I found this week’s lesson on The Middle East and specifically Saudi Arabia to be very eye opening. I felt that my previous knowledge of Saudi Arabia was focused primarily on their oil production and sharia law. Because of this I wanted to dive in deeper on an aspect I knew little about but stood out to me. This was the expansion of technology. I thought it was smart that Saudi Arabia makes it a priority to take control of their economy. They also recognized that solely oil production may not be the way forward (Penn State, n.d.). They also saw the importance of technology considering there are twice as many cell-phones as people in the country (Penn State, n.d.). Saudi Arabia understood the need to control the conversation around technology instead of letting other countries control the market share. Because of this Saudi Arabia recently “mandated the establishment of the Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence” (Mogielnicki, 2019).
This mandate is one of Saudi Arabia’s most important, which is indicative of the fact that they were given 90 days to implement these industries. Moran & Abramson (2014) discussed Saudi Arabia as having roughly 1 million immigrants working solely as technicians. A large portion of these technicians’ jobs are focused on updating technologies and services. One of the reasons for this is that Saudi Arabia is surrounded by countries focusing on advancing their technology and bringing it to the population of Saudi Arabia (Mogielnicki, 2019). Despite Saudi Arabia welcoming these tech giants to open up headquarters in Saudi Arabia, the countries refuse. This has left Saudi Arabia in the position that forces them to take their technological advancement into their own hands or lose out on a giant industry and therefore not have the desired control of their economy.
One reason that companies were hesitant to open up headquarters in Saudi Arabia was due to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi (Albergotti, 2019). The feelings on this incident has begun to change and more than 150 top executives are considering bringing business back to Saudi Arabia (Albergotti, 2019). Many believe that they can help diversify Saudi Arabia and promote cultural differences. Some experts believe that the reasoning is not as moral and due to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman trying to become less dependent on oil and more dependent on technology (Albergotti, 2019). Executives would therefore be missing out on the potential development of a vital industry in a thriving economy.
The trends in Saudi Arabia demonstrate that their desire to grow their tech industry is being supported. Their timeline is immediate instead of a slow burn, which demonstrates they understand the importance of quickly establishing themselves. Saudi Arabia is smart to see that they can not be forever dependent on the oil industry and therefore are trying to expand and grow. It is also forward thinking to know that if they don’t do anything other countries will dominate the Saudi Arabia market. It will be interesting to see the development of the Saudi Arabia tech industry. The world must keep a close eye on it considering experts in this field have seen a need to discuss and jump on board.
References:
Albergotti, R. (2019). As backlash fears fade, major firms are returning to Saudi Arabia a year after Khashoggi’s killing. Retrieved October 11th, 2019 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/as-backlash-fears-fade-major-firms-are-returning-to-saudi-arabia-a-year-after-khashoggis-killing/2019/09/30/db73829a-defb-11e9-be7f-4cc85017c36f_story.html
Mogielnicki, A. (2019). China Could Be the Big Winner of Saudi Arabia’s Race to Become a Tech Hub. Retrieved October 11th, 2019 from https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/08/saudi-arabia-racing-high-tech-hub-china-is-ready-to-join-in/.
Moran, R., Abramson, N. R. & Moran, S. (2014). Managing cultural differences (9th ed). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Penn State (n.d.). Focus on Saudi Arabia. Retrieved October 11th, 2019 from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2008449/modules/items/27026984.