Strategic Behavior

Abstract

Family businesses are abundant in Arab countries. Gulf States are no exception. They compensate for the rather weak small business framework, the fragile stock markets, and the dominant government-owned enterprises. This is very much the case in countries as different as Morocco and Libya in North Africa, and Kuwait and Bahrain in the Gulf. Roots of family- firm dominance in Arab countries lie deep in Arab history and culture. The family was the foundation upon which networks were created and relationships established. The situation today is that where family firms represent around 92 percent of privately-held companies in the UAE. There were, in 2006, for example, 30,769 family-owned businesses in Dubai among the 56,374 totally registered with the Chamber of Commerce (Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry data; Khaleeg Times, 2006)