World Expo 2020 in Dubai, UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was established in 1971 and is a country located in the Middle East. The country is often called “the Emirates” or simply “UAE.” UAE borders the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. Neighboring countries include Oman and Saudi Arabia, and UAE also shares sea borders with Quatar, Iran, and Pakistan. Strategically, UAE is in an important location along the southern approaches to the Strait of Hormuz, a transit point for the world’s crude oil. UAE is also in the top 10 countries for the largest oil reserves in the world. The geography of UAE includes lots of rolling sand dunes of desert and also mountains in the eastern part of the country. The government consists of a federation with specified powers delegated to the UAE federal government and other powers reserved to the member emirates (equivalent to principalities). The chief of state is the president and the head of government is the prime minister. UAE has an open-market economy in which the prices of products and services are set using a free price system. The foundation for this market economy lies in the collaboration between the seven emirates that are part of the UAE. They include the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. Each emirate is governed by a hereditary emir, similar to succession planning in countries with royalty (king or queen) as the head of state. These emirs jointly make up the Federal Supreme Council, which serves as the highest legislative and executive body in the UAE. One of the seven emirs is selected as the president of the United Arab Emirates. The capital of the country is Abu Dhabi, Islam is the official religion, and Arabic is the official language. Most people have heard of Abu Dhabi and Dubai because they are the country’s centers of commercial and cultural activities. Dubai is UAE’s most populous city, with more than 2 million people, and it has emerged as a true global city with an eclectic cultural makeup. It also has a strategic location as a business gateway for the Middle East and Africa for multinational enterprises from all of the world’s continents. Dubai has frequently been rated as one of the best places to live in the Middle East (although it is also one of the most expensive). The emirate of Dubai has been ruled by the Al Maktoum family since 183; the emirate is considered a constitutional monarchy. In 2013, the Norway-based Global Network for Rights and Development ranked UAE as the 14th country in its annual International Human Rights Indicator report. This was a first among Arab countries, with the next Arab country on the list, Tunisia, at a distant 72nd place. Only about 10 percent of the population in Dubai are Arabs, with the remaining 90 percent being expatriates. Most of the expatriates are from Asia, with India (50 percent) and Pakistan (16 percent) prominently featured. The largest group of Westerners is from the United King.

1. World Expo 2020 in Dubai, UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was established in 1971 and is
a country located in the Middle East. The country is often called
“the Emirates” or simply “UAE.” UAE borders the Gulf of
Oman and the Persian Gulf. Neighboring countries include
Oman and Saudi Arabia, and UAE also shares sea borders with
Quatar, Iran, and Pakistan. Strategically, UAE is in an
important location along the southern approaches to the Strait of
Hormuz, a transit point for the world’s crude oil. UAE is also in
the top 10 countries for the largest oil reserves in the world.
The geography of UAE includes lots of rolling sand dunes of
desert and also mountains in the eastern part of the country. The
government consists of a federation with specified powers
delegated to the UAE federal government and other powers
reserved to the member emirates (equivalent to principalities).
The chief of state is the president and the head of government is
the prime minister. UAE has an open-market economy in which
the prices of products and services are set using a free price
system.
The foundation for this market economy lies in the
collaboration between the seven emirates that are part of the
UAE. They include the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai,
Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. Each
emirate is governed by a hereditary emir, similar to succession
planning in countries with royalty (king or queen) as the head of
state. These emirs jointly make up the Federal Supreme
Council, which serves as the highest legislative and executive
body in the UAE. One of the seven emirs is selected as the
president of the United Arab Emirates. The capital of the
country is Abu Dhabi, Islam is the official religion, and Arabic
is the official language. Most people have heard of Abu Dhabi
and Dubai because they are the country’s centers of commercial
and cultural activities. Dubai is UAE’s most populous city, with
more than 2 million people, and it has emerged as a true global

2. city with an eclectic cultural makeup. It also has a strategic
location as a business gateway for the Middle East and Africa
for multinational enterprises from all of the world’s continents.
Dubai has frequently been rated as one of the best places to live
in the Middle East (although it is also one of the most
expensive). The emirate of Dubai has been ruled by the Al
Maktoum family since 183; the emirate is considered a
constitutional monarchy. In 2013, the Norway-based Global
Network for Rights and Development ranked UAE as the 14th
country in its annual International Human Rights Indicator
report. This was a first among Arab countries, with the next
Arab country on the list, Tunisia, at a distant 72nd place. Only
about 10 percent of the population in Dubai are Arabs, with the
remaining 90 percent being expatriates. Most of the expatriates
are from Asia, with India (50 percent) and Pakistan (16 percent)
prominently featured. The largest group of Westerners is from
the United Kingdom.
With this eclectic cultural background, Dubai’s bid to host the
World Expo 2020 with a theme of “connecting minds, creating
the future” makes sense both logically and strategically. The
theme resonates well with issues related to culture. In essence,
the theme illustrates and acknowledges differences in culture
(as does this chapter), and the theme supports the notion that we
strive to emphasize similarities across the globe. Today,
multinational enterprises have to evaluate their core uniqueness
and how they can leverage this strategic uniqueness in the
global marketplace. The leveraging of the uniqueness typically
requires a focus on similarities across cultures instead of
differences. Connecting minds is a great way to illustrate how
people, companies, and countries can stress the importance of
looking for similarities first and then focus on the similarities
that outweigh the differences in creating strategic options.
As with any World Expo, the expectation is that the world will
be treated to an important event in the year 2020 in Dubai. The
Expo on “connecting minds, creating the future” will span six
months, following World Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy, and World

3. Expo 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The expectation is also that
countries will showcase who they are and what they can do in
the spirit of today’s era of “nation branding.” Tracing history,
the best-known first World Expo was held in the Crystal Palace
in Hyde Park, London (United Kingdom), in 1851 under the title
“Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations.”
Since 1928, the Bureau International des Expositions
(International Exhibitions Bureau) has served as an
international sanctioning body for the World Expo. These Expo
showcases have generally gone through three eras: the era of
industrialization (1851–1938), the era of cultural exchange
(1939–1987), and the era of nation branding (1988–present).
The theme for Dubai’s World Expo 2020 is a direct connection
to its cultural values and beliefs in facilitating connections and
pioneering new ideas. The organizers expect 70 percent of the
25 million visitors to originate outside UAE, making it the most
globally oriented World Expo in its long history. The idea is
that the global community will come together and explore
creative and pioneering solutions to three key drivers of global
development: sustainability, mobility, and opportunity. As
viewed by the World Expo 2020 organizing team, sustainability
centers on lasting sources of energy and water. Mobility focuses
on smart systems of logistics and transportation. And
opportunity refers to new paths to economic development.
Case Discussion Questions
1. What forces shaped the culture in the country of UAE and
Dubai in particular? How similar or different are these
forces from those that shaped the culture of Western nations?
2. What kinds of misunderstandings, if any, are likely to arise
between Western-based visitors and people from the UAE
during World Expo 2020?
3. If you were in a position to advise a Western company that
was considering doing business in UAE for the first time, what
would your advice be?
4. Using Dubai as an example, do you believe that cultural
similarities among people can outweigh cultural differences that

4. exist in terms of doing business together in the future?
China wants to enter the U.S. car market, but a rough road lies
ahead
By RUSS MITCHELL
FEB 05, 2018 | 4:30 AM
| SAN FRANCISCO
Germany was first. It shipped the Volkswagen Beetle to the
United States in 1949. It got off to a slow start only to be
embraced by an enthusiastic American public.
Japan came next, winning U.S. customers in the 1970s with its
own mass-market cars. After that, South Korea, offered its
Hyundais and Kias.
Now, it's China's turn.
Or is it?
Big, state-controlled Chinese automaker GAC Motor plans to
start selling a gas-powered seven-passenger SUV priced around
$40,000 in the U.S. next year. The company said more models
will follow that vehicle, called the GS8 — including all-electric
cars.
But a rough road lies ahead. Chinese automakers have tried to
enter the U.S. market before and failed, crippled by sub-par
quality, failure to meet tough U.S. safety standards, lack of
consumer awareness and ill-conceived import partnerships.
"Plans were hopelessly optimistic," said Bill Hampton, editor of
AutoBeat Daily.
But GAC says this time is different.
"A few years ago, we were not ready enough to enter the U.S.
market with our level of technology, quality and
competitiveness," GAC Motor President Yu Jun told The Times
via email. But, he said, things have changed: "We are well
prepared to face the challenges in the U.S. market."
That's a plausible assertion, said David Sargent, global quality
research head for J.D. Power.

5. "Over the last 10 years, the quality of Chinese vehicles in
China, as measured by Chinese consumers, has gotten
dramatically better," he said. And GAC quality "has been the
best of the Chinese brands" based on surveys of new-car owners
on vehicle condition and performance.
GAC stands for Guangzhou Automobile Group. Statistics vary
by source, but the company tends to rank ninth or 10th on lists
of China's biggest automakers. Located near the concentration
of Japanese auto suppliers in Southern China, GAC was an early
adopter of Japanese quality standards, analysts say.
Whether the quality proves good enough for the U.S. market is
yet to be determined. Yu Zhang, managing director of
Automotive Foresight in Shanghai, calls GAC a "dark horse" in
the U.S. market with great potential.
GAC made a splash at the recent Detroit Auto Show, with a spot
covering 2,400 square feet on the main floor of the exhibition
hall, a first for a Chinese car company. It was more than a token
display: six vehicles were shown.
Sexy models remain a fixture at auto shows in China, and they
appeared onstage in Detroit at GAC's appointed showtime. Two
tall, slim young women in svelte red dresses stripped covers off
several GAC cars, including the Enverge electric concept
car, which GAC intends to introduce to the U.S. market
following its SUV debut.
First, though, the company must establish a U.S. dealer
network. In March, GAC executives will fly to Las Vegas,
where they'll glad hand potential distributors at the National
Automobile Dealers Assn. annual convention.
Dealers have been teased by Chinese automakers before, most
notably in 2005, when a colorful publicity hound named
Malcolm Bricklin (best known for the Yugo) announced plans to
import five vehicles from Wuhu, China-based Chery
Automobile. But quality wasn't up to snuff, too few dealers
signed up, investors dropped out and the deal died.
"Entering the U.S. market is like swimming in water that is too
deep. We are scared of drowning," Chery President Yin

6. Tongyue told a Reuters reporter at the time. "We need more
time to prepare. U.S. technology and U.S. consumer habits are
too different."
American car buyers tend to be brand loyal, and it has
historically been difficult for newcomers — particularly from
overseas. Last year, Ford, GM and Ram pickup trucks topped
the bestseller list, followed by the Toyota Camry, the Nissan
Rogue and the Honda CR-V.
The Japanese and Koreans both struggled to gain a foothold in
the U.S., but now the Asian brands, with 46.3% market share,
are neck and neck with U.S. automakers, at 44.4%. European
companies account for the remaining 9.3%, according to Motor
Intelligence.
But China's rise in production volume and quality has been
breathtaking. A minor player as recently as the late 1990s, when
it sold about 2 million vehicles, almost all of them in China, the
country is now the world's largest automobile producer. In
2017, 25.4 million passenger vehicles — the vast majority made
by Chinese automakers — were sold in China, according to
LMC Automotive. (In the U.S., 17.2 million vehicles were sold
last year from U.S., Asian and European manufacturers.)
As state-owned car companies entered into joint ventures with
U.S., European, Japanese and Korean companies, production
surged and quality improved. Meanwhile, leaner, meaner private
Chinese companies such as Geely are turning up competitive
pressure.
GAC's U.S. foray will test Chinese government ambitions to
become a world-class, high-quality exporter of essential goods
and services. The government's Made In China 2025 plan,
released in 2015, identifies 10 key industries, motor vehicles
among them, with an emphasis on electric cars and trucks.
Incentives and mandates issued from Beijing and local
governments, including polluted mega-cities such as Shanghai,
have boosted electric vehicle growth.
Electrified vehicle sales expanded 53% in 2017, to 777,000
vehicles, said the China Assn. of Automobile Manufacturers —

7. 652,000 all-electric vehicles and 125,000 plug-in hybrids.
In the U.S., almost 200,000 EVs and plug-in hybrids were sold
last year, according to Inside EVs, up about 25%. While mass
consumer demand for EVs remains tepid, automakers have
launched ambitious electrification plans. A bill to require zero
tailpipe emissions for all new vehicles sold in California by
2040 is in the legislative hopper.
Although EVs are rising fast in China, overall passenger vehicle
sales are flattening out — up only 2.8% in 2017, compared with
a 15.5% increase the year before.
That puts pressure on Chinese automakers to expand to new
markets. Success in the U.S. will translate into more sales back
in China, said Mark Wakefield of the consulting firm
AlixPartners. The idea: If U.S. customers embrace a China-
made car, it must mean the quality is high.
"Competition in China is tough and getting tougher," he said.
"There's a premium for a brand that comes with a [U.S.] stamp
of approval."
If GAC succeeds with a 2019 U.S. launch, it won't have the
China-made market to itself.
Volvo Cars and Volvo's Chinese owner, Geely, have joined
forces to create a new line of automobiles, named Lynk & Co.,
designed in Sweden and manufactured in China. Lynk aims to
export a compact SUV to Europe in 2019, while plans to
distribute its cars through U.S. manufacturing plants outside
China are under consideration.
Polestar, another Geely-Volvo endeavor, plans global
distribution of high-end electric cars and could bypass the need
for auto dealerships through online sales.
SF Motors, an arm of China's Chongqing Sokon Industry Group
and headquartered in Santa Clara, is planning its own
technology-loaded luxury car line for the global market. SF
Motors' chief innovation officer is Tesla's original founder,
Martin Eberhard.
Dozens of other small Chinese or China-funded companies want
in, including Byton, headed by former BMW executives, which

8. introduced an electric compact SUV concept carat CES in Las
Vegas last month.
Threatening all these plans is a political buzz saw on trade
policy. President Trump has made clear his distaste for
imported cars.
But Democrats might see political gain in knocking China too.
Soon after GAC Motors' Detroit event, Senate Majority Leader
Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) referenced GAC's U.S. entry plan
in a speech on the Senate floor, calling China's 25% tariffs on
imported cars "manifestly unfair, and a typically unfortunate
example of China's rapacious trading policies." U.S. Auto
import tariffs are set at 2.5%
"We're beginning to see a lot of bad press on China" in the U.S.,
said Taiwan-based Greg Anderson of Pacific Rim Advisors.
"Right now, an anti-China position is going to play well
politically."
Asked about that, GAC's Yu said, "No comment."
He's more focused on a dealer network. "That's an expensive,
time-consuming and complicated thing to do," said AutoBeat
Daily's Hampton.
GAC has joint ventures with Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishiand
Fiat-Chrysler.
Fiat-Chrysler dealers may be the company's best bet because it
is dropping many of its sedans and coupes to focus on SUVs and
trucks. The company is behind most other major car groups in
electric car development. GAC could fill those gaps.
Meanwhile, GAC Motors plans to replace the Trumpchi brand
name outside China. The phonic similarity to the U.S.
president's name "is a sheer coincidence," Yu said. "Trumpchi is
similar to 'GAC Motor' in Chinese pronunciation. In Chinese, it
means to deliver happiness and auspiciousness."
2