Dallah Al-Baraka
Dallah Al-Baraka, which was founded in 1969, is a Saudi Conglomerate that was established by Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel. It started as a maintenance and cleaning services company, and later diversified its operations to include construction. Through winning contracts with the Saudi Ministry of Defense and Aviation, the company grew very fast and made extensive diversifications. Currently, the company is involved in construction, media, Islamic banking, insurance, finance, tourism and real estate. The group now has annual revenue of more than US$5000 million, with more than 40000 employees. Based on these figures, this company is considered as one of the biggest companies in the Arab world (Pederson 2008). The following is a description of how the company manages technological, environmental, economic and legislative changes.
Technological changes
The company manages technological changes by expanding the IT department and other technologically sensitive departments, so as to be able to cope up with technological changes. The company keeps itself updated with the latest technology, by purchasing new computer softwares and machines, and employing new specialists to handle the new technologies.
Environmental changes
Some of the activities which Dallah Al-Baraka is involved in, such as construction and tourism activities, directly affect the environment. These activities are also affected by the environment directly or indirectly. To deal with environmental changes, this company employs and sometime hires environmental experts, who advise the company on the way forward. The construction wing of the company carries out extensive environmental impact assessments, before initialization of a project to ensure that it complies with environmental rules and regulations.
Economic changes
Dallah Al-Baraka is a very professional company and employs or hires specialists to handle its businesses in all the sectors that the company has interests. Economic changes in most cases are brought about by changes in market forces of demand and supply. To deal with market variations, the company has financial analysts and economists, who professionally analyze future trends and advise the company accordingly on the way forward. This prevents the company from making investments mistakes which may result to huge losses.
Legislation changes
To control economic trends and maintain stability in the economy, the government keeps on enacting new legislations and adjusting existing ones to accommodate new economic changes. The businesses that Dallah Al-Baraka is involved in, directly affect or are affected by changes in the economy and so, to manage this sensitivity of its businesses, the company employs or hires legal experts, who advice the company on the way forward. When new legislations are made for example in the construction industry, the company adjusts its workforce and way of operations to accommodate the new developments, without affecting the stability of its businesses (Siddiqi & Hrubi 2008).
AlFaisalia Group
AlFaisalia Group is a conglomerate based in Saudi Arabia. It was established in 1970 by Abdullah al Faisal, who was King Faisal’s eldest son. This company has invested in many sectors including food and beverage, consumer electronics, Multimedia and chemicals among others. Currently, the company has over 5000 employees, with annual revenue of about US$800 million. AlFaisalia Group is one of the largest companies in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world in general (Rice & Sandikca 2011). The following is a detailed analysis of how the company manages technological, environmental, economic and legislative changes.
Technological changes
The company manages technological changes by adjusting its departments, so as to be able to accommodate the technological changes. The company extensively employs information technology in its operations, and this has greatly helped the company in accommodating new developments. The company has researchers who are constantly researching on different things, and this therefore keeps the company updated with state of the art technology.
Environmental changes
Some of the businesses which the AlFaisalia Group is involved in, such as food and chemicals, directly affect the environment or are affected by the environment. To deal with changes in the environment, this company employs or hires environmental experts who advise the company on the best ways of dealing with the changes. For example, the chemical business which the company is involved in, is very sensitive to the environment and the company recognizes this. To handle this environment sensitive business, the company has experts who advise it on the best strategies to employ, so as to avoid huge losses as a result of poor decisions. These experts carry out environmental impact assessments and other activities regularly, to avoid any damage that may be caused by its business activities.
Economic changes
The AlFaisalia Group acknowledges professionalism and due this, it employs or hires experts to handle its businesses. Changes in market forces of demand and supply in most cases directly affect the economy. To deal with the instability of the markets, the AlFaisalia Group employs financial analysts and economists, who advice the company on the best business strategies and practices in to deal with such situations. Also, the company ensures that there is flexibility of its structures, and this makes it easy to adjust to any new developments.
Legislation changes
Legislations concerning economic trends are constantly made by the bodies concerned, to maintain stability in the economy, and accommodate new economic changes. The AlFaisalia Group is involved in capital intensive businesses, which are directly affected by changes in the economy. To maintain stability and growth amidst changes in legislations, the company employs or hires legal and economic experts, who advice the company on the way forward. For example, when new legislations are made in the chemicals industry, the company adjusts its operations and strategies to accommodate the new developments, while maintaining stability of its business interests (Shoult 2006).
References
Pederson, JP 2008, International Directory of Company Histories, Gale, Green Haven.
Rice, G & Sandikca, O 2011, Handbook of Islamic Marketing, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham.
Shoult, A 2006, Doing business with Saudi Arabia, GMB Publishing Ltd, London.
Siddiqi, A & Hrubi, P 2008, Islamic Investments Funds versus Hedge Funds, GRIN Verlag, Munich.