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Adapting Lounge Culture in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has a culture that clashes between modernity and strict Islamic traditions, leading to some perplexity for Saudis and foreigners regarding acceptable behavior. Against this backdrop, four young Saudis who studied abroad wanted to open a Western-style restaurant catering to wealthy clients, reasoning that other modernized Saudis would support it. However, they hired Lebanese consultants to research the market first due to cultural uncertainties. The consultants successfully interviewed Saudi families in restaurants to assess demand after respecting customs around privacy and gender interactions.

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Zekria Noori Afghan
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225 views1 page

Adapting Lounge Culture in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has a culture that clashes between modernity and strict Islamic traditions, leading to some perplexity for Saudis and foreigners regarding acceptable behavior. Against this backdrop, four young Saudis who studied abroad wanted to open a Western-style restaurant catering to wealthy clients, reasoning that other modernized Saudis would support it. However, they hired Lebanese consultants to research the market first due to cultural uncertainties. The consultants successfully interviewed Saudi families in restaurants to assess demand after respecting customs around privacy and gender interactions.

Uploaded by

Zekria Noori Afghan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

CASE: THE JAVA LOUNGE-ADJUSTING TO SAUDI

ARABIAN CULTURE'
Saudi Arabia is a land of contrasts and paradoxes. (Map 2.1 shows its location.) It has supermodern
cities, but its strict Islamic religious convictions and ancient social customs, on which its laws and customs depend, often clash with modern economic and technical realities. Saudi Arabian authorities sometimes employ latitude in legal formation and enforcement to ease these clashes. Further, some of the
ancient social customs have become more lax. Nevertheless, because the latitude and laxness have
varied substantially, such as by industry and area of the country, both Saudis and foreigners have sometimes been perplexed about what is accepted personal and business behavior. Foreigners have, in addition, sometimes found Saudi laws and customs contrary to their own value systems.

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Against this backdrop, four young Saudis concluded that the time might be ripe to open a restaurantllounge that would cater to an affluent clientele. These four young Saudis had all lived and studied
abroad, and three of them had one or both parents from Arab countries (Egypt, Lebanon, and Yemen)
whose customs were less conservativethan those in Saudi Arabia. They had not only experienced foreign
restaurants and nightlife, they had enjoyed them. They reasoned there were enough Saudis like themselves to support a foreign-type restaurantllounge. However, because they harbored sufficient doubts,
they hired Lebanese consultants to research the situation for them. Ordinarily, market research groups in
Saudi Arabia have not been able to rely on family-focused interviews because of customs limiting malefemale interactions except among family members and because Saudis view the home as private and
even consider questions about their families as rude and an invasion of privacy. Nevertheless, these
consultants successfully interviewed Saudi families by approaching them in restaurants after asking
43

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