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Elephants Can't Jump
Ensuring brand initiatives work in practice as well as in theory. To have marketplace impact, we believe every research assignment should consist of three elements consumer exploration or validation, within a competitive context, generating commercial outputs.
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Firefish Ltd
29 full time staff, operating in all corners of the globe, on all manner of projects. No methodology is squashed to fit. We approach each brief with fresh eyes and minds, to make sure you get the most out of your research, helping your brand move forward.
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Grass Roots
Grass Roots is one of Europe's largest performance improvement companies. Established in 1980, Grass Roots UK is the founding company of a group with offices and partners operating in 15 countries around the world.
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DIGITAL-MR
In addition to Social Media Research (Web Listening) DigitalMRs solutions also include community panels, access panels, Web usability and a distinct focus on qualitativeresearch online.
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An Introduction to The UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven states (known as Emirates as they are ruled by Emirs) located at the south-east of the Arabian Peninsula in the Persian Gulf. The states that make up UAE are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. Abu Dhabi, being the capital city, is the country's centre of political, cultural and industrial activities. See full country profile.Latest Research News from Middle East
2 current Middle Eastern jobs:
Survey Research Manager, Remote Working - Worldwide, $ Competitive salary - (posted Feb 27 2024)
GOVERNMENT: Federation (with specified powers delegated to the UAE federal government and other powers reserved to member emirates)
AREA: 83,600 sq km
POPULATION: 4,798,491 (2005 Census)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Arabic
Some business and general info
The Market Research Industry
Trade and Industry in The UAE
If the residents of the UAE's largest city want something delivered by courier the most important piece of information is the telephone number so the couriers can ask for directions and confirm delivery time. The same happens when you have shopping delivered. Stores often include a form for drawing a map to your home to avoid confusion.
A little More Knowledge?
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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven states (known as Emirates as they are ruled by Emirs) located at the south-east of the Arabian Peninsula in the Persian Gulf. The states that make up UAE are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. Abu Dhabi, being the capital city, is the country's centre of political, cultural and industrial activities.
The United Arab Emirates has the world's seventh largest oil reserves and possesses one of the most developed economies in the Middle East. The United Arab Emirates is classified as a high-income developing economy by the IMF.The unique socioeconomic development in the Persian Gulf has meant that the UAE is relatively liberal, and this combined with the booming economy and zero percent income tax make it very attractive to workers from other countries in the area. In Dubai, the largest city, 80% of the residents are foreigners.
GDP: $186.8 billion (2009 est.) - $38,900 per capita
Religions Muslim 77.5%, Christian 8.5%, other 14% (2004 census)
Currency: UAE Dirham (AED) - 1 GBP = 5.813 AED
Telephone Code: +971
MR Association(s):
Association: We can find no evidence of a MR association in the UAE. If we're wrong, please get in touch!
The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) - including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates - had a total MR spend of USD 130m in 2008 - an absolute growth of 18.2% (net 6.6%) on 2007.
Source: ESOMAR
According to the CIA World Factbook: Japan, South Korea, India, Iran and Thailand are the main export partners with UAE, with exports totalling $174.7 billion in 2009. The main export commodities are crude oil 45%, natural gas, re-exports, dried fish, and dates. The main import partners are China, India, US, Germany and Japan, with imports of machinery and transport equipm'nt, chemicals and food totalling $144.5 billion in 2009.
Petroleum and natural gas exports play an important role in the economy, especially in Abu Dhabi. A massive construction boom, an expanding manufacturing base, and a thriving services sector are helping the UAE diversify its economy. Nationwide, there is currently $350 billion worth of active construction projects. Such projects include the Burj Khalifa, which is the world's tallest building, Dubai World Central International Airport which, when completed, will be the most expensive airport ever built, and the three Palm Islands, the largest artificial islands in the world.
Other projects include the Dubai Mall which is the world's largest shopping mall, and a man-made archipelago called The World which seeks to increase Dubai's rapidly growing tourism industry. Also in the entertainment sector is the construction of Dubailand, which is expected to be twice the size of Disney World, and of Dubai Sports City which will not only provide homes for local sports teams but may be part of future Olympic bids.
Email me:
laurence@mrweb.com
Like everything in Dubai, the internet usage has grown big and very fast reaching almost 70% internet penetration. This growth was fueled by the fact that 90% of the UAE population is expatriates, mainly coming from Asia and the rest of the Arab world. The internet is a cheap and an efficient way to stay in touch with friends and family in their home countries.
Social media networks are at the forefront of the internet usage in the UAE. 1.7 million from an 8 million population living in the UAE are registered on FaceBook. This high interest in social media is also due to the cultural and social difficulties for mixed gender communications in the region. Even though the UAE is a much more open country compared to other countries in the region, there is still a high degree of conservatism especially among the local UAE nationals.
Focusing on the multi-cultural aspect, the situation in our Dubai offices says enough: there are more than 20 different nationalities company-wide, of which 8 within Yahoo! Maktoob Research. No doubts about that - we are indeed living and working in a multi-cultural environment - and of course, this brings along challenges as well, especially when managing people and dealing with clients, who are also coming from different parts of the world. I remember one incident during my first year in Dubai (2005); I completely forgot about the local traditions and practices, and extended my hand to a local man to thank him for the meeting, however, many of the Emiratis do not shake hands with women. The situation was pretty embarrassing for both of us.
Another point I want to bring up is the service-oriented mentality in the hospitality industry in the United Arab Emirates. Three of the regional airlines, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways (Abu Dhabi-based) and Emirates (Dubai-based), keep on winning world airline awards every single year. This is not only the case with regional and local airlines, but also with spas (e.g. Six Senses in Dubai), restaurants and hotels (e.g. Al Maha in Dubai). Doesn't that say enough about the service?