Cultural Challenges in the Middle East
Broadly comprised of GCC (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman), other Middle East countries (Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iran, Iraq) and North Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Libya etc.), each regional group exhibits unique characteristics in terms of lifestyles, economic development, political and social environment.
For example, the social character of Islamic countries creates many challenges for data collection. Interviewing women is a particular challenge — especially in Saudi Arabia, the single largest market in the region. Another unique characteristic of the GCC market is the relatively high proportion of expatriates in the population. In the UAE, for example, close to 75% of the population are expatriates. Hence, marketing initiatives and the corresponding research work need to take account of this large floating population.
Instead of socio-economic classification of households (based on education and occupation), nationality has been found to prove a more accurate parameter for classification, as expatriates often continue the lifestyle patterns of their home countries. Most study samples, therefore, are designed to include quotas for these broad nationality segments.
Abu Samuel
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