Medical Equipment Inc in Saudi Arabia Case Solution

1. Does Grover understand the local culture?

Even though Grover had a strong engineering background to convince others about how Medical Equipment’s Solution could be utilized in the hospital’s system, he clearly did not understand the Saudi culture. He was misunderstood that since he was brought up in Saudi Arabia, he would probably have a good understanding of its culture. However, in reality, he was far away from the deep, embedded roots of the Saudi culture. He was born in India, and his family belonged to a Hindu background which signifies that he could not relate with the religious beliefs or the cultural traditions of the Saudis. He lived in a small compound during all of his childhood which meant that he did not really experience the true Saudi culture and had limited contact with the Saudis. He also moved to the United States for his bachelor’s degree and did internships located in France and Atlanta. Even though his experience in the Medical Equipment prepared him to work well in his job, he could not understand the Saudi culture because of the lack of physical and emotional contact with it. 

While making the deal, Grover took the wrong turn as he was not familiar with the cordial relations Al Humaidi and Hamad Najjar. If he had known about it, he would have not wasted his time on building relations with people such as the foreign cardiologist, the Egyptian biomedical engineer, and the purchasing manager, etc. Little did she know, building a rapport with Asif Sultan was of no benefit to him because the most important person to deal with was Al Humaidi. 

When it comes to business dealings, the authoritarian personalities affiliate themselves with those whom they can trust easily. Since Grover was a non-Arab and a non-Muslim, the cultural and religious differences made Al Humaidi to not trust Grover. On the other side, Hamad Najjar was an Arab, and he was in close contact with Al Humaidi in the past, which made dealings with him easier and smoother.