OPPapers.com

Management

INFLUENCES ON RETAIL SERVICE QUALITY IN THE GULF REGION: LESSONS FOR ENTREPRENEURS

Peter Raven Associate Professor Department of Management Albers School of Business and Economics Seattle University 900 Broadway Seattle, WA 98122-4340 Phone (206) 296-5763 FAX (206) 296-2083 pvraven@seattleu.edu

Dianne H.B. Welsh John J. Kahl, Sr., Chair in Entrepreneurship Executive Director Muldoon Center for Entrepreneurship John Carroll University

October 2002 USASBE Conference January 23-26, 2003 Keywords: Retail, Service Quality, Gulf Region, Kuwait, Lebanon

INFLUENCES ON RETAIL SERVICE QUALITY IN THE GULF REGION: LESSONS FOR ENTREPRENEURS ABSTRACT The Middle East is a growing and lucrative marketplace. This exploratory study examines retail service in the Gulf Region, particularly in Kuwait and Lebanon, regions with long histories of trade. Retail service, however, has not been well documented in this region. This is an early study examining customer and salespeople perceptions of service encounters in these countries, in light of their culture, religion, and nationalities. As retailers expand into new markets worldwide, such information is vital to their success. INTRODUCTION Prior to the Gulf War and the 9/11 attacks on the United States, many in the U.S., and other Western countries, knew very little about the Middle East. Westerners generally recognize the Middle East as an oil-rich region, but few have a deeper understanding of the market opportunities in this region (Abbasi and Hollman, 1993). The discovery of commercial quantities of oil in the 1930s enabled the transformation of a nomadic desert society to the economically and ethnically varied countries of the modern Middle East (Commerce, 2001). Today, Middle Eastern economies are diversifying and wealth is spreading beyond the royal families to those in lower socio-economic classes. Growing middle and upper-middle classes have spurred the development of retail stores in the Gulf Region. These changes...