Guest Lecture on Business Behavior and Business Development in the New Middle East

On April 26th, the students of the Global Business PAC program had the chance to get a close insight into business development and business behavior in the New Middle East from Ing. Mag. Frederic Hadjari from Business Upper Austria. Business Upper Austria is the business agency of the region, aiming to promote growth and development and bring companies closer together.

In general, business development for organizations is vital to continuously grow and remain competitive. By understanding potential customers’ needs, market barriers, and opportunities, new markets can be found and entered. Even though the New Middle East has good infrastructure and highly skilled personnel, the reputation of this area suffers from negative stereotypes. Thus, Business Upper Austria invested in the region to create business relationships with companies from the New Middle East. They also organized events to inform companies about the New Middle East. However, negotiations became more challenging due to the sanctions imposed on Iran. The behavior and business procedures in the New Middle East strongly differ from Europe. High emphasis is put on hierarchies, respect, and personal relationships. Communication is very straightforward and simple. Furthermore, as many companies in Iran are public, a good relationship to the government is essential.

Having lived in Iran until the age of 9, Mr. Hadjari has a personal connection to the culture and has visited the county multiple times for professional purposes since then. Thus, he managed to combine the theoretical input on business development and behavior with real-life examples from the New Middle East. It was a pleasure to listen to the lecture and another cultural region was added to the diverse portfolio of the Global Business program.