ALIGNING THE APPEAL OF ENTREPRENEURS TO INVESTORS: WHY IS THERE A NEED FOR AN OPTIMAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING MODULE IN THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA TO BETTER ENGAGE ENTREPRENEURS WITH INVESTORS

Little of the available funding reaches entrepreneurs and SMEs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This lack of financing ability, known as credit rationing, is mainly due to information asymmetries and is a pressing issue in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government is relying on the entrepreneurship and SMEs subsector to diversify the Kingdom’s economy away from the dominance of oil and to create jobs for young Saudis who are underemployed. This study aims to answer a question that hypothesizes that entrepreneurs need an optimal training module to understand the types of information that investors utilize in investment decisions and the type of “signals” from entrepreneurs that inspire confidence in investors. The human capital theory suggests that a quality training program can establish a skill base that will improve return on investment. The signaling theory suggests that the challenge of imperfect information can be largely overcome by training entrepreneurs to send more accurate and more targeted signals to investors regarding their character, skills, and the viability of their projects. The study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods in data collection. The research was conducted within the Saudi cities of Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam, where most of the entrepreneurial activities and SMEs development are located. It suffered some limitations due to access to data and the conservativeness of the Saudi population in responding to academic studies that affected the sample size The findings reveal that entrepreneurs with an in-depth understanding of investors’ due diligence process are more likely to invest adequately to assemble appropriate skill sets and learn to signal the characteristics that investors appreciate while tailoring their ventures and business plans to meet investors’ ideals. A training module that includes these components can be vital in overcoming credit rationing in the Kingdom. Universities, mainly business schools, may play a significant role in providing the optimal training module, with collaboration from investors. This study contributes to the literature by representing the history of the entrepreneurship and SMEs development in the Kingdom through three main periodical stages. Also, it identifies the assessment studies that international management consultants prepared to several Saudi government agencies in the subject field. This contribution is more likely to help future researchers in having more practical information about the entrepreneurship and SMEs ecosystem in the Kingdom. Furthermore, the study has implications on entrepreneurship and SMEs development stakeholders such as entrepreneurs, investors, training institutes, and regulators. Few recommendations are proposed. The study concludes with suggestions for research in related subject areas in Saudi Arabia and potentially other countries with similar economies

The potential Impact of International Franchising in Promoting and Developing Tourism Business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

This research paper aims to examine how international franchising can be a development tool for SMEs, an initiation tool for start-ups, and a strategic tool for the government and private sector in the tourism industry of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The tourism industry is a relatively new phenomenon in KSA, recognized only after the inception of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) in 2000. Since then, SCTA made great efforts and reforms to improve the economic, social, and cultural environment of the sector. However, the tourism in KSA still faces an array of obstacles, mainly related to the prevailing inadequacies of human capital and only a modest supply of services catering specifically for tourist, both in terms of quantity and quality. Therefore, the initiation of tourism industry in KSA necessitates learning from countries that have prior and intensive experience in tourism. International franchising represents a possible means of eliminating a large number of barriers preventing or dissuading people from doing business in general and in the tourism industry in particular, especially through its ability to make up for the lack of business experience and knowledge on the side of ‘newcomers’ in this industry. More specifically, this study aims to research the possibility of adopting international franchising with its proven business models that meet the international standards by the tourism industry in KSA as a systematic solution to its most persisting weaknesses. Three phases of sequential mixed methods were used to examine the potential impact of international franchising on developing tourism investment in KSA. Phase one involved qualitative research through preliminary interviews with officials and experts in the franchising and tourism sectors, to investigate the current situation of the research topic and identify the barriers and drivers of both sectors. Phase two involved quantitative research through follow up to the two questionnaires with owners/managers of franchises (n=104) and tourism businesses (n=475) to validate the initial exploration, and make an intersection between international franchising and tourism, through common questions between the questionnaires. This lead to further exploration in phase three, which examined the actual experience of international franchising in four case studies, mostly in tourism, who had converted from independent businesses to franchisees of international brands. The findings indicate that international franchising can be a development tool for SMEs and an initiation tool for start-ups in the tourism industry. This study provides evidence that international franchising can have a great impact on enhancing the intellectual capital of local businesses, including human capital, relational capital and organizational capital, as well as financial performance. The traditional tourism activities (accommodation, restaurants, cafes and travel agencies) have high potential for successful franchising in KSA. Due to the unpopularity of franchising in some activities, uncertainty appears in non-traditional tourism activities such as entertainment, resorts, training institutes, tourism guidance and tour organisers, and motorway services. The diffusion of international franchising, along with its potential impact on development, is conditional on the issuance of an independent franchise law and the lifting of some barriers related to administration, financial support and marketing in the tourism sector.The Saudi Ministry of Higher Educatio

Public diplomacy and soft power: a case study of Saudi Arabia’s image projection in the UK

Globalisation and the information technology revolution have transformed the way that diplomacy is practised. Traditional diplomacy, which has been commonly conducted between official representatives of governments, is no longer the sole source of communications that governments use to gain political influence and advantages. As an extension of traditional diplomacy, public diplomacy targets the general public in a foreign country (Melissen 2005, p. 9). A number of countries use public diplomacy to project a positive image, including presenting information to overcome the impacts of incidents that have damaged their reputations. Saudi Arabia has faced negative image perceptions, especially in the UK and other Western countries (Al-Ahmady, 1995), (Al-Qarni 2006, 2007). This study aims to enrich the scientific debate on public diplomacy by examining the public perception of Saudi Arabia and to provide practical recommendations on improving its public image, especially in the UK. It is hoped that the critique of current public diplomacy policies will benefit legislators and policymakers across the world in addressing negative image perceptions. Recent studies on the impact of public diplomacy on a country’s public image have tended to focus on great power states; there is scant literature on effective public diplomacy from regional powers, such as Saudi Arabia, and the extent to which public diplomacy can be used to improve a regional power’s image, hence the need for this study. This thesis study suggests that Saudi Arabia needs to reinforce and secure its foreign relations, especially with great powers, by explaining itself more effectively in order to be better understood and to increase cooperation with the outside world to promote universal values and world order. Saudi Arabia also needs to be more transparent to the outside world, not through propaganda, but through a true reflection of its reality, which will need to be developed by accelerating domestic reform. It is therefore recommended that Saudi Arabia continue its ongoing public diplomacy efforts towards improving its image but should also consider more-creative approaches and strategic planning to pursue this objective