This is a research proposal on home-based business in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer of crude oil. It has also become a very important hub of business in the Middle East (Federal Research Division 2004; Mallakh, 1982). With the coming of technology, many Saudis are starting their own businesses from the comfort of their homes. The government of Saudi Arabia has also come up with suitable incentives for its citizens wishing to start businesses from home (Oxford Business Group 2009; Should 2006). Citizens can benefit from loans and advances by the Saudi government agents (Sayigh & Yusuf, 1978). In addition, they can benefit from tax cuts given by the Saudi government on upcoming small businesses. This research proposal will highlight these businesses.
The research proposal’s aim is to get insight into the different home-based businesses in Saudi Arabia. The research seeks to find out the benefits of running a home-based company in the Kingdom. It will also look into the challenges that home-based business owners face in the oil-rich country. The research will also look at the role the Saudi government is playing to encourage home-based businesses in the country. Finally, it will seek to find out the impact of home-based companies in the Saudi Arabian economy.
- Purposes: According to the Federal Research Division (2004), the business environment in Saudi Arabia has improved tremendously compared to a few years back. The Saudi government has put several policies in place to encourage the mushrooming of home-based business. In addition, it has put a lot of incentives in terms of tax breaks and easy loan plans for people wishing to start home-based businesses. The research will focus on the business environment of the kingdom, together with the advantages of setting up a home-based business in the country. It will give insights into the task of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and the usefulness of the programs that they have set up. Further, it will establish how many businesses are being set up each year since the onset of the program. It will also seek to establish the number of home-based businesses in operation in the kingdom. Finally, it will find out the impact these businesses have on the economy, and the best way of improving them.
- Background: The research will be conducted by a team of six members. Each of the members will undertake a separate aspect of the research. This approach is well suited because the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has six branches. We plan to evaluate how all these branches work together in support of home-based businesses in the kingdom. We plan to focus our energy on the policies that the ministry has put in place to encourage mushrooming of home based business. This will entail a research into how the ministry agents interact with the business owners. We hope to explore to find out about the trickle-down effect of the multi billion crude oil export on home-based businesses. We also hope to find out the usefulness of this ministry’s programs and their sustainability. We plan to get information from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry website. We also plan to get correspondence with a ministry official on the same.
- Scope: We plan to engage in interviews with existing home-based business owners for a period of two weeks. We shall also have an interview with the Minister for Commerce and Industry within the same week. We also intend to attend the Saudi Arabian Chamber of Commerce open day. In addition we will also plan to have interviews with several support officials on the ground in the ministry.
- Theoretical framework: We will base our research according to the Ministry of Commerce approach (Ministry of commerce, 2010). Our interpretative analysis will put focus on establishing the impact of these businesses on the Saudi Arabian economy. We will evaluate the economic importance of these businesses to their owners. We will also explore the importance of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Saudi Arabia and the relationship that they have with business owners.
Method
- We shall conduct a face to face interview with the Director, Ministry of Commerce of Saudi Arabia.
- We shall conduct interviews with existing home-based business owners in the kingdom.
- Some of the questions that will come up include
- How did you set up the business?
- How much money did it take you to set up the business?
- What are the benefits of setting up a home- based business as opposed to a traditional one.
- What is the government doing to help you and your business?
- What do you see yourself in the next ten years?
- We shall visit home-based business owners at their premises and see how they interact with government officials and customers.
- We shall have informal interviews with customers of home-based businesses, as well as their owners and suppliers.
- We shall then make an analysis of the interviews
- Finally, we shall make a detailed research putting our findings into consideration together with those of the relevant theories and approach.
Timetable
Prepare proposal by 1 July
Complete literature review by 11 July
Complete fieldwork by 18 August
Complete analysis by 25 August
Give presentation on 1 September
Complete final report by 6 September
- Limitations: There will be time constraints because business owners are busy and may not be willing to waste their time on interviews. In addition, the ministry officials are also quite busy and may not find time to attend to us. We may have to make schedules in order to have some of the interviews. Moreover, Saudi Arabia, being a largely Muslim country, is quite conservative, especially to outsiders and non-Muslims. Similarly, business owners may not be willing to readily divulge information to complete strangers concerning their businesses. Travelling to Saudi Arabia is also costly, especially for six members. There may also be concerns by security officials in Saudi Arabia concerning our visit.
- Delimitation: We will do research on multiple businesses in different areas of the kingdom. This is quite important in order to get good comparisons. In addition we hope to try to blend in the community by not dressing too western during our visit. We will also make use of local interpretations in order to have a first hand account of information. There is absolutely no doubt that this research will give an insight into what is rapidly gaining popularity in many parts of the world, Saudi Arabia included. This research is therefore necessary and useful to a number of stakeholders including the government of Saudi Arabia, potential investors and the people of Saudi Arabia as a whole.
References
- Federal Research Division (2004). Saudi Arabia a Country study. Kessinger Publishing: New York
- Mallakh, R.1982. Saudi Arabia, Rush to development, Taylor & Francis: London
- Ministry of Commerce. (2010). Saudi chambers. [Online]
- Oxford Business Group (2009). The report: 2009. Oxford Business Group: London
- Sayigh, Y. & Yusuf, A.1978. The Determinants of Arab economic development, Taylor & Francis:London
- Shoult, A. 2006. Doing business with Saudi Arabia. GMB Publishing: Jeddah