Boeing

Fakher Daghestani, Boeing’s Director of Corporate Communications for the Middle East is an old school salesman.  It’s because he has to be in an area of the world where relationships are paramount to product specs or speed of delivery.  One wrong word, one screw up, and deals are lost forever.  Mr. Daghestani explained, in the United States, decisions are generally made by boards and committees, where here in Dubai, for instance, there is typically one decision-maker.  Usually this person has no interest in the details, as he usually has an advisor for that stuff, so the conversation is typically steered towards approval of his accomplishments, a discussion about family, and/or other pleasantries.

Such is the nature of doing big business in this part of the world, where often times a personal relationship is the only way a customer will spend with you.  At Boeing, however, there is a strong corporate emphasis on ethics, which Mr. Daghestani explained makes it extremely difficult to compete when his deals must be done in black and white in a market that is often very gray.