JEDDAH, 15 December 2004 — A.K. Saeed for Trade and Industry Company Ltd., which runs six production factories and four trading firms, has recently undergone a restructuring process to meet the requirements forced by globalization as well as the Kingdom’s accession to the World Trade Organization.
The company owner and chairman, Abdul Khaliq Saeed, said moves to diversify the company activities that include the manufacturing and marketing of perfumes in the Gulf and other Arab markets as well as in world markets at a later stage, were part of a strategy aimed at preparing the ground for the next stage of the world economy in which trade barriers would be removed and business liberalized under the WTO and the globalization drive.
He said his factories and companies are keen to change and adapt both performance and production measures to cope with international trends. A number of A.K. Saeed factories have won international awards and recognition including the ISO certificate with the products of these factories now compatible with the standards of leading world markets in the United States, Europe and Asia, he added.
Saeed, who followed his father’s footsteps in pursuing trade, said the diversity in the company activities has won it experience in dealing with local and international markets. Together with his brother, Mahmoud Saeed, they became involved in business at a larger scale setting up a commercial conglomerate before turning to industry where they established a series of factories for the manufacture of various products to meet the local market needs and export to neighboring countries.
The industrial drive was launched in 1976 with a factory for the manufacture of plastic products and followed up in 1999 with the establishment of factories for the production of perfumes. Leading Saudi artists, including singers like Muhammad Abdo, were involved in the marketing strategy. The group became closely associated with the perfumes market in the Kingdom and some of its brands using Arabic and Oriental names earned it further prominence in this type of business.
Asked why he and his brother has chosen to split with each having his own business at a time when most family businesses are heading toward integration as a necessity dictated by the needs of the coming stage in the world economy, Abdul Khaliq said any business is influenced by several factors that call for different means to be applied.
In a paper he presented to a recent forum on family business held in Jeddah and organized by the Derasat Management Competency Preparation Center, he said investors could choose from the many available means according to the prevailing social and economic circumstances that make the house more intact from within.
Integration could precede or come after a split among business partners and all these change are economic phenomena that are subject to laws and regulations. “If any need for integration could arise in future we would not hesitate to opt for it”, he said.
