1. One of the most important skills to learn in management economics is the ability to identify a good business. Discuss four characteristics of a good business.
There are many characteristics of a good business. It usually varies from industry to industry. However, there are qualities or characteristics of a business that could be generic for every field. One of the generic characteristics of a good business is diversity. In the Mubadallah Case Study it was clear how undiversified the whole organization was. The company only focused on oil and then even more extra oil investments and almost nothing else. The end result usually is economical imbalance. Second on the list is Collaboration. A business should be able to continuously maintain a good level of collaboration within and outside the boundaries of the organization (Alexander, 2008). Delegation is the keyword here. With proper delegation comes great collaboration. Third is good customer service. A business with relevant and good customer service will always be a good business. Businesses are nothing without customers and clients after all. Lastly and most importantly is profit organization. In the Mubadalah Case, there was this company (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority) who continued to let out huge sums of money for investments within and outside the country for over 30 years. Their net worth soon shook up to $500 billion to $900 billion.
2. Is Mubadalah a Good Business? What makes Mubadalah a Good or Bad Business?
Mubadalah is a good company. One of the most important things to consider in running a business is profit. Therefore, it all usually goes back to the money that a business can make. A business can only operate as long as there is money. It’s what fuels a business; a business without money is a crippled business. Mubadalah is an international investment company and most of its profits come from different gas and oil organization. Mubadalah definitely knows how to turn the geographical advantages of U.A.E into a source of revenue. The CEO knows that the company will gain a lot of benefits if they will invest in a commodity which is abundant in their country but has high demands from all over the world. These are the things that make Mubadalah a good business.
3. Mubadalah is an international investment business; it relies heavily in many countries around the globe. However, it is clearly absent from the United States markets. In your opinion, why is that the case? Since the United States is a good Market that offers high returns on investment capital.
This phenomenon, in my opinion, could be due to a collection of different factors. First this could be due to the tension between the United States and the countries in the Middle East. The terrorism events that occurred not more than a decade ago had really affected the way how investment and other types of business dealings are done. Another factor that we can see in the study is the fact that there are certain policies from both sides (United Arab Emirates and United States policies) that create conflicts, making corporate transactions to and from both sides complicated.
Nevertheless, U.A.E. and U.S. still have strong ties despite these factors. In fact, “U.A.E. emerged as the largest trading partner with the United States, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Israel” (Abdelal & Tarsis, 2011). So, we could assume that there isn’t much to worry about. The companies from both sides just have to continue improving their services so that they could maintain the already-stable economic ties and hopefully, strengthen that tie in the future.
Works Cited
Abdelal, R., & Tarsis, I. Mubadala: Forging Development in Abu Dhabi. Harvard Business School. 2011.
Alexander. Characteristics of a good business. Alexander Properties. 2008.
