Title: Sustaining trade with Saudi Arabia: an analysis of exporting as an alternative

Authors: M. Sadiq Sohail, Mohammed A. Burney

Addresses: Department of Management and Marketing, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, P.O. Box 210, 31261 Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. ' Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, P.O. Box 210, 31261 Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: Over the past decade, world trade has almost doubled from $7 trillion to more than $13 trillion, and Saudi Arabia is by far the largest trading country in the Middle Eastern region, with total trade volume in excess of $102 billion. This paper reviews the economic structure of Saudi Arabia. While Saudi Arabia has been one of the fastest growing nations in the region, it has been only since 2000 that the Kingdom has made efforts to become globally integrated. The paper discusses exports to Saudi Arabia as an appropriate entry strategy and elaborates on both challenges and opportunities for exporting companies to sustain business in this lucrative market. This paper reviews economic and market perspectives of the Saudi marketplace. It discusses important considerations for formulating guidelines for exports of goods and services to Saudi Arabia. Finally, this paper proposes a set of key strategies to enable exporting companies to enter and sustain business in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: exports; strategies; Saudi Arabia; economic structure; entry strategy; market entry; management; entrepreneurship; exporting companies.

DOI: 10.1504/WREMSD.2005.007754

World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 2005 Vol.1 No.1, pp.77 - 90

Published online: 15 Sep 2005 *

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