â?˜ Marketing insight
Arab companies is a very weak lot; they lack capabilities and proper customer engagement skills, and they do not connect with the frontline staff well. Most importantly, they are not empowered at all. Of course, companies could have many other issues that stop them from emerging even among top local brands. However, for most Arab companies the main issues that stop them from emerging as global brands are purely internal. Exceptional brands All is, however, not lost in the region. There are some exceptionally successful brands from the region. Local born brands such as Emirates, Masafi, DP World, RAK Ceramics, and UAE Exchange are among them. Also, Jordan’s two strong brands, Arab Bank and Aramex, and Zain from Kuwait were able to demonstrate value to their customers and master the delivery system of their products and service to their audience, but the overall framework which is the internal system, is still the weakest link in the entire branding equation. I am a big fan of two Arabic born retail brands, Bateel, which is headquartered in Saudi
Arabia, and Patchi that started in Lebanon. The challenge now for these companies is to be more successful. The good thing is that the secret formula is no secret anymore: the road to success is quite well defined and recorded, and these companies need to just follow that path. With the way the world is going, these companies must strengthen their middle management and empower both middle and frontline personnel to provide exceptional services to customers. These brand leaders in the Arab region must emphasise on creating, implementing, reviewing, adjusting and improving their systems; their core must be strengthened, and their focus must be customers at all times. Management of businesses that wish to become a brand have the full responsibility of aligning their businesses to be consistent, focused, offer value - credible, different or specialised and genuine - to itself and to its customers, and if it can be done in a simple way, it will be more powerful. A closer look at Arab brands will tell you that the UAE is the most dominant country with regard to creating and nurturing Arabic born brands.
Brand leaders in the Arab region must emphasise on creating, implementing, reviewing, adjusting and improving their systems; their core must be strengthened, and their focus must be customers at all times. It is quite evident that the UAE provides the best environment among the regional peers for businesses to start and grow into becoming regional and, subsequently, global brands. Rules and regulations in a country do play an important role when it comes to building global brands. And so, it is imperative for Arab countries to support businesses with more flexible rules for starting and establishing businesses. Governments should also encourage training and educational resources, and provide funding for small and medium enterprises. It is important that the external environment, represented in the form of laws and regulations, should work in favour of businesses; it is crucial for Arab governments to consider growth of local businesses beyond local borders. As a matter of national interest, it should be an objective to have open markets within the region for Arab brands, which will help both the brands and the economies where the brand originated, to prosper and grow.
Zed Ayesh has over 20 years’ experience in management and business development. He is currently the managing director of Flagship Consultancy based in Dubai, and works with clients on many aspects of the business from strategic planning, business development, marketing strategies, pre-sales and sales management, across different sectors such as government agencies, real estate, media companies, manufacturing, contracting, engineering firms, retail and shipping companies.
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