ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the case study of The Al Jaber Family Business. It is an Abu Dhabi-based privately owned company, founded one year before seven sheikhdoms came together in 1971 to form the UAE. Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a small country in the Arabian Gulf which has seen spectacular economic development since its inception in 1971 thanks to the discovery of oil. In the UAE, therefore, business practices are influenced by the local culture and also to a large extent by the cultures of the expatriates each organization employs. Although the UAE economy has developed quickly in the service and knowledge-based industries, the labor market is still largely governed by a low-cost paradigm. A particular difficulty related to conducting research in or interpreting research about the UAE is to establish whether the frame of reference is the local Emirati population or the market, country, or society as a whole.
