Doha - "Competitiveness has to become part of the business philosophy of the Arab world, and it is up to us, established businesses, to lead this process by example," said Issa Abdul Salam Abu Issa, Chairman and CEO of Salam International Investments, at the Arab World Competitiveness Roundtable.
Discussing the impact of global growth and its inherent risks for Arab competitiveness, Abu Issa pointed out the role of socio-economic, cultural and geographic difference and the risks they pose for Arab economies expanding worldwide.
He was speaking at the World Economic Forum, the highly acclaimed Arab World Competitiveness Roundtable which concluded this week. This is the second time that Salam International has been one of the Roundtable's sponsors.
Citing the experience of the expansion process of Salam International, one of the oldest family group businesses originating from Qatar, Abu Issa warned of the risks related to lack of well defined company vision, strategy and structure, insufficient talent and underestimation of legalities and due diligence.
"We anticipated and faced a number of risks in the process of our growth and tried to approach them according to best practices. This was helpful, but we ended up having to adapt these best practices to local conditions," he said.
Salam's success story is one of the best examples of Qatar's economic boom. The expansion experience of the Salam Group dates back to 1967 when the company, which started in 1952 with a single commercial operation in Doha, opened its first overseas branch in the UAE. Today Salam International operates in 10 markets and became one of the first family businesses in the region to go public.
According to Abu Issa, competitiveness is part of the company's corporate strategy and mission statement. He pointed out that Salam's approach is to seize strategic growth opportunities both in existing core businesses and through mergers and acquisitions.
"Our ambition is to become one of the most successful diversified public-shareholding companies in the Middle East, an inspiring example for regional family groups," he added.
© The Peninsula 2007
