It Governance In The Oil Based Economies Of The Gcc

Information Technology has turned indispensable to the business continuity and the competitiveness of today’s organizations. In the same way, IT governance has become essential in ensuring that IT is efficiently and effectively delivering its objectives aligned with the business. The research in this book had examined the role of IT governance in an organization in the booming economy of that period of the research (2010 -2012) by means of analyzing a case study of a state-owned organization in the oil and gas sector in the State of Qatar. Through applying qualitative research methods, the research explored the challenges, assessed the relevance of IT governance frameworks to the various contexts, identified techniques and success factors by which IT governance can achieve its objectives without hindering or slowing down the pace at which that organization was growing during that period of the study. Based on extensive research, the book explores and depicts the local business culture, the practice related to corporate and IT governance then discloses and discusses several misconceptions and misconducts observed.

Information Technology has turned indispensable to the business continuity and the competitiveness of today's organizations. In the same way, IT governance has become essential in ensuring that IT is efficiently and effectively delivering its objectives aligned with the business. The research in this book had examined the role of IT governance in an organization in the booming economy of that period of the research (2010 -2012) by means of analyzing a case study of a state-owned organization in the oil and gas sector in the State of Qatar. Through applying qualitative research methods, the research explored the challenges, assessed the relevance of IT governance frameworks to the various contexts, identified techniques and success factors by which IT governance can achieve its objectives without hindering or slowing down the pace at which that organization was growing during that period of the study. Based on extensive research, the book explores and depicts the local business culture, the practice related to corporate and IT governance then discloses and discusses several misconceptions and misconducts observed.

The ‘Arab Spring’ of 2011 has affected the countries of the region to varying degrees, including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members, comprising Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain. The GCC has become a significant regional bloc playing a vital economic and political role far beyond its shores, given its geopolitical strategic location, a preponderance of global energy reserves and a major international player through the use of accumulated financial reserves. A new Gulf is rising, one that is more self assertive, looking to expand its membership to other Arab countries such as Jordan and Morocco, while at the same time strengthening the bloc’s relationship with current and emerging trading and strategic partners in Europe, USA and Asia. Regional and international realities, especially the uncertainties unleashed by the ‘Arab Spring’, are forcing Gulf leadership to initiate new policies involving closer cooperation amongst GCC countries to address emerging challenges. This volume brings together thirty renowned academics and specialists to examine a range of multifaceted social, political and economic issues facing the GCC in key areas such as: · Diversification from a high dependency on a narrow hydrocarbon base · Social transformation, youth employment and effective gender participation · Outward and inward foreign direct investment flows · Prospects for education reforms and e-learning. · Sustainable security in oil, renewable energy (including nuclear) and food · Corporate governance, transparency and enhancing the private sector's operating environment · The role and governance of Gulf Sovereign Wealth Funds in investing their surpluses. The volume also offers insights for challenges facing the GCC in monetary union, expanding the regional debt market and Sukuk issuance, GCC intellectual property rights application, detailed assessments of individual GCC country risk analysis, as well as the sustainability of long term government fiscal stimulus programs at the expense of private sector involvement.

This is a book about the modernization of public governance and the development of strategic states. It focuses on six Gulf countries (United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait) and presents research findings from quantitative data analysis and comparative analysis of the trends and developments of the six Gulf states. The book analyses the workings of the governments of the Gulf States, including the way that they have tackled national development since the mid 1990s. This includes how their strategies for economic diversification have been reflected in trends in revenues from "oil rents" and whether they are still rentier states or not. Evidence is presented on key topics such as government strategies and long-term strategic visions. Careful consideration is given to reputational evidence and to the strategic process capabilities of the governments: integration and coordination of government machinery, mobilizing public and private stakeholders, evaluating, and adapting – all defined as strategic process capabilities. This examination of government is also used to study their performance in strategic results areas: the economy, the natural environment, and the happiness of their citizens. The countries emerge from this analysis as far from identical in terms of capabilities or in term of performance.

The ‘Arab Spring’ of 2011 has affected the countries of the region to varying degrees, including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members, comprising Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain. The GCC has become a significant regional bloc playing a vital economic and political role far beyond its shores, given its geopolitical strategic location, a preponderance of global energy reserves and a major international player through the use of accumulated financial reserves. A new Gulf is rising, one that is more self assertive, looking to expand its membership to other Arab countries such as Jordan and Morocco, while at the same time strengthening the bloc’s relationship with current and emerging trading and strategic partners in Europe, USA and Asia. Regional and international realities, especially the uncertainties unleashed by the ‘Arab Spring’, are forcing Gulf leadership to initiate new policies involving closer cooperation amongst GCC countries to address emerging challenges. This volume brings together thirty renowned academics and specialists to examine a range of multifaceted social, political and economic issues facing the GCC in key areas such as: · Diversification from a high dependency on a narrow hydrocarbon base · Social transformation, youth employment and effective gender participation · Outward and inward foreign direct investment flows · Prospects for education reforms and e-learning. · Sustainable security in oil, renewable energy (including nuclear) and food · Corporate governance, transparency and enhancing the private sector's operating environment · The role and governance of Gulf Sovereign Wealth Funds in investing their surpluses. The volume also offers insights for challenges facing the GCC in monetary union, expanding the regional debt market and Sukuk issuance, GCC intellectual property rights application, detailed assessments of individual GCC country risk analysis, as well as the sustainability of long term government fiscal stimulus programs at the expense of private sector involvement.

Abstract: The economies of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are heavily reliant on oil. Greater economic diversification would reduce their exposure to volatility and uncertainty in the global oil market, help create jobs in the private sector, increase productivity and sustainable growth, and help create the non-oil economy that will be needed in the future when oil revenues start to dwindle. The GCC countries have followed many of the standard policies that are usually thought to promote more diversified economies, including reforms to improve the business climate, the development of domestic infrastructure, financial deepening, and improvements in education. Nevertheless, success to date has been limited. This paper argues that increased diversification will require realigning incentives for firms and workers in the economies—fixing these incentives is the “missing link” in the GCC countries’ diversification strategies. At present, producing non-tradables is less risky and more profitable for firms as they can benefit from the easy availability of low-wage foreign labor and the rapid growth in government spending, while the continued availability of high-paying and secure public sector jobs discourages nationals from pursuing entrepreneurship and private sector employment. Measures to begin to address these incentive issues could include limiting and reorienting government spending, strengthening private sector competition, providing guarantees and financial support for those firms engaged in export activity, and implementing labor market reforms to make nationals more competitive for private sector employment.

As technology grows as the largest source of modern economic growth, the emergence of new models is currently challenging the standard western model of organizational management. Companies from all over the world have succeeded in creating emerging economies with these new models and are now competing with established multinational corporations. Organizational Innovation and IT Governance in Emerging Economies develops a methodological framework that supports new approaches of technological innovation by companies. This reference book provides contributions from experts in emerging economies, highlighting specific case studies of home grown companies from these emerging markets, offering lessons on how traditional multinationals can compete with these new companies for policymakers, government officers, academics, researchers, students, and practitioners.

The downhill slide in the global price of crude oil, which started mid-2014, had major repercussions across the Middle East for net oil exporters, as well as importers closely connected to the oil-producing countries from the Gulf. Following the Arab uprisings of 2010 and 2011, the oil price decline represented a second major shock for the region in the early twenty-first century – one that has continued to impose constraints, but also provided opportunities. Offering the first comprehensive analysis of the Middle Eastern political economy in response to the 2014 oil price decline, this book connects oil market dynamics with an understanding of socio-political changes. Inspired by rentierism, the contributors present original studies on Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The studies reveal a large diversity of country-specific policy adjustment strategies: from the migrant workers in the Arab Gulf, who lost out in the post-2014 period but were incapable of repelling burdensome adjustment policies, to Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, who have never been able to fulfil the expectation that they could benefit from the 2014 oil price decline. With timely contributions on the COVID-19-induced oil price crash in 2020, this collection signifies that rentierism still prevails with regard to both empirical dynamics in the Middle East and academic discussions on its political economy.