Multinationals face pressure to relocate headquarters to Saudi Arabia(ft.com)
ft.com
Multinationals face pressure to relocate headquarters to Saudi Arabia
https://www.ft.com/content/3a93b6a6-dbec-4cc7-98e5-a37804fe3fa6
41 コメント
What a joke. Terrible news for gay staff and women. Plus the costs of trying to get any one to move their would be insanely high.
Small potatoes for the Saudis. They don’t expect either to hold high positions.
Except multinationals have to convince people to move there, and why would I do that? If by expense, you mean to higher salaries and bonuses I’ll require to live there, then yes.
Except multinationals have to convince people to move there, and why would I do that? If by expense, you mean to higher salaries and bonuses I’ll require to live there, then yes.
Paywall that I can't cross, but I assume this is the ultimatum discussed:
> "Saudi Arabia announced late Monday that by 2024 its government would cease doing business with any international companies whose regional headquarters were not based within the kingdom."
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/16/targeting-dubai-saudi-arabia...
> "Saudi Arabia announced late Monday that by 2024 its government would cease doing business with any international companies whose regional headquarters were not based within the kingdom."
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/16/targeting-dubai-saudi-arabia...
Most companies treat the Middle East as appendages of Europe (EMEA == Europe, Middle East and Africa).
Good luck getting staff to move from London, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam etc headquarters to the soul-crushing wasteland that is Saudi Arabia. Dubai, perhaps, but Saudi? Most would resign outright, and I can’t blame them.
Good luck getting staff to move from London, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam etc headquarters to the soul-crushing wasteland that is Saudi Arabia. Dubai, perhaps, but Saudi? Most would resign outright, and I can’t blame them.
A "move to saudi arabia" ultimatum would be treated as constructive dismissal at least in much of europe, so even more so the companies will need to pay out whatever they would be contractually or legally obliged to in case of a layoff, too.
I have to call BS on that announcement. I am very sure that the SA government will continue to do business with microsoft, lockheed martin and a thousand other "international companies" with regional headquarters outside the kingdom. There may be a translation issue. I suspect they mean to say all companies must maintain an office in the kingdom, the HQ for the "region" that is SA.
Alternatively, the saudi government moves to Solaris because Oracle will run an office in the country if they buy enough Oracle Cloud licenses.
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Ah, yes! Also, Hover works great if you’re so inclined: https://github.com/hover-inc/hover-paywalls-browser-extensio...
Thanks for this - very useful!
I can confirm this works with Opera, too. Not with drag and drop, but with the "load unpacked" button in developer mode.
I can confirm this works with Opera, too. Not with drag and drop, but with the "load unpacked" button in developer mode.
Yeah, good luck with that. The Saudis are justly infamous for making all sorts of impractical pronouncements and quietly letting them fall through.
See also, King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh (all financial companies to move here, except they didn't), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology near Jeddah (new world-class university with the best brains money can buy, except it's not), the "smart city" Neom being built near the Jordanian border (mostly vaporware), etc etc.
See also, King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh (all financial companies to move here, except they didn't), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology near Jeddah (new world-class university with the best brains money can buy, except it's not), the "smart city" Neom being built near the Jordanian border (mostly vaporware), etc etc.
> King Abdullah University of Science and Technology near Jeddah (new world-class university with the best brains money can buy, except it's not)
I don't often get the chance to tell this, but I was - through a series of strange circumstances - briefly involved with the initial set-up of that university and I got so many war stories out of it.
This included:
* The contractors built the on-campus housing without drainage (...although money was allocated for drains, it somehow went "missing"). There was a rainstorm right before campus opening and most of the housing was destroyed.
* During the same rainstorm very expensive IBM supercomputer was partially destroyed. It transpired contractors had drilled through the damp-proof coursing above whilst fixing a light.
* A number graduate students were arrested in the first few months for fraternising outside of campus (inside the campus most morality laws didn't apply, but once you left you were on your own)
* One of the chemistry labs did a roaring trade in sid (the local arabic for hooch) amongst the faculty and staff
* Getting absolutely anything done relied on "wasta", which kind of translates as "clout", but encompasses a bunch of things including nepotism, who you know, and your skin color (Saudi, like much of the Middle East, suffers from significant racism. Faculty and staff who looked Indian or Pakistani had a very rough time of it).
I don't often get the chance to tell this, but I was - through a series of strange circumstances - briefly involved with the initial set-up of that university and I got so many war stories out of it.
This included:
* The contractors built the on-campus housing without drainage (...although money was allocated for drains, it somehow went "missing"). There was a rainstorm right before campus opening and most of the housing was destroyed.
* During the same rainstorm very expensive IBM supercomputer was partially destroyed. It transpired contractors had drilled through the damp-proof coursing above whilst fixing a light.
* A number graduate students were arrested in the first few months for fraternising outside of campus (inside the campus most morality laws didn't apply, but once you left you were on your own)
* One of the chemistry labs did a roaring trade in sid (the local arabic for hooch) amongst the faculty and staff
* Getting absolutely anything done relied on "wasta", which kind of translates as "clout", but encompasses a bunch of things including nepotism, who you know, and your skin color (Saudi, like much of the Middle East, suffers from significant racism. Faculty and staff who looked Indian or Pakistani had a very rough time of it).
>The contractors built the on-campus housing without drainage
Reminds me of 2009 Dubai rivers of shit fiasco.
Reminds me of 2009 Dubai rivers of shit fiasco.
> Reminds me of 2009 Dubai rivers of shit fiasco.
Link, please.
Link, please.
https://www.greenprophet.com/2011/11/burj-khalifa-poop/
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-har...
>"It started like this. We began to get complaints from people using the beach. The water looked and smelled odd, and they were starting to get sick after going into it. So I wrote to the ministers of health and tourism and expected to hear back immediately – but there was nothing. Silence. I hand-delivered the letters. Still nothing."
The water quality got worse and worse. The guests started to spot raw sewage, condoms, and used sanitary towels floating in the sea. So the hotel ordered its own water analyses from a professional company. "They told us it was full of fecal matter and bacteria 'too numerous to count'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pQdjwliLMA
I think there also might of been some BBC documentary shooting raw shit flowing down the street among glimmering sky scrapers, plus you cant ignore the aroma of the city overall.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-har...
>"It started like this. We began to get complaints from people using the beach. The water looked and smelled odd, and they were starting to get sick after going into it. So I wrote to the ministers of health and tourism and expected to hear back immediately – but there was nothing. Silence. I hand-delivered the letters. Still nothing."
The water quality got worse and worse. The guests started to spot raw sewage, condoms, and used sanitary towels floating in the sea. So the hotel ordered its own water analyses from a professional company. "They told us it was full of fecal matter and bacteria 'too numerous to count'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pQdjwliLMA
I think there also might of been some BBC documentary shooting raw shit flowing down the street among glimmering sky scrapers, plus you cant ignore the aroma of the city overall.
maybe it was lost in translation, as in "drain this money" :P
I'd love to hear more specifics if you have em! I have a fascination with that kind of incompetence and the reasons for it.
all in all, was it worth it? I remember hearing about pay being incredibly high if one was wiling to adhere to the customs of the culture and live in the environment some may not want to.
I was quite young and inexperienced at the time, and it turned out I was actually underpaid for the role. I ended up leaving after about six months.
That being said, there’s very little income tax in Saudi, so yes - you can be paid well.
I don’t regret my time in Saudi - it was an eye opening experience and I learned a lot, and met many fascinating people (both local and expat) - but I don’t know if I’d recommend someone pursue a career t ere.
That being said, there’s very little income tax in Saudi, so yes - you can be paid well.
I don’t regret my time in Saudi - it was an eye opening experience and I learned a lot, and met many fascinating people (both local and expat) - but I don’t know if I’d recommend someone pursue a career t ere.
Wow, that could also be the UAE to a letter.
REGIONAL. Not global headquarters. Still jarring but about 10x less
Multinationals operating in the Middle East all put their HQs in Dubai for a reason. Just about everything in Saudi, including things like getting a business visa to enter the country, is a nightmare if you don't have the right connections (wasta).
I've been taking many DEI trainings at Google. I'm wondering how that will work at a Google Riyadh office.
Is DEI a global truth? Does it survive contact with reality in KSA (and other locations that don't share western liberties)? What is the internal messaging to employees of multinationals investing so much in DEI when they work in (or travel to) KSA? Can I drive myself to the office if I'm a woman? Do I need to be escorted to work by a man? Are my questions outdated and I need to be educated on life in the KSA? What if I'm a Christian? Where can I go to Sunday Mass in Riyadh?
So many questions...
Is DEI a global truth? Does it survive contact with reality in KSA (and other locations that don't share western liberties)? What is the internal messaging to employees of multinationals investing so much in DEI when they work in (or travel to) KSA? Can I drive myself to the office if I'm a woman? Do I need to be escorted to work by a man? Are my questions outdated and I need to be educated on life in the KSA? What if I'm a Christian? Where can I go to Sunday Mass in Riyadh?
So many questions...
DEI = Diversity, equity and inclusion.
KSA= Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
(Just in case others have a hard time, it look me a moment to parse KSA as not “knowledge, skills, abilities.”)
KSA= Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
(Just in case others have a hard time, it look me a moment to parse KSA as not “knowledge, skills, abilities.”)
I’m not sure how people post publicly to a worldwide forum expecting everyone to know the meaning of acronyms. Thank you for posting these.
A varying-in-size part of everyone believes that the whole world is the 5 people closest to them.
google Riyadh KSA?
Forming that question presupposes that you know that KSA refers to a place, as opposed to e.g. an organisation or a division of alphabet
> Does it survive contact with reality in KSA (and other locations that don't share western liberties)? What is the internal messaging to employees of multinationals investing so much in DEI when they work in (or travel to) KSA?
Was that not enough information to tell, at very least, that KSA refers to a location?
Was that not enough information to tell, at very least, that KSA refers to a location?
That's not lateral thinking enough.
The point of googling is to find the relationship between "KSA" and "Riyadh".
(Aside the textual clues already mentioned)
The point of googling is to find the relationship between "KSA" and "Riyadh".
(Aside the textual clues already mentioned)
Yes to all and no to all too. The reality in the country is that all is forbidden and all comonplace at the same time. You will find laws saying women (or men) can or cannot do X but then you will also meet woman on the street doing X openly. The country is dominated by class and priviledge levels. The laws apply differently to different people. So the best question to ask is who will you be working for? Who is your employer/sponsor/protector going to be? What are thier chosen rules?
I think we all know the answer to that.
Saudis will get special treatment because they have money and oil. Their barbaric treatment of women and decades of financing terrorism (Wahhabism) will be ignored.
DEI is mostly about profit. It’s profitable in the US to virtue signal via DEI but not in KSA.
Saudis will get special treatment because they have money and oil. Their barbaric treatment of women and decades of financing terrorism (Wahhabism) will be ignored.
DEI is mostly about profit. It’s profitable in the US to virtue signal via DEI but not in KSA.
> I've been taking many DEI trainings at Google. I'm wondering how that will work at a Google Riyadh office.
Google is already hypocritical enough to virtue signal DEI stuff and then discriminating anyway in the US.
I would expect Google in the KSA to just plainly play by the local rules.
Google is already hypocritical enough to virtue signal DEI stuff and then discriminating anyway in the US.
I would expect Google in the KSA to just plainly play by the local rules.
Angering private investors is not a good long term strategy. Instead look at why Dubai became an international hub for trade?
Please come to Saudi Arabia, you may be in for a long stay in one of our nice hotels against your will.
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How long does the Gulf continue to maintain relevance in a world of Electric Vehicles?
People who think fossil fuels == making your personal automobile go vroom are willfully ignorant. Good luck growing food, transporting it to where you live, manufacturing pretty much anything or heating your home with an electric car.
The majority of new vehicles being sold today are still internal combustion based. Given they will likely last for at least 2 decades, there will be plenty of demand for petroleum in (say) 10 years :(
The post title appears to be a little misleading. It's based on the article subhead, but later in the article it clarifies that the demand is the multinationals relocate regional headquarters from places like Dubai to Saudi Arabia:
> But now some are worried that their lives, and those of their families, could be upended after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman delivered an ultimatum to multinationals: move your regional headquarters to the kingdom or forget about securing prized government contracts....
> But many executives view it as an attempt to strong-arm global companies to bend to Prince Mohammed’s will and are struggling to work out exactly what it would mean for those that have traditionally preferred to locate their regional headquarters in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Manama....
> Some executives suggest that companies may simply label an office in Riyadh a “headquarters” but Khalid al-Falih, investment minister, told Arab News, a Saudi paper, that “a superficial nameplate saying ‘this is the regional headquarters’ will not fly”.
> Falih said state contracts would be awarded only to those companies that “have their entire integrated operations here in the kingdom, from the decision making to the strategic development, to manage the execution of those government contracts”.