Fashion of Men's Clothing in the Culture of Qatar - Essay Example

Fashion of men’s clothing in culture of Qatar business plan Executive summary The main goal of the business is to introduce new fashion of men’s clothing in the culture of Qatar. The clothing will be customised in order to fit the people of Qatar. Culture entails the belief systems, moral values, religion, the language and norms of the people. In order to successfully launch the business, it is important that we conduct extensive research on the religion, the perceptions of the people on American companies and underlying market conditions. It is also essential for the business to integrate the clothing in to the culture of Qatar in order to avoid any cultural shocks. Professionals and experts will also be required to assist in understanding the Arabic language. Introduction Qatar is endowed with huge reserves of natural resources and is currently one of the most developing countries in the world. It is important to study the culture of Qatar before venturing in the market. Culture of Qatar is characterized by high power distance and uncertainty avoidance. Qatar people associate American companies with high capitalism and high profit motives. Qatar people prefer to establish good relationships before starting any serious business conversation. It is important to understand the norms and values of Qatar people especially while interacting with people of the opposite gender. The business will have to use professionals in order to analyses the similarities and differences of US and Qatar culture. The personnel must be able to communicate Arabic using Qatari accent in order to easily gain acceptance by the local population (Fromherz 41). Qatar men take pride in their culture and traditional clothing. Men wear a long thoub with stylish collars and buttons. During winter, men prefer either heavy fabric for the thoubs which are mainly grey, brown or black in color. Young men prefer embroided caps and cover their heads with folded square cloth. During ceremonial occasions, Qatar men wear black-gold cloak and keep one hand free in order to allow for handshakes. During the winter, men also prefer woolen sleeveless waistcoat that mainly contains camel hair (Torstrick 88). The target market The business will sell new men’s clothing fashion to Qatar people. The clothes will be customised to Qatar culture in order to attract a lot of demand. Qatar is endowed with large gas and oil reserves and the per capita GDP is one of the largest in the world. Qatar enjoys political stability and cordial relationships with the USA government. The country is favorable for US exports and has no foreign exchange controls and has allowed 100 percent foreign ownership of businesses in some sectors such as health, education and exploitation of the natural resources. The business will benefit from expanded market, reduced business risks due to diversification and increased global recognition. Qatar market offers viable opportunity from fashion men’s clothing due toe increase in the number of citizens living in the urban areas (Orr 198). Marketing strategy The target market consists of Qatar men who prefer customized clothing. Due to the increasing educated young men who prefer western clothing that is customised to their culture, the business will experience minimal resistance in penetrating the market. Customer satisfaction is key to the success of the business thus good relationships will be maintained with all the customers. The business will use Arabic language in the media advertisements and advertising themes will not be offensive to Islamic religion. In addition, the color in the advertisements will have to be grey or white in order to appeal to the culture of Qatar. The marketing staff will follow Qatar norms since male staff will not be allowed to shake hands with female customers. The business will avoid giving free gifts to first time customers since free gifts in the first business transactions may be declined by the customers. The marketing staff must also use non-verbal language that is acceptable to the culture of Qatar. In this regard, the marketing staff will be required to dress according to Qatar culture and use only facial expressions that demonstrate respect for Qatar people (Aldosari 56). Legal considerations The foreign owned companies are expected to pay corporate income taxes that range from 0 percent on less than 100,000 QR to about 35 percent on more than 5 million QR. Shipping lists, certificates of country of origin and commercial invoices are expected to accompany the goods entering in to Qatar. The customs duty is only 5 percent. The business will be required to appoint a sponsor or agent in order to conduct business especially when exporting the clothing to Qatar market. U.S firms entering Qatar market must establish a limited liability company and the US shareholding is not supposed to exceed 49 percent of the shareholding. However, the law allows the foreign companies to earn up to 80 percent of the profits in case of a joint venture whereby the foreign entity is the dominant player in the business. Cost of production Option one The first option will entail establishing a manufacturing factory in Qatar. Qatar government started issuing permanent visas to foreigners under Law No. 17 of 2004 that permits foreigners to buy freehold property. Massive development is increasing the property prices and average real estate prices for a shop are QAR 13,500 or US $ 3,705 per square meter which translates to about QAR 2,700,000 for a 200 Sq.m shop. The costs of labor in Qatar are high due to low education levels and small population. Majority of the citizens live in urban areas. On the other hand, the costs of building materials are low due to high development around the major cities. The business will have to hire expatriates who are knowledgeable about cloth design. In addition, the business will incur high costs of purchasing machinery and equipments. The business will have to establish several distribution stores in the major shopping malls. Option two Since the costs of petrol are cheaper in Qatar, the transport costs from the MENA regions are also low compared to global averages. Majority of the household goods and personal effects are transported by sea in the MENA region. This is the most affordable means of transporting goods across the neighboring countries such as Pakistan and India. The shipping costs depend on the distance and size of the containers. It is cheaper to purchase the fabrics (winter and summer cloths) in the neighboring countries such as India and Bangladesh and then turn the clothes in to thoub for sell in Qatar. For instance, it costs less than US $ 200 to transport 20 ft container than can be up to 30 cubic meters to Qatar from the neighboring countries such as Pakistan and India. It also costs less than US $ 5 to transport a kilogram of clothing by air from the neighboring countries such as India and Pakistan (Fromherz 232). Conclusion Qatar men respect and honor their culture and thoub since men usually wear a long thoub that reaches the ground. The clothes are usually clean and well ironed as a show of pride. In addition, men prefer selecting their fabric shades, the shape of the collar and buttons. Expansion in to Qatar will increase the customer base and the diversity in clothing styles. Customizing the clothing to the culture of Qatar will provide the business with unique advantage in accomplishing the company fashion statement. The marketing staff will have to understand the religious norms of Qatar people and Arabic language that is mainly used in business conversations. In addition, the staff will adhere with high power culture and respect the men in the society. According to the prevailing costs of production in Qatar and the low labor supply, it is cheaper to purchase the fabrics from the neighboring countries such as India and customize the cloth products to Qatar culture. Works cited: Aldosari, Ali. Middle East, Western Asia, and Northern Africa. New York: Marshall Cavendish. 2007. Fromherz, Allen. Qatar: a modern history. London: I.B Tauris & Co. 2011. Orr, Tamra. Cultures of the world. New York: Marshall Cavendish. 2008. Torstrick, Rebecca. Culture and customs of the Arab gulf states. Westport, CT. Greenwood. 2007. Read More