Why is it that so many seemingly promising businesses fail within a short time of opening? The problem of the increasing numbers of failed businesses all over the Kingdom is perhaps best seen in Dammam, a city in which the main streets are in a constant state of flux resulting from the many changes in the various businesses which line the city’s streets. Signs announcing the names of businesses suddenly disappear and in no time, new signs and new businesses appear. Huge amounts of money and much effort is being wasted with very little chance of compensation simply because the people who start these businesses fail to investigate when and where to start.
It is not enough to have the money needed to start a business. Money is certainly important but a successful business needs more than just cash. There has to be some thinking behind the project; there has to be people who can plan and execute those thoughts. In the absence of proper investigations and feasibility studies, many businesses that seemed set for success are now no more than history. The problem is further complicated in that even if the investigations and studies are done, they are not taken seriously. In far too many cases, they end up filed in locked drawers, victims of red tape and bureaucracy.
In Dammam, for example, in a single year, there is nothing unusual in finding, at different times, three completely different businesses in the same location. This will serve as an indication of the alarming rate of business failures in the city. In most of the West, continuity prevails in business, with the same ones remaining in the same place for years — and if there are changes, they are usually made in the same place and are clear improvements.
The solution to this problem lies in studies and more studies. People must realize the importance of studying and planning if a business is to be established. This applies to a large factory employing scores of workers as well as a small shop employing only one or two. If the studies are not done and not heeded, then even more money and effort will be wasted and more and more businesses will appear and then just as suddenly disappear.
Arab News From the Local Press 23 February 2003
