ALKHOBAR, 7 January 2003 — Abandon hope, all ye who press ENTER here!
Well, I have given you fair warning. My calendar asserts that it’s the New Year, but it just looks like more of the same old, same old, to me. Who’s giving out the best calendars in town? The honor goes to the new and improved Banque Saudi Fransi. Their calendar is a great color, has an attractive design and is printed on stiff card stock. Compact yearly calendars are essential in the Kingdom because all businesses track both Hejira and Gregorian dates. Having both calendars laid out on an A4 page, kept close at hand, is the only way to survive. I haven’t found any free online calendar that I like better than BSF’s paper effort, although if there is a great one out there, drop me a note about it.
Do you consider it to be theft to use corporate e-mail resources to send and receive personal e-mail? I got into an ugly exchange recently with a marketing rep named Muhammad. This guy has an unamusing habit of sending out humongous mails using his employer’s leased line and domain. I have been to the office where Muhammad works and seen a memo instructing employees not to use corporate resources for sending personal e-mail.
Over the last couple of weeks I received several very large e-mails with many attached illustrations from Muhammad. Using his office computer, he sent these messages to a long list of his acquaintances. All the e-mails were of a religious nature. I wrote a note to Muhammad in which I advised him that I considered the e-mails to be theft from his employer and told him that I didn’t want to be a part of receiving stolen services any more. Muhammad didn’t take my comments well. He advised me that, “everyone uses office e-mail for personal messages.” He stated that all his acquaintances were happy to receive e-mails from him at their offices. No one else had ever objected.
Muhammad angrily said that he won’t be sending me anymore e-mail, but he does plan to keep disseminating Islamic material to others using corporate resources. He claims it is all part of working for the greater good of Islam and that he is doing no harm by using corporate resources available in abundance. Muhammad is now convinced that he shouldn’t use the corporate domain as the address on his e-mails, but he has no qualms about using the connectivity, time and equipment at his office.
Is Muhammad stealing from his employer? I think he is. Maybe I’m overreacting, though. It is common for employees to take office supplies — pencils, paper clips, rubber bands, etc. — for personal use. I haven’t seen a lot of companies in the Kingdom objecting to such practices. Some people have pointed out to me that many people in Saudi Arabia don’t have Internet connectivity at home. Consequently, they feel that using corporate e-mail for personal use is reasonable in the Kingdom, just as using the corporate post office box as a personal postal address is standard here.
In the United States, Europe and parts of Asia, employees at many firms are banned from taking advantage of corporate connectivity for private purposes.
I have heard of Saudi firms firing employees for using corporate e-mail to send or receive pornography, but not for other personal use. I would be interested to know what Arab News’ readers in the Kingdom think about this issue. Send your views to the “personal” e-mail at the bottom of this article.
And since the availability of resources is an issue in the use of the Internet by individuals, let’s look into some figures on the growth of IT in Saudi Arabia. Madar Research Group (www.madarresearch.com) has put out quite a bit of information about IT in Saudi Arabia in the new Madar Research Journal. Some of the most interesting statistics are:
— 1,500,000 PCs and 1,600,000 Internet users in Saudi Arabia with a PC penetration of 6.38 percent and Internet penetration of 6.81 percent (August 2002).
— 4.482 million Internet users expected in the Kingdom by the end of 2005.
— Even though Saudi Arabia has a lower Internet penetration rate than some other Arab nations, as of August 2002, it had more Internet users than any other Arab nation. However, at that time Egypt was only 100,000 Internet users behind.
— While the PC penetration rate in the Kingdom is just 6.38 percent based on a population of 23,500,000; the PC penetration rate of all households in the Kingdom is thought to be 25 percent.
— The Kingdom’s mobile phone penetration in August 2002 was 17 percent. This is set to rise to 37 percent by 2006.
While there is real need for growth in the IT sector, much will depend on the Saudi economy. Madar Research is predicting average real per capita GDP to register a slight decline to $6,991 by the end of 2003. ADSL subscribers in the Kingdom are not increasing rapidly due to high costs involved not only in monthly fees but also in initial set-up fees. While mobile communication is achieving excellent growth, Madar Research feels that the increase will only continue if “current ambitious expansion plans are implemented in a timely fashion.”
PC vendors are now looking for ways to sell more hardware in the Kingdom because of the potential opportunities over the long-term. In the past, the UAE and Bahrain received more than their share of attention from IT vendors, simply because their markets were easier to reach. With economies outside the Middle East still depressed, international IT vendors urgently need to find markets with low PC penetration rates and high enough per capita GDP to be interested in absorbing significant product.
In a country like Saudi Arabia, which is a rapid adopter of mobile technology, a company such as Toshiba should do very well. The Computer Systems Division of Toshiba Europe GmbH is a world-leading vendor for mobile computing solutions. The company claims to have produced the first mobile computer in 1985. Besides notebooks, the company offers desktops and servers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa under the Toshiba brand name. Headquartered in Neuss, Germany, the Computer Systems Division of Toshiba Europe GmbH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Toshiba Corporation, the world’s eighth-largest computer and electronics company.
This firm sounds impressive. So, why isn’t the Toshiba Computer Systems brand better known in the Kingdom? It turns out that the reasons behind the slow growth of Toshiba’s sales in the Kingdom have much to do with market management from a distance, something Toshiba is now changing.
“Sales are up in Saudi Arabia since we’ve made changes in our channels,” said Ahmed Khalil, regional manager, Toshiba Middle East Operations, Computer Systems Division. “In the Kingdom in the third quarter 2002, we sold 2,700 units. This is a 20 percent market share of the notebook segment up from 4 percent a year ago. I would have to give a good part of the credit for that increase to our new consumer channel partner, Jarir Bookstores. We are pleased to work with such a dynamic group as Jarir and we hope our relationship with them will grow.”
Several representatives of higher management within Toshiba have been making frequent visits to the Middle East. Hiroshi Kurihara, vice president, Toshiba Computer Systems, Europe Sales and Marketing, spoke about the company’s evolving attitude toward the region.
“We fully understand the importance of the Middle East in our global operations,” said Kurihara. “We also understand that the Middle East is a challenging market and in the past, we have not served it ideally. Our customers will soon see major changes in our business plan for this region. Our goal is to get closer to our customers.”
Kurihara has every confidence that customers, especially in demanding markets like Saudi Arabia will be more enthusiastic about Toshiba computers, once they become more familiar with the brand.
“I have seen that Saudi consumers are very discriminating customers,” Kurihara commented. “They are most interested in value for money. That’s why I want them to know that Toshiba’s computers and electronic products are manufactured by Toshiba. These products are assembled by Toshiba. Every step of the way, even through to the final testing, Toshiba is directly controlling the quality. With mobile computing this is especially important because the products must be more robust as they are used under a variety of conditions, unlike desktop units.”
Quality was definitely the keyword with all Toshiba executives. But value for money is very important, too. Toshiba portables tend to be higher priced than other brands and Saudi consumers have wondered if the difference in cost means a better machine.
“We heard the price questions in Europe, too, certainly in the German market,” said Willem Poterman, general manager, EMEA Marketing Division, Toshiba Computer Systems. “For example, in 2001 in the German market there was a new brand coming up and it was much cheaper than Toshiba. We thought we were going to be in a lot of trouble. We said, ‘Well, what are we going to do? Are we going to sacrifice quality or do we continue to have a quality product and be a little bit more expensive?’ The difference in the brands was 200 to 300 euros for machines with the same features. What happened in Germany was that after six months one of the major retailers told us that the return rate of defective products from our competitor was 15 percent, while Toshiba’s return rate was only 1 percent. Consumers were dissatisfied and came back to us. That large retailer doesn’t even sell our competitor anymore because he spent 20 million marks in repairs. Our machines are coming down in price but because our quality will always be superior, Toshiba products will always be a little more expensive than others. Not that much though, and I think that consumers appreciate quality and dependability especially in a machine they count on as much as their computer.”
Part of the increased costs of Toshiba mobile computers is because while sub-assembly is done in Taiwan, the machines are shipped to Germany in three or four different parts for the final assembly.
“Every machine that is shipped to the Middle East goes to Germany first,” said Poterman. “There we have the final assembly, the software loading, the image loading and the final quality check. Our machines have certification on their underside that they are assembled in Germany. Take a look.”
Poterman will be playing an important role in the Middle East for Toshiba in the coming year.
“Toshiba Computers in the Middle East was controlled from Singapore until Spring 2002,” explained Poterman. “It was not running very well. So from Germany, we took control. Since then you have already been seeing a change. I have already been here in the region four times. We are really pushing from the European marketing division to support the team here and create more visibility. The Middle East is very important to us.
“For the next six months I plan to be visiting countries throughout the Middle East. I want to see how the channel appears. I cannot sit in Germany and talk over the phone with Ahmed Khalil and understand the problems. At Toshiba, we understand the importance of going to visit each country, hearing from our customers in the Middle East and seeing how our local channels are working. Then we will come up with an ideal business plan for the region. In the meantime I would like to hear more ideas from businessmen and consumers in the region. I encourage direct communication with us at Toshiba. Please send e-mailed suggestions through our website, www.toshiba-gulf.com. E-mails sent through the website are received directly by management in Germany and will be given immediate attention.”
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