Introduction
There are two fundamental commerce and trade sectors in the United Arab Emirates that make attract investors viz. the oil industry and the contracting business. As such, many people have a keen interest in understanding the country’s culture, leadership, business strategies, and other issues that surround commerce and trade.
Therefore, this paper highlights how implementation of projects is done in the two aforementioned industries whereby it focuses on two different organizations that operate in the UAE. The first one is the Alec LLC, which is a construction company, and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, which deals with exploitation of oil and gas.
Contracting and Oil Industries
About three decades ago, the United Arab Emirates was just one of the less developed countries in the world. Currently, the country has attained enormous economic growth that its income is equal to that of industrialized nations. The UAE did not progress gradually through the various stages of development that the developed countries have gone through to qualify as developed economies.
The country rather depended on its resources especially oil hence to leapfrog from a developing nation to a developed country. Because of oil, the country has grown tremendously to gain an economic status that is comparable to the already developed economies of the world. The massive oil reserves allowed the country to leap development stages of high mass consumption.
As a development tactic, the UAE has embraced the resource-based industries and this strategy is based on exploitation of the natural resources. Because of the exploitation of the natural resources, the vibrantly developing country has changed to increase the scope of business from oil exploitation to investment in property so that the country would no longer rely on oil alone.
As such, a third fast growing business is the contracting industry. In the past decade, UAE has seen incredible growth of investors in property making the country an economic hub in Middle East and Asia. It is, therefore, no doubt that investors want a share of this booming economy.
Abu Dhabi National Oil vs. Alec contractors
Contracting industry is number three in growth after oil, and trade. The industry continues to increase exceptionally fast because there is enabling business environment. The industry contributes about 6% of the country’s gross domestic product hence making it an influential player in this business.
Alec is a construction company that is based in Abu Dhabi, in the UAE. The company invests in the construction of property including transport and communication (roads, bridges etc), commercial buildings, real estate, plant construction and other various property development ventures.
The company has in the past contributed to construction of spectacular landmarks in the country. Its vision has been to be the best construction company in the entire region. Despite the challenges of investing in the contracting industry in UAE, this company is particularly determined to succeed.
Abu Dhabi national company oil, on the other hand, is an investor in diversified oil and petrochemical products. The business is based on exploitation, production, and marketing of the natural resources that the world relies on for survival. The main activities of the company, therefore, entail exploration, and processing of crude oil and natural gas. Other activities that the company undertakes include refinery, supply, and transport, as well as manufacturing of an assortment of petrochemicals.
The company has integrated upstream and downstream activities carried out by specialists, and partners of the company. This company has become one of the world’s leading oil producers and on average; it produces 2.7 million barrels per day. The company also keenly observes the sustainable of environmental friendly standards for oil exploitation to preserve earth’s resources.
Both Alec LLC and Abu Dhabi national oil are shaped by joint ventures where they collaborate with local and foreign companies to improve on production. The local shareholders normally account for 51% of any project that they undertake. Because of the less than 50% of foreign ownership, the local people mainly own the companies registered in UAE. Distribution of the profits is nonetheless flexible and may not necessarily be determined by the percentages of share ownership.
As far as strategic decision-making is concerned, the foreign companies are often assigned the role because of experience, best knowledge, and expertise. The local shareholders, on the other hand, ensure better links, contacts, and better understanding of the UAE’s market requirements and strategies.
Total Quality Management
In the construction business, the quality assessment is done based on the total quality management and with respect to soft and hard aspects. The hard aspects are like application of objective physical standards to a project then checking the conformance after the work is done to specifications.
Nonetheless, soft aspects are often needed to ensure that the expectations are converted into the physical outcomes. Alec construction firm has mastered this strategy. Since the company is focused on customer satisfaction, it has always ensured that work on projects is done with the customer’s involvement, as well.
The company facilitates seamless diffusion of implementation of the Total quality management. However, the challenge has been that TQM is expected to work as traditional human resource practices while embracing new polices of quality delivery. However, Alec makes full use of executive dedication, empowerment of workers and open communication to ensure that corporate performances are significantly correlated.
Hard aspects are quantifiable like just in time, task-based team working, and zero defect. Alec uses benchmarking and flexible manufacturing systems. With time, the company has found out that product and process benchmarking was remarkably effective and produced optimal product design. In fact, that strategy of hard TQM has often led to cost reduction.
For Abu Dhabi national oil Total quality management strategy, marketers have realised that their offerings to customers including the impression they make to these clients is particularly valuable. The oil and gas consumers now demand more quality from the petroleum product processors and manufacturers. Therefore, the company has strategically injected the idea of TQM in its product processing.
The top managers are the greatest driving force for the TQM, and the company’s dedication has been translated into certain strategies. These strategies have allowed the company to attain a leading role in organization performance in UAE. For instance, designing of quality into superior products on the market, designing the best in-process quality assurance process, as well as many control instruments.
To attain the best quality, soft TQM strategies are employed and they include ensuring full participation of workers. These workers are trained and empowered so that they can work independently and confidently. The company also maintains competent and flexible partners, as well as standard quality checking processes.
Over the years, the company has found out that, as an oil and natural gas producer, there are some advantages that it can rely on, especially new technologies to provide better quality. These strategies are soft aspects drawn from marketing and sales to ensure hard aspects are achieved. As such, the quality of Abu Dhabi oil and gas, products have been of global standards. The company has won long-term evergreen contracts and security of supply making it a leading supplier of crude oil to Far East.
In order to attain optimal growth, companies often focus their operations on a set of organisational objectives and goals. The same way Alec and Abu Dhabi oil have conceptualized their quality management strategies, designing new services and products and implementing newer strategies of operations. Because of the enormity of problems facing business in the modern world, there is a need to understand the ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ TQM aspect. These aspects could help companies in question to attain the best performance and success.
Conclusion
The United Arab Emirates has demonstrated the realization of better technology and upstanding business environment to improve its position and keep pace with the world. The country has strived to find the most efficient and safe industry technologies that are ideally appropriate for its oil industry, contracting industry and many other fast growing trades it can host. The oil industry is faced with the threat of stringent environmental regulation and exhaustible reserves.
However, so as not to rely on oil totally, the country has also been investing in other trades like construction and manufacturing. This determination has kept the company at the forefront in terms f adaptation to the changing circumstances and satisfaction of consumer needs. The two organisations analysed by this paper (Alec and ADNOC) show that the country is set to proceed in the modern economy by having a secure and dynamic economic base.