World Expo 2020 Dubai Case Study

World Expos which usually occur after every five years have attracted millions of visitors who come to explore as well as discover exhibitions, pavilions, as well as cultural events which are shared by different participants from different nations. All world expos act as a catalyst for cultural, economic as well as social transformations which generates vital legacies for the host cities and nations. Being an inclusive as well as a cosmopolitan nation, to host the 2020 World Expo will be a major step in the vision and development of UAE. This is because it aims to connect people with new ideas and it will have enduring benefits to the coming generations both at home and globally guided by its theme ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’.

The paper will analyze how the World Expo will connect or differ with UAE’s or Dubai’s cultural values and beliefs as it facilitates to pioneer new ideas and innovations. Being a Muslim market, dynastic and religious legitimacy have helped shaping a more unified national culture in Dubai. For instance, the government of Dubai continues like a monarchy which is constitutional and is under the rule of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Sandıkcı & Rice, 2011). The other six emirates also have their monarchies headed by an Emir (hereditary) and just like Dubai they have an elected president and a prime minister with both offices being based on hereditary lines. This makes the strength of the religious legitimacy to add to the strengths of the national culture.

The family of the Dubai emir has shaped both the cultural and financial destiny of Dubai for many decades. Though many of the western countries are politically led by democratically elected leaders, in the UAE it is monarchy form of political establishment. Both regions have had ethical values as the forces which have shaped their culture over time. Other forces which are similar in the UAE and western countries in shaping their cultures include their strong traditional customs, beliefs and their adherence to religion (Sandıkcı & Rice, 2011). Most western countries follow the Christian religion while the UAE follows the Muslim religions and the religions have helped in shaping the culture in the regions. However there are some differences in the forces that shaped the cultures in that the wealthy economy is different in the two regions.

Though the cultures of the host nation and the attending nations will differ, the countries will try to accommodate each other and they should not come with malicious intentions. In such events the delegates will each be able to get what is being said in their own language. This means that no much misunderstanding will occur if all the nations come with sole intention of finding a common ground and culture. However, there are some cultural values which the attending nations ought to adhere to. Being a Muslim city, there are some factors which should be considered like in terms of behavior and dress code. The mode of legislation in the two regions will differ and thus companies are advised to understand the political environment of Dubai before venturing into business.

The way of life differs in that in Dubai one can be jailed for kissing in public, getting drunk, extramarital affairs unlike in the west where such acts are normal. Any company investing in Dubai from the west ought to be aware of the social, cultural, economic and the political differences between its country and the UAE (Spraggon & Bodolica, 2015). Using the example of Dubai, I believe that similarities in culture may actually outweigh the cultural differences which have existed. This is in terms of doing business together as far as the future is concerned. The chosen company is Samsung Electronics Company Limited. The company started as a small export company in South Korea in 1938. The company then later ventured in to the mobile phone industry.

Today, Samsung has expanded to other industries including information, biotech and health, and convenient and comfort. This assignment will focus on the Samsung’s smartphone industry. Samsung makes smartphones that are unique in terms of the shape, hardware and software. To make a device that closely resembles or mimics a Samsung one will costly due to the costly technology required. Consequently, Samsung makes high quality devices and maintains the competitive advantage. As a result, their brand is unique and dominates the market. The second kind of innovation employed by Samsung is trying to capture the different types of markets by producing smartphones of different sizes, specifications and models. It has also led to better management since the company was divided in to different business areas and consequently different managerial sections.

The last innovation strategy is that of being a fast follower. Samsung greatly learns the market and figures out where the world is heading to. It also analyses the technologies of its competitors and figures out how they can integrate it with other technologies to produce a smartphone that is better and stronger. They have been known for doing this successively (Song and Lee, 2014). In 2013, Samsung revealed that it had come up with a new wireless technology that could transmit data faster. This technology is the one referred to as 5G. The technology is projected to deliver data that is free of error with speeds of between 256 and 512 megabytes per second. This is better compared to the current 4G LTE technology which can provide theoretical speed of 75 megabytes per second.

Since the announcement, Samsung has not employed the technology in any of their devices. Internationally, this means that Samsung will maintain its brand (quality products) and make more sales. Samsung might have to invest a lot of resources in to the technology butt the returns are likely to be great. Therefore, it is advantageous both to the company (more sales) and the consumer (faster internet speeds and safer data transfer). In conclusion, innovation is a key requirement for any firm to maintain the competitive advantage. Innovation is not limited to coming up with new products but includes improving the processes, strategies, management and other factors. Nydell, M. K. Understanding Arabs : a contemporary guide to Arab society. Boston, MA :: Nicholas Brealey Publishing,.