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The Merchants
Book by Field, Michael
- GenresMiddle EastBusiness
371 pages, Paperback
First published May 22, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 29, 2013
Although this book is now thirty years old, it continues to provide significant insights into Saudi and Gulf Arab history and culture although it only takes the story up to the boom (for the Saudis) after the first major oil crisis.
The last three decades have, of course, seen further major developments and a new breed of technocrat and a new generation of international business leader emerge. In other words, this will not do as a definitive guide to how to do business in the region today. Arab business leaders are far more sophisticated now.
Now, assuming political crises do not get out of control, the region is on the verge of constructing a degree of regional self sufficiency that would have been unthinkable in the days when the money was being made through agencies and importing heavy equipment.
The main reason why this book is useful is that it provides an honest and sympathetic account of how the region has moved from desperately poor back water to global growth spot in an amazingly short period of time.
It also tells us a lot about how a traditional and conservative culture adapted to rapid change and about the continuities of doing business in a pre-industrial society that still survive today.
It also gives us historical insights, some of which will be of particular salience to those interested in the so-called 'war on terror' and the attempts culturally modernise Saudi Arabia in particular.
One of my personal irritations is the ignorant 'liberal' who never reads history and never studies context. The Arabian achievement is remarkable.
Development has taken place from an extremely low base and it is wrong to patronisingly assume that it was all easy money from oil. Arabs entrepreneurially grabbed the opportunities offered to them.
Both the best of the dynasts and American oil interests , especially Saudi Aramco, come out of this story well as progressive and imaginative in encouraging enterprise and, though some practices may not be to our taste, they 'worked'.
What does not come out of the story well is British business. British commerce appeared to rely on its historic control of India and its undoubtedly able political agents but it treated Arab merchants with minimal respect and this attitude seemed to persist well into the 1970s.
Things have recovered since then and attitudes have changed but it is no accident that the US-Saudi relationship is the strong one, based on mutual respect at an official and business level, much as this may pain the Israeli lobby and liberal activists.
The book gives as much space to the Gulf States as the Kingdom so that we get a surprisingly integrated picture of Arabian history and culture. This alone makes the book worthwhile.
If you are new to doing business in the region, this remains a very valuable text. Assuming that you do not fall into the habit of those Arabists who think they know more than Arabs about their own culture, a sensitive reading will help you make sensible decisions.
The last three decades have, of course, seen further major developments and a new breed of technocrat and a new generation of international business leader emerge. In other words, this will not do as a definitive guide to how to do business in the region today. Arab business leaders are far more sophisticated now.
Now, assuming political crises do not get out of control, the region is on the verge of constructing a degree of regional self sufficiency that would have been unthinkable in the days when the money was being made through agencies and importing heavy equipment.
The main reason why this book is useful is that it provides an honest and sympathetic account of how the region has moved from desperately poor back water to global growth spot in an amazingly short period of time.
It also tells us a lot about how a traditional and conservative culture adapted to rapid change and about the continuities of doing business in a pre-industrial society that still survive today.
It also gives us historical insights, some of which will be of particular salience to those interested in the so-called 'war on terror' and the attempts culturally modernise Saudi Arabia in particular.
One of my personal irritations is the ignorant 'liberal' who never reads history and never studies context. The Arabian achievement is remarkable.
Development has taken place from an extremely low base and it is wrong to patronisingly assume that it was all easy money from oil. Arabs entrepreneurially grabbed the opportunities offered to them.
Both the best of the dynasts and American oil interests , especially Saudi Aramco, come out of this story well as progressive and imaginative in encouraging enterprise and, though some practices may not be to our taste, they 'worked'.
What does not come out of the story well is British business. British commerce appeared to rely on its historic control of India and its undoubtedly able political agents but it treated Arab merchants with minimal respect and this attitude seemed to persist well into the 1970s.
Things have recovered since then and attitudes have changed but it is no accident that the US-Saudi relationship is the strong one, based on mutual respect at an official and business level, much as this may pain the Israeli lobby and liberal activists.
The book gives as much space to the Gulf States as the Kingdom so that we get a surprisingly integrated picture of Arabian history and culture. This alone makes the book worthwhile.
If you are new to doing business in the region, this remains a very valuable text. Assuming that you do not fall into the habit of those Arabists who think they know more than Arabs about their own culture, a sensitive reading will help you make sensible decisions.
April 30, 2024
Fascinating deep cut book about Arabian business culture circa 1980. Rapid evolution from a quite ancient to modern business and cultural world driven by oil discoveries and subsequent urbanization and consumerism. Many residual idiosyncrasies relative to Western norms.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews