Is just about ready for publication.
You can see which companies are included in this year’s report here. This has been a particularly exciting report to write because there are some very clear trends developing. There are also a few new entrants to the Top 10 list. Here’s who made the Top 10 list last year.
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According to Madar Research, there were more than 26 million Arabic-speaking Internet users at the end of 2005, an increase of 50% over 2004. Although overall Internet penetration in the Arab world is still less than 10% (the UAE leads, at 8.5% penetration, followed by Qatar and Bahrain), more multinationals are now taking notice.
Still, most multionationals shy away from the Middle East because they see only hurdles — from instability to language and culture to low spending power. But there are opportunities in this region for those companies willing to take a chance and learn from the ground up.
Speaking of opportunities, Harvard Business School features an interview with professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter on her recent research on multinationals in Egypt. She says her “project looks at how the “giants” are transforming themselves in light of their continuing and increasing global scope, and what kind of impact they have on the ground, including whether and how they influence the standards of the countries in which they operate as they seek global consistency.”
PS: The February issue of Global by Design features an article on Arabizing Your Web Site.
The Wall Street Journal features two articles on business globalization and localization — from McDonald’s building drive-thrus in China to Elle publishiing a Middle East edition.
For Elle, the challenge is complex because there is no one “Middle East” market when it comes to fashion and cultural dress codes. Says the article, “Clothing customs vary widely throughout the region. In some countries like Lebanon, many of the clothes shown in Elle might be worn on the street. In others, like Iran and Saudi Arabia, they’d be reserved for private gatherings of women. Accessories, from designer shoes to handbags, scarves, sunglasses and jewelry, are permitted almost everywhere.”
McDonald’s got started in China in 1990 and plans to have 1,000 locations open by the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Roughly half of all future locations will have drive-thrus. But because this is still a new concept in China, McDonald’s is treading carefully. For its first drive-thru, it had a human taking orders rather than that garbled box we Americans have barked into for years. The larger issue is that the Chinese look at restaurants as gathering places and not pass-thru places, at least not yet. Says the article…
McDonald’s has spent much of its time in China learning to slow down from its fast-paced U.S. roots. The company’s new restaurants have Internet connections, play areas for children and special seating for their mothers, all of which are designed to reinforce their role as gathering places. “We eat McDonald’s when the kids want to,” says Luo Wenwei, a housewife from the prosperous southern town of Dongguan, who drives a Volkswagen.
Google News has added Arabic to its portfolio of 35 localized sites. This site takes a language-specific approach to the news rather than country-specific approach.
It’s getting a little crowded at the bottom of each News page…
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