Egyptian Business Research Articles

Factors affecting organisational creativity and innovativeness in Egyptian business organisations: an empirical investigation

PurposeThe overall purpose of this research is to further our understanding of how managers in Egypt perceive creativity and innovativeness. The paper also examines the construct validity of two measures of creativity and creativity barriers in order to gain further insights into the factors stimulating or hindering creativity in Egypt.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 170 managers was used to achieve the research purpose. Based on the upper‐echelon perspective, the sample slightly favours high‐level managers. Respondents completed a 77‐item instrument designed to assess stimulants‐to‐creativity in the organisational workplace. A 17‐item barriers‐to‐creativity instrument was also used to assess barriers to creativity in Egypt's organisations.FindingsThe study detected a statistically significant difference in attitudes towards organisational creativity based on the managers’ functional areas in the organisation. The study also shows that the greater the education of the manager, the more he or she is likely to adopt creative and innovative activities. Using thet‐test procedure, no generation gap was detected in the managers’ attitudes towards organisational creativity. Finally, the study showed that male managers have significantly favourable attitudes towards creativity compared with their female counterparts.Originality/valueThis study has provided some insights into the factors associated with organisational creativity and creativity barriers in an Arab, non‐Western context. The more is known of how managers perceive creativity, the more quickly and efficiently creativity can be stimulated, thereby allowing other global players to capitalise on opportunities for innovation and partnering that will emerge as markets open in the Middle East.

Conflict and Co-operation within Lebanon's Business Community: Relations between Merchant's and Industrialists' Associations

International Relations scholars, and writers from a variety of disciplines, have been devoting increased attention to the subject of globalization. One feature of globalization has been the growth in the role of private capital in Third World economies as a result of privatization policies and the universal relaxation, or in some cases complete dismantling, of barriers to private sector activities. The effects of globalization have not been restricted to the economic sphere; for globalization has also contributed to the increase in the political power of the business class vis-ai-vis the state. As John Lucas notes: 'Globalization has indirectly encouraged a more activist business class by altering the bargaining relationship between the government and the private sector'.' Lucas further observes that 'in each [Third World] region there has been a movement toward a more assertive business class'.2 In the Middle East, policies of economic and political liberalization pursued since the early 1980s - and increased integration into the global economy have led to redefining the relationship between the public and private sectors to the advantage of the latter.3 As a result, academic interest in the role of the private sector in the development process in the Middle East has been on the ascent, without this translating into a corresponding increase in the so far scant attention being paid to the activities of voluntary business associations. Middle East scholars, including political economists, have (with very few and partial exceptions) chosen almost completely to ignore the activities of business associations in their analyses of state-society relations in the Middle East.4 Robert Bianchi's and Dennis Sullivan's works on Egypt represent very partial exceptions to this trend, since they both deal, albeit in a very limited way, with Egyptian business associations.5 Both works, however, suffer from major limitations in their treatment of the subject. Bianchi sheds light on the Egyptian Businessmen

Businessmen's Associations in Egypt and Turkey

Associations representing the special interests of the Egyptian business community have grown in number and variety during the last 15 years. The largest and most powerful of these interest groups are examined here. The persistent diversity of business organizations is explained by the discontinuous historical evolution of the private sector and by the changing political and economic strategies of Egypt's authoritarian regime. Finally, Egyptian business groups are compared briefly with Turkish business associations, which played a key role in the privatization of an economy once dominated by the state sector.

Business Executives in Egypt, India and the U. S

1. There are a number of background characteristics that are common to business executives everywhere. On the one hand, the majority of Egyptian, Indian and American executives are middle and upper-middle class groups in origin. Only the components of the middle class vary from one country to another, reflecting each relevant socio-economic structure. Thus, whereas business and professional backgrounds predominated for American executives, civil servants led all others followed by white-collar and professional backgrounds for Egyptian executives. That civil servants' background lead all others is perhaps a reflection of the dominant role of government in Egyptian society. On the other hand, the majority of executives in three samples are urban in origin. Our comparative analysis of the social background of Egyptian, Indian and American executives thus suggests that it is almost a universal truism that a man's chances of becoming a top business executive are considerably affected by his point of origin both on the social and physical spaces. 2. There are a number of background characteristics unique to Egyptian executives. Much higher proportions of Egyptian than Indian or American executives started their careers as military officers or civil servants, a reflection of the militaristic and socialistic nature of contemporary Egyptian society. The Egyptian business elite, therefore, appears to be relatively non-parochial in experience. These differences in career patterns are associated with corresponding differences in career speeds. In sharpest contrast to their American counterparts, Egyptian executives took shorter than average time to achieve their elite positions. Lateral entry into the business world and the high rate of college-educated there, appear to reduce considerably the number of years Egyptians have had to serve in order to achieve their present positions. 3. Egyptian executives are much more like Indian than they are like American executives in terms of their age, education and urban origins. This pattern has its explanation too, mostly in the similarity of the economic situation, social organization and ideological orientation of these two developing countries. 4. Lastly, our comparative analysissupports as well as generates a number of hypotheses. (a) The fact that the majority of the executives of three somewhat different countries look alike in terms of their geographic and socio-economic origins, may, at least in part, confirm the prediction made by elite theorists that the managers of all industrial societies will inevitably become a distinct elite regardless of the political system within which they operate. 1 (b) Certain features of a country's social structure appear to be related to certain background characteristics of its native business elite. It was found out, for instance, that the educational level of a business elite is inversely related to the present stage of industrialization of its contextual society. Similarly, the geographic background of an elite is inversely related to the degree of urbanization of its surrounding society. It is only through further research that the validity of these hypotheses can be proven.