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allieggg

Wasta, Work and Corruption in Transnational Business | CONNECTED in CAIRO - 0 views

  • Girgis worked for a company that insisted as part of their global corporate culture that there be no “corruption.” Six years after opening its office in Egypt, they continued to be plagued by behaviors they understood to be “corrupt.”
  • I explained that wasta referred to a network of informal loans and favors traded by Arab men in order to move up in the world.
  • Encouraged by my open, neutral tone, Girgis opened up further. “My father mortgaged family lands to pay for my college,” Girgis said. “I owe him everything. If he asks me to find a job for his brother’s son, how can I say no?”
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • families are economic units.
  • “You can send me anywhere else in the world and I’ll run the office by the book,” Girgis told his supervisor. “But I can’t do that here.”
  • any Egyptian man they hired to run the office would be equally suspended in webs of wasta obligations
  • “investment and return” frame I created for understanding, emphasizing the economic parallels between Arab families and running a business
  • , I’ve known several Egyptian businessmen who thought wasta was an improvement on Western models of hiring.
  • Net result: greater loyalty, less likelihood of theft, less likelihood of negotiating for new jobs behind your back and leaving you in the lurch, etc, he claimed.
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    This article is from the point of view of an anthropologist who was brought in as a cultural consultant to mediate an issue of "watsa" for a corporation in the Middle East. The company prides itself on its lack of internal corruption, and in turn hired a man named Girgis who grew up in the Middle East but lived and received an education in the US. In Girgis's first year he hired one of his cousins, which the supervisors saw as corrupt hiring practice. The author, and hired consultant, explained to the company supervisors that watsa was an "investment and return" framework in Arab culture, and that there are economic parallels between Arab families and businesses, families existing as economic units. Girgis conveyed that anywhere else in the world he would run the office by the book, but in the Arab world he must also adhere to social norms. The result of watsa through Arab eyes leads to greater loyalty, and less likelihood for deception and theft. The article basically introduces the idea that while in the Western world this may be seen as corruption, it is an embedded part of culture in the Middle East. 
micklethwait

Security Empowers Business - Blue Coat - 0 views

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    Parent company of the firm in Egypt that set up the social media monitoring system for the Egyptian intelligence and security agencies.
sgriffi2

Rising Number of Women Entrepeneurs - 0 views

This article raises two interesting points. 1) women account for only 11% of entrepeneurs  in Egypt and 2) the two women showcased in the article wore full-face veils which is done by only 1 o...

#womensrights #women #feminism #power #business #culture

started by sgriffi2 on 24 Mar 15 no follow-up yet
sgriffi2

Rising Number of Women Entrepeneurs - 0 views

This article raises two interesting points. 1) women account for only 11% of entrepeneurs  in Egypt and 2) the two women showcased in the article wore full-face veils which is done by only 1 o...

#womensrights #women #feminism #power #business #culture

started by sgriffi2 on 24 Mar 15 no follow-up yet
mportie

Mideast firms don't care about cyber threat - 0 views

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    Cyber activity and crime are growing in the Middle East according to anti-virus industry reports. This raises the question of business in the Middle East are prepared or taking action to counter the increase of threat; reports however show that most are not.
stuartsayes

10 largest ports in the Middle East Ports - 0 views

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    This article presents the top 10 shipping ports in the Middle East by giving a description, pictures, and specifications of the ports. The history of each port corresponds to the great wealth that each port creates for the respective region and this site presents a general understanding of the ports' history.
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