. Local women are strictly bound to wear 'hijabs' -- veils covering their faces, and are often reluctant to interact with foreigners. In Saudi society, the men have a predominant role while women are mostly expected to carry out secondary roles. Hence most of the time the decisions are made by the men folk both in the household and outside. These factors are important since business -- especially retail selling, involves people and hence the values, beliefs, and attitudes of people -- which constitute the culture of the society, have to be carefully considered while formulating a business policy.

Another important issue that one needs to remember is the traditional values of the society of Saudi Arabia. In the country, based n traditions, it is understood that most Saudis' prefer to deal with people that they know which has created a system known as wasta -- which would roughly mean "connections" in English. Hence the creation of a 'connect' with the customer is an important factor to gain loyalty in Saudi Arabia (Morrison & Conaway, 2006).