Customer Relaitionship in Saudi Arabia

Table of contents

Establishing and maintaining long-term relations with customers lead to multiple benefits for business firms. Having a sustainable customer base reduces costs in constantly trying to draw a new set of customers. A firm’s customer base also contributes to savings through voluntary advertising or recommendation of the firm to expand its market.

A pool of regular customers also ensures sales. (Agarwal et al., 2004) By implementing strategies aligned with the demands of a particular market segment, this not only establishes relations with customers but also facilitate customer satisfaction to minimise attrition (Chen & Popovich, 2003). Technological developments provided ways of developing and keeping relations with customers. The overwhelming benefits of building customer relationship and technological tools support great potential for achieving competitive advantage by business firms. (Sharp, 2004)

Business firms in Saudi Arabia appear fragmented when it comes to the importance and effort accorded to building customer relations as well as utilisation of customer relations management strategies to gain the benefits. The large firms in Saudi Arabia, especially those with websites and provide online services manage customer relations. However, there are also large firms operating through traditional practices that do not incorporate formal customer relations strategies in their operations.

The small firms in Saudi Arabia that engage in technology do not necessarily implement customer relations strategies or experience problems in managing IT-based customer relations while the small firms without online presence are likely not have any formal customer relationship strategy. (Abdul-Muhmin & Alzamel, 2001) These reflect on the extent of adoption of customer relationship management in Saudi Arabia. The state of customer relations in Saudi Arabia would likely follow the fragmented adoption of customer relationship management because of the differing situations across industries, scale of operations, and technological exposure.

Aim & Objectives

The research aims to investigate and uncover the extent of adoption of customer relationship management in the context of Saudi Arabia to determine the factors underlying the degree of CRM adoption and identify the areas for improvement as well as the appropriate solutions. To achieve this aim, the research focus is on the following specific objectives:

  • To provide a comprehensive overview of the adoption of CRM in Saudi Arabia
  • To identify the factors influencing the adoption of CRM in Saudi Arabia
  • To analyse the critical success factors in the adoption of CRM in Saudi Arabia
  • To determine the implications on the improvement of CRM adoption in Saudi Arabia

Statement of the Problem & Research Questions

The extent of adoption of customer relationship management determines how well industries and firms would benefit from this initiative. However, even with the recognition of the range of long-term benefits of CRM adoption, the extent of adoption of CRM in Saudi Arabia is fragmented or scattered across industries and business firms. Investigating the factors affecting the extent of adoption, critical success factors in CRM adoption, and implications on improving CRM adoption in the contexts of Saudi Arabia industries and firms would explain the situation and point to ways of facilitating better CRM adoption and optimised utilisation of CRM in Saudi Arabia.

The study seeks to answer the following questions:

  1. What is the extent of CRM adoption in Saudi Arabia’s major industries?
  2. What factors account for the extent of CRM adoption in Saudi Arabia’s major industries?
  3. What factors would ensure the effective adoption of CRM in Saudi Arabia’s major industries?
  4. What are benefits and downsides of CRM adoption in Saudi Arabia’s major industries?
  5. What are the problems arising from CRM adoption in Saudi Arabia’s major industries?
  6.  How can CRM adoption improve in Saudi Arabia’s major industries?

Significance of the Study

The results of the study should contribute to filling gaps in CRM research and supporting awareness of CRM in Saudi Arabia’s industries. First is to contribute to empirical studies on the adoption of CRM in different country contexts to identify similarities and differences in emerging issues. Second is to contribute empirical data on the context-based factors affecting the adoption of CRM by a country whose biggest industry is engaged in oil processing and export.

Third is to contribute to knowledge on the CRM initiative in Saudi Arabia especially in the context of the widening use of the Internet in the country. Last is to provide guidelines or recommendations on how industries and individual firms in Saudi Arabia can effectively adopt and utilise to gain the benefits from CRM.

Brief Literature Review

There are a few studies covering the research on the adoption of CRM in different country contexts. Karakostas et al. (2005) studied the how the financial services sector in the United Kingdom are adopting CRM. The study focused on expectations of firms towards CRM, reason for adoption, and current practices. Sangle and Verma (2008) also studied the adoption of CRM but in the context of the service sector in India. The study revolved around the motives for adoption and experiences of firms with CRM. While these studies focus on other countries, these provide a framework for conducting the study on the extent of adoption of CRM in Saudi Arabia.

The studies focusing on the industries and firms in Saudi Arabia tackle the problem of CRM adoption indirectly and in a fragmented manner. These studied contribute to the framework of the study as well as point to the research gap that this study should fill.

Bjerke and Al-Meer (1993) considered the cultural factors affecting management decisions in Saudi Arabia, with the areas of decision-making including the adoption of CRM. Leadership and organisational culture are important in the adoption of CRM. Bhuian (1997) explored the market orientation of Saudi Arabian firms, which have implications on the perception and behaviour of firms towards customer relations.

Jannadi and Al-Saggaf (2000) studied the measurement of service quality in Saudi Arabia with quality encompassing the considering of customer requirements and fulfilment of consumer demand. These necessitate customer relations achieved through CRM adoption.

Al-Tawil (2001) the state of Internet use in Saudi Arabia together with the problems in connectivity and use by firms to reach out to online consumers. The results explain the difficulties encountered by firms in adopting and using CRM technology. Al Ashban and Burney (2001) focused on the customer side by determining the perception of customers towards the tele-banking services.

The data showed the extent of disparity between the expectations of consumers towards electronic services and the use of banks of electronic tools to service its customers and build customer relations. Abdul-Muhmin and Alzamel (2001) investigated perceptions of retailers towards the system of electronic payment and its related services in Saudi Arabia and found that large firms widely use the system when compared to small firms and the large firms report lesser problems relative to small firms. The study explains differences in technology adoption and use by large and small firms with implications on the adoption of CRM technology.

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Saudi Arabia Critique Essay

Table of contents

Saudi Arabia is a deeply conservative country in the Middle East rooted in Islamic laws and traditions that degrade women in the society. The laws have roots in both the traditions and Islam. And to a large extent, the country has suffered slow growth as only half of its economy is productive.It is evident that when women are empowered there will be a tremendous growth in the economy, and as such, gender parity should be perceived as a moral obligation which will stimulate economic stability and give women a chance out of social bondage.

WHY THE LAWS SHOULD BE CHANGED

There is a great need for the country to adjust its laws to accommodate all the citizens, both male and female. The kind of discrimination and social degradation women face is the worst ever. Women are forced to obtain permission from men, including from their sons to be able to travel, get jobs and enroll for higher education. Even after the progress which had been made during the colonial period, the country has found itself back to its original position,at work places, the education sectors and leadership.

For the women, discrimination has become the norm. During job applications and recruitments, they don’t get the same opportunities as men (Vogelstein, 2018). With the men’s narrow conservative perception, women are even denied promotions, others dismissed. Thus, this has led to constant disputes with their male colleagues.

The result being slow progress in their personal development stemming adverse realities for them. This perspective doesn’t regard women as having the necessary skills and abilities for pursuing leadership roles although there are economic reformations, there are still numerous challenges.The academic leadership roles of women has been crippled by organizational and administrative challenges they face in their work environment (Alsubh, 2018).

Women are barred from taking superior positions due to lack of their training and education. This coupled with inadequate financial allocation and patriarchal mindset has affected women leadership, which directly impacts on the institutional achievement. Other challenges hindering their capabilities are caused by uncooperative behavior of their subordinates, excess workload with very long working hours due to absence of positional power.Most women trying to break away from the societal norms and expectations find themselves in very tight schedules(Alsubh, 2018).

They are expected to take charge of their families. This translates to less time attending to work, in severe cases a promotion may lead to separation from her family.Some opt to drop their jobs altogether. With constrains in time, they are barely able to get enough experience. Most cannot withstand the pressure and end up with low self-confidence, thereby unable to adapt to the dynamics of work environment. This significantly bars implementation of the strategic leadership technique.

More than often, over the years, the workplace has always been considered to be a masculine domain(Alsubh, 2018). Men are perceived to be more productive than women, which has created conflicts among women and fellow workers or even their bosses. Women are made to appear unfit and even within the right qualifications they still find it hard convincing their seniors. Sadly, most loose the opportunities. Women empowerment is therefore suppressed.

CONCLUSION

Saudi Arabia having developed its laws from Islamic laws and traditions, is a highly patriarchal society where women are utterly discouraged from formal jobs in the public sphere. For the better part of history, this has been the story over and over again. The government has finally come to terms with the fact that it cannot develop without the input from women, thus it’s in the process of creating a friendlier environment for the women, although amidst challenges. Women are also citizens who need equal opportunities just like men,

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Saudi Arabia, SoftBank Aim to Be World’s Top Tech Investor With $100 Billion Fund

Saudi Arabia and Japan’s SoftBank Group will create a technology investment fund that could grow as large as $100 billion, making it one of the world’s largest private equity investors and a potential kingpin in the industry.

The move is part of a series of dramatic business initiatives launched by Riyadh this year as Saudi Arabia, its economy hurt by low oil prices, deploys huge financial reserves in an effort to move into non-oil industries.

Earlier this year, it invested $3.5 billion in U.S. ride-hailing firm Uber, surprising many.

SoftBank, a $68 billion telecommunications and tech investment behemoth, has also been stepping up investment in new areas. It agreed to buy U.K. chip design firm Arm Holdings in July in Japan’s largest ever outbound deal.

Saudi Arabia’s top sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), will be the lead investment partner and may invest up to $45 billion over the next five years while SoftBank expects to invest at least $25 billion.

Several other large, unnamed investors are in active talks on their participation and could bring the total size of the new fund up to $100 billion, SoftBank said.

“Over the next decade, the SoftBank Vision Fund will be the biggest investor in the technology sector,” SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son said in a statement.

At an annual rate of $20 billion, the new London-based fund could at current levels account for roughly a fifth of global venture capital investment.

In the year to September, venture capital-backed companies globally raised $79 billion, according to data from KPMG and CB Insights, with tech start-ups attracting the lion’s share of that cash.

“Son is very good at looking for companies with big growth prospects, and that will create fierce competition,” said Hiroyuki Kuroda, secretary general of the Venture Enterprise Center in Japan.

The project will be led for SoftBank by Rajeev Misra, the group’s head of strategic finance and who joined the Japanese firm in 2014 from Fortress Investment Group, a private equity and hedge fund group. PIF will engage its own team.

Investment power

Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, leading an economic reform drive in the kingdom, has revealed a string of high-profile investment plans this year.

He aims to expand the PIF, founded in 1971 to finance development projects in the kingdom, from $160 billion to about $2 trillion, making it the world’s largest sovereign fund.

In June, the PIF departed from Saudi Arabia’s traditional strategy of low-risk investments and took a step into the tech world with the Uber investment.

That deal which illustrated how Riyadh now hopes to use its investments to develop the economy: Uber is a popular form of transport for Saudi women, who are banned from driving, and is creating badly needed non-oil jobs for Saudi citizens.

SoftBank, a diverse company with stakes from U.S. carrier Sprint to e-commerce giant Alibaba, is also changing, shifting towards cutting edge tech investments after Son scrapped retirement plans in July and announced plans to reinforce “SoftBank 2.0”. It is still wrestling with a $112 billion debt pile and the turnaround of Sprint.

“SoftBank has been looking to invest aggressively in the internet of things, and this fund is part of that wider move,” said Naoki Yokota, analyst at SMBC Friend Research Center Ltd.

(Reporting by Andrew Torchia and Tom Wilson; Additional reporting by Sami Aboudi in Jerusalem, Ali Abdelatti in Cairo, William Maclean in Dubai and Eric Auchard in Frankfurt; Writing by Clara Ferreira-Marques; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

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The Economy in Saudi Arabia

Nitaqat, the Localization System for Jobs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: cause for denial of job opportunities for expatriates Guiding Principle In order to reduce the unemployment rate among the Saudi citizens, the Saudi government issued a new system for the localization of jobs in Saudi Arabia under the name of “Nitaqat”. The new system replaces the system applied since 1994 under the name of “The Saudization”. Nitaqat adopts several principles, which will have impacts on non-Saudis working in the Kingdom.

A. Introduction The economy in Saudi Arabia – as it is the case in other states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – depends largely on the existence of a large proportion of expatriates1 working for various establishments in the private and public sector. However, unlike the other states of the GCC, Saudi Arabia has large number of unemployed citizens2, which creates a state of resentment among those citizens. B. The Saudization

In an attempt to reduce the unemployment rate among the citizens, the Saudi government applied a system in 1994 for the localization of jobs under the name of “The Saudization“. The basic principal of the system was the requirement to appoint certain percentage of the total workforce of all the establishments existing in the Kingdom from the Saudi citizens. This percentage varies in accordance to the activity of the establishment. Generally the percentage was fixed by 30%.

However, due to several reasons, the system did not achieve the desired objectives and mostly the 30% has not been reached. Now, more than 6. 5 million non-Saudi are working in the private sector of the Kingdom compared to 700 thousand Saudis. In addition, more than 2 million work visas were issued during the preceding two (2) years. C. Nitaqat Therefore, the Saudi government has endeavoured to find other solutions to eliminate the phenomenon of unemployment among Saudi nationals. The efforts of the government resulted in the implementation of several strategies.

The most important of these strategies was the issuance of a new system under the name “Nitaqat” for localizing the jobs in the Kingdom to replace the system of Saudization. The name Nitaqat means Ranges in Arabic, which actually represents the main idea of the new system as the main obstacles faced the previous system that it was not practical to apply one fixed percentage, regardless of the particular circumstances of each activity, such as the availability of the qualified manpower for certain activities.

Nitaqat divides the labour market into 41 activities and each activity into 5 sizes (Giant, Large, Medium, Small and Very Small) to have in total 205 categories. The performance of the establishment in the localization of the jobs is to be evaluated compared with the similar establishment’s activity and size in order to have fair standard for the evaluation After the evaluation, Nitaqat classifies these establishments into ranges (Excellent, Green, Yellow and Red) based on the ratio of the citizens working in the establishment.

The Excellent and Green range, which are the ranges with the highest localization ratios, will be rewarded, while the system deals firmly with the Red range, which is the range with the lowest localization ratio and gives more time for the Yellow range to adjust their positions, being the medium range. The motive of applying the Nitaqat system is to make the appointment of Saudi citizens represent a competitive advantage for the establishments in the Kingdom. D.

The Rewards to the Excellent and Green Ranges and the Disadvantages of the Red and Yellow Ranges. The MoL has granted the establishments located in the Excellent or in the Green Ranges several advantages by giving the establishments the eligibility to issue work visas for the development of new business. Furthermore the MoL will give them the ability to contract with non-Saudi workers from the establishments of the Red and the Yellow ranges in the Saudi market, which allows such establishments to benefit from their experience and presence.

This will result in granting the establishments that have achieved high rates of localization the opportunity to appoint non-Saudi workers with no need to issue new work visas, which helps to rationalization the recruitment and employment of additional non-Saudi labor. In contrast, the establishments located in the Red or in the Yellow range will be forced to speed the localization of the jobs within the establishments to upgrade their range to the Green or the Excellent range to maintain the expats they have.

Otherwise, the establishments located in these ranges – Red and Yellow ranges – will be denied from obtaining new or alternative visas, lose control over the non-Saudi workers in the establishment as they will have the freedom of contract with a new employer and will not be allowed to obtain new work visas to appoint new-non-Saudis workers or to set up a new subsidiary or branch. DOHA: Thousands of Asian expatriates in Saudi Arabia are facing the prospect of unemployment and deportation with the Saudi government going ahead with its job nationalisation drive, called Nitaqat.

This has sent shockwaves across the tiny south Indian state of Kerala, which has more than half-a-million of its people working in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi authorities are cracking down on companies that have failed to achieve a job nationalisation target, the deadline for which passed last Wednesday. Law enforcement officials have reportedly booked a large number of expatriates for violating the residency law over the past week and many more are expected to be declared illegal residents.

The labour ministry has identified about 250,000 small and medium-sized enterprises that have failed to comply with the Nitaqat provision of employing at least one Saudi national in the ‘red’ category. The deadline for complying with the provision passed on March 27, said a report carried by Khaleej Times yesterday. According to Nitaqat provisions, the ministry will not renew work permits of employees in the ‘red’ category. This means they will have to leave the country. The Saudi cabinet has already passed a law to arrest and deport such workers.

According to Saudi newspapers, about two million expatriates are likely to lose their jobs as a direct result of implementation of the Nitaqat policy. The workers are mainly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Egypt, Yemen, and Indonesia. Indians constitute the largest chunk of expatriates in Saudi Arabia, and among them Keralites are the largest group. According to a recent study by Kerala-based Centre for Development Studies, the number of Keralites in Saudi Arabia in 2011 was 574,739, said the daily.

Nitaqat will hit Keralites the hardest as a substantial number of them are working in small and medium-sized enterprises. The majority of Keralites in Saudi Arabia are from the northern Malabar region of the state, said the report. Kerala yesterday urged the Indian government to intervene in the matter so that Saudi Arabia takes a liberal approach to implementing the Nitaqat policy. The new policy might lead to denial of job opportunities to a large number of expatriates from India, especially from Kerala, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It has come to my notice that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has initiated strong steps to implement the Nitaqat law to expand employment avenues for its nationals, which may ultimately lead to the denial of job opportunities for expatriates,” he said. Conceding that there were limits to Indian intervention in internal policy decisions of Saudi Arabia, Chandy said: “but an appeal to the Saudi Arabian authorities to give more time for the implementation of Nitaqat may give breathing space for the expatriates and avoid immediate repercussions. ” ::::::::ARTICLES:::::::

What Nitaqat means for Kerala:::: By P M Mathew 13th April 2013 07:25 AM The Nitaqat (classification) law being implemented by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia makes it mandatory for Saudi Companies to reserve 10 per cent of jobs for Saudi nationals. Saudi Arabia has very strong socio-economic reasons to justify such a policy. Unlike other gulf countries Saudi Arabia itself has large number of unemployed citizens. According to recent estimates the unemployment rate among Saudi nationals has reached 12 per cent. It is also reported that more than 6. million non-Saudis are working in the private sector of the Kingdom compared to 7,00,000 Saudis. In 2012 there were 3,40,000 firms in the Kingdom that did not employ any Saudi. Of late there is a growing feeling of resentment among the citizens of Saudi Arabia resulting from the labour market competition they face from expatriate workforce. The Nitaqat law is aimed at eliminating unemployment and localising jobs in the Kingdom. Nitaqat seeks to replace the 1994 scheme of Saudization which required 30 per cent of the jobs to be reserved for Saudi citizens.

Saudization scheme failed due to the inherent loopholes in the system and the targeted 30 per cent localisation of jobs could not be achieved. The new law, Nitaqat, divides the Saudi labour market into 41 activities and each activity into 5 sizes (Giant, Large, Medium, Small and Very Small) to have in total 205 categories. Nitaqat classifies establishments into ranges (Excellent, Green, Yellow and Red) based on the ratio of the citizens working in the establishment. The Excellent and Green range, which are the ranges with the highest localisation ratios, will be rewarded with incentives.

The new law proposes to deal firmly with the Red range, the range characterised by the lowest localisation ratio. More time is given to the Yellow range to improve their positions, it being the medium range. The most recent additions to the Nitaqat law that an expatriate worker should work only under his sponsor and the worker is not meant to perform any job other than the one mentioned on his job card have raised much panic among the expatriate workers. More over the Saudi government has increased the fee for renewing labour cards (iqamas) to SAR2, 500 from SAR100.

The strict implementation of the Nitaqat law recently has raised much concern in Kerala. Majority of the Indian migrant labour in Saudi Arabia are from Kerala. In 2011, some 5,70,000 Keralites were working in Saudi Arabia. Though the impact of Nitaqat would be on less than 3 per cent of this migrant population remittances by them were consistently contributing to the economy of the state, especially to the northern districts of Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargode. The inflow of remittance payments from Saudi Arabia has considerably raised living standards in these districts.

Saudi Arabia continues to be the most desired destination among the low and semi-skilled Keralites. The strict adherence to the Nitaqat regulations will result in immediate job losses and reduced job opportunities. Many small scale shops and establishments in Saudi Arabia are run by Keralites under licences in the names of Saudi nationals. Now all such shops and establishments must have 10 per cent of their employees from among Saudi nationals who should be paid at least 3 times more salary than their expatriate counterparts. It is almost impossible now to run companies on the licences given to Saudi nationals.

Strict actions are being taken against benami businesses. Most shops run by Keralites are already closed. The impact of the crackdown on illegal foreign workers in Saudi Arabia will have serious consequences for Kerala’s economy. The sudden exodus of the unemployed could trigger off economic crisis and social unrest in the state. The sudden fall in remittances from Saudi Arabia may lead to a ripple effect on interlinked sectors like real estate, construction, transport, etc. The problems will be much more if other gulf nations too emulate the Saudi policy.

The job losses and reduced job opportunities are expected to aggravate in the coming days since Saudi labour ministry has reconsidered the liberal sponsorship rules that are prevailing. Under the Inspection Intelligent Scheme (IIS) inspection of company premises and residences of free visa holders are being intensified. Most raids at labour camps are unannounced. The government also issued an order that iqama (labour card) violators will be arrested in raids. On an emergency basis both the central and state governments must plan out strong rehabilitation packages for the unemployed Saudi returnees.

The assistance offered for safe return and sponsoring the air fares of the returnees are all short term relief measures by the Government of India. The most recent announcement by the Saudi administration that Nitaqat inspections will be temporarily stopped for 3 months to allow illegal immigrants to legalise their stay in Saudi Arabia is to be viewed only as a temporary relief. Ryadh governor’s recent order of deferring the process of catching illegal migrants in Riyadh also provides some temporary relief to the illegal migrants.

Given the proven strictness of the Saudi administration, the statements made by Kerala ministers that the expatriates need not panic and that the issue could be bilaterally solved by dialogue with Saudi authorities are not providing much hope to expatriates. According to leading immigration trend analysts in Kerala the Saudi crackdown on illegal migrants should be viewed as a blessing in disguise since it is going to open up more opportunities for the legal migrants from the state. There is no need for the legal immigrant worker to panic.

The Nitaqat effect is not just on Indians. Lakhs of illegal migrants in Saudi Arabia are from countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Egypt, etc. Kerala can grab this opportunity by providing the needed skills to the future migrants and allowing them to migrate legally. Kerala must focus on more employment opportunities for its labour force. The government should also undertake massive investments in infrastructure and industrial development to boost up employment opportunities. The author is professor of economics at Christ University, Bangalore

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Problem-Posing Vignette

Understanding the Dynamics of Culture Shock as a Tool for Vignette Reflection

After I finished my Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, I taught for one year in primary school. After which, I taught in the King Saud University which relatively offers better income than my previous work. In order to upgrade my educational skills, I went to the University of Wollongong in Australia to take Masters of Education in Educational Leadership. However, since my arrival in the said university, unexpected things came up. These “unexpected” things I classified as “problems” since they were disrupting my psyche (ability to understand why things happen in such a way) and to an extent my studies. These problems ranged from the difficulty of learning English to the so-called culture shock.

Useful paragraph to set the scene

But the problem of learning English could be resolved through a thorough study of the language. This was not the case when it comes to culture shock. For one, understanding culture shock would involve a clear understanding of the cultures that the students in the university belong.

Identification of a couple of problems

When I took a taxi from the Sydney airport to my place of stay, I noticed that driving was done on the other side of the road unlike in Saudi Arabia. I really thought that I could not drive in Australia, but in due time I was able to do so. Added to that, I also noticed that many people in Australia liked to walk, unlike in Saudi, where all people have cars to use. It was pretty odd for a developed nation not to require its citizens to use cars as a mode of transportation. Maybe it was the preference of most of the people in Australia to walk than use car as a mode of transportation. Whatever the case, I was bound to examine the dynamics of this odd experience.

Detail of experience

With regard to the issue of gender, in Saudi Arabia, it is the norm that boys cannot study together with girls. In Australia, especially in the university, boys and girls are usually involved in group studies, that is, boys and girls can study together without the restriction of law or custom. One of the “greatest” culture shock that I experienced was the time when girl students of the university (my classmates) study with me. Corollary to that, I also noticed that in Australia, women can teach men on a wide variety of subjects which is generally prohibited in Saudi Arabia.

Hence, there were many times that women were teaching me; some were connected to my subjects, others issues essential to my field of specialization. Lastly, I really thought that books in Australia are much cheaper than in Saudi Arabia. But such was not the case. Books in Australia are actually more expensive compared with the books in Saudi Arabia. I was really caught up on this experience since Australia being a developed country can afford its citizens cheap books, but it was not the case (thinking that since Australia encourages promotes education at all levels, it necessarily follows that it will provide cheap educational materials). More detail of experience

Now, my primary concern was to how to adapt or at least understand the justification of my experience. Since I came from a different cultural setting, it was hard for me in the start to cope up with the habits and customs of the Australian people. For an ordinary Australian or European, this is not really a problem since their cultural settings are almost similar. In Europe, boys are usually mixed with girls during study periods.

I do not know about the prices of books in Europe, but certainly it would not be a problem for the Europeans if the books in an Australian university are cheaper or more expensive than the books in a European university. Walking as a preferred mode of transportation was not really a big deal for Europeans or Asians perhaps. Most of them usually walk as in the case of major European or Asian cities. But in Saudi Arabia, things are quite different. There are laws that prohibit boys from studying with girls. Girls are also prohibited from teaching boys, and with regard to walking, the Saudi government advises its citizens to use car as mode of transportation.

Initially, I had this fear that I might not be able to interact effectively with the students of the university because I belong to a different ethnicity, but because of continued acquaintance with the students, gradually I was able to understand the justifications of the cultural setting to which I am now seating. It was really odd for me that because of continued interaction with them, the culture shock that I experienced when I first came in Australia was melting away. Indeed, almost all of the “culture shocks” were for me just common events here in Australia. Now, there are definitely reasons or justifications for events that what meets the eye in the first instance. First, it is the perception of “oddness”, and then there is understanding. I was able to conclude that continuous interaction with people who came from different ethnicities or cultural settings can help reduce culture shock.

The more one interacts and talk to people, the more one understands the concerns of those people. Nonetheless, if biases are removed in the daily interaction with people in the university, one cannot discern the true meaning of the cultural setting presented to you. As such, without much effort, my culture shock was gradually reduced. I just noticed that I was beginning to understand the dynamics of the events that I previously experienced. Reflecting on the past also helped me assessed my understanding of the issues presented to me. Thus what I did not really understand in the past was tested through real-life interaction. Thus, the things or situation I termed as “culture shock” were becoming common things for me. Now there are two questions that should be presented: “How do I absorb “culture shock”? and “How can I help my friends or anyone who wants to reduce the effect of culture shock?”

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Saudi Arabian Economy

Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab nation in Middle East Asia; Saudi Arabia has a population of more than 28 million and has an area of approximately 830,000 square miles. And has an oil-based economy with strong government control over major economic activities. Saudi Arabia possesses townie five percent of the world’s proven petroleum reserves.

When Saudi government signed agreement with standard oil of California (socal), allowing the company to explore Saudi Arabia for oil after a long search for oil that lasted around four years without success, the first success came with the seventh drill site in Dammam city in 1938. The economy of Saudi Arabia, mainly for oil, and hard it has the largest oil reserves in the world, an estimated 264. 2 billion barrels.

And occupies the first place as the largest producer and exporter of oil in the world, where it plays a leading role in the organization of petroleum exporting countries (OPEC) to produce twenty nine percent of the total production of OPEC. In addition, the biggest turning point of the Saudi economy is Ghawar, it is by far the largest conventional oil field in the world and approximately sixty percent of all Saudi oil produced between 1948 and 2000 came from Ghawar and fourth largest reserves of natural gas, 240 trillion cubic feet, one third of this reserve is found in the Ghawar field.

After explored the oil in Saudi Arabia, it become big change in the economic and government, focused on creation infrastructure, human resources development and non-oil economy, with the development of uplifting other economic activities such as handicrafts, mining and farming. For example, create and operation the cities of Jubal and Yanbu industrial create diversified economy and minimize rely on crude oil revenue Saudi Arabia economy is its response to the rapid economic variables on a global, regional and local levels Proof of this the successive jumps of the Kingdom in the standards world rankings year after year.

And the kingdom occupies fourth rank in the “financial freedom” in the world rankings and has a tax system workbook ranked seventh in the world, one of the best tax systems to spur investment. It is one of the tony five largest economies in the world, which achieved a rank 24, and the largest economy in the Middle East and North Africa.

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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the heart of the Middle East which is well known among many foreign countries for its oil production. Saudi Arabia is known as the land covered by immense deserts and insignificant amount of rainfall. The country is rich with oil and natural gas resources. At the time of its […]

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