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Glocal Mediators: Marketing in Egypt during the Open-Door Era (infitah)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2015

Relli Shechter
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Abstract

This article discusses the business strategies formulated by Egyptian marketers as they established their enterprises to meet new multinational corporations' (MNCs') demand for marketing—research, promotion, and advertising services. This transition occurred during a period of economic liberalization, known locally as the infitah (open-door era), and rapid economic growth, resulting from the regional oil-boom of the early 1970s. Local entrepreneurship and competition for accounts would create a new, “glocal” business environment in Egypt, which concurrently mediated MNCs adaptation to local economic conditions and “Egyptianized” imported goods.

Type
Special Section on the Middle East
Information
Enterprise & Society , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , December 2008 , pp. 762 - 787
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2008. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

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References

Bibliography of Works Cited

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El-Sherbini, Abdel Aziz, and Sherif Ahmed, Fouad. “Marketing Problems in an Underdeveloped Country-Egypt.” L’Egypte contemporaine XLVII 285 (July 1956), 5–85.Google Scholar
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Frierson, Elizabeth. “Cheap and Easy: The Creation of Consumer Culture in Late Ottoman Society.” In Consumption Studies and the History of the Ottoman Empire, 1550–1923, an Introduction, ed. Quataert Donald, Albany. New York: SUNY Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Harison, Anahid. “Company Profile.” Business Monthly 2, no. 7 (1986): 54–5.Google Scholar
Harrison, Anahid. “It’s Not Just What You Say It’s How You Say It.” Business Monthly 2, no. 7 (1986): 28–9.Google Scholar
Harrison, Anahid. “The Not-so-Hidden Persuaders: Advertising Catches On in Egypt.” Business Monthly 2, no. 7 (1986): 10–2.Google Scholar
Hohenstein, Cheryl. “Sizing Up the Market: Research Can Make a Difference.” Business Monthly 2, no. 7 (1986): 14–7.Google Scholar
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Kjeldgaard, Dannie, and Soren, Askegaard. “The Glocalization of Youth Culture: The Global Youth Segment as Structures of Common Difference.” Journal of Consumer Research 33 (September, 2006): 231–47.Google Scholar
Köse, Yavuz. “Nestlé: A Brief History of the Marketing Strategies of the First Multinational Company in the Ottoman Empire.” Journal of Macromarketing 27 (2007): 74–85.Google Scholar
Maynard, Michael L. “From Global to Glocal: How Gillette’s Sensor Excel Accommodates Japan.” Keio Communication Review 25 (2003): 57–75.Google Scholar
Nixon, Sean. “Re-Imagining the Ad Agency: The Cultural Connotations of Economic Forms.” In Cultural Economy: Cultural Analysis and Commercial Life, ed. Paul Du, Gay Michael, Pryke. London: Sage, 2002, 132–47.Google Scholar
Özkan, Derya, and Robert, J. Foster. “Consumer Citizenship: Nationalism, and Neoliberal Globalization in Turkey: The Advertising Launch of Cola Turka.” Advertising and Society Review 6, no. 3 (2005): Available at: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/asr/v006/6.3ozkanJoster.html (accessed September 16, 2007).Google Scholar
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Patterson, Patrick Hyder. “Truth Half Told: Finding the Perfect Pitch for Advertising and Marketing in Socialist Yugoslavia, 1950–1991.” Enterprise & Society 4 (June 2003): 179–225.Google Scholar
Raafat, Samir. “The Mass: From the 60s Music Scene.” Egyptian Mail 4 October 1997. http://www.egy.com/people/97-10-04.shtml. (accessed May 3, 2006).Google Scholar
Rice, Gillian. “Marketing Management in Egypt.” Management Decision 22, no. 4 (1984): 3–14.Google Scholar
Robertson, Ronald. “Glocalization: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogeneity.” In Global Modernities, ed. Mike, Featherstone, Scott, Lash, Ronald, Robertson. London: Sage, 1995, 23–44.Google Scholar
Saad, Rehab. “Loula Zaklama: Barriers Are for Breaking.” Al-Ahram Weekly On-Line (1998). Available at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1998/376/people.htm. (accessed May 3, 2006).Google Scholar
Saddik, Saddik. “An Analysis of the Status of Marketing in Egypt.” European Journal of Marketing 7, no. 2 (1973): 77–81.Google Scholar
Scanlon, Jennifer. “Mediators in the International Marketplace: U.S. Advertising in Latin America in the Early Twentieth Century.” Business History Review 77 (2003): 387–415.Google Scholar
Schultz, Ellen. “Will the Middle East Heat Up Again? For advertising, that is. Some experts says a new boom may not be too far off.” Adweek June 1 (1987).Google Scholar
Seidan, Monal. “The Selling Game.” El-Wekalah November (1995): 6–10.Google Scholar
Shechter, Relli. “Press Advertising in Egypt: Business Realities and Local Meaning, 1882–1956.” Arab Studies Journal 10/11, no. 2/1 (2003): 44–66.Google Scholar
Shechter, Relli. “Selling Luxury: The Rise of the Egyptian Cigarette and the Transformation of the Egyptian Tobacco Market, 1850–1914..” International Journal of Middle East Studies 35, no. 1 (2003): 51–75.Google Scholar
Spooner, Brian. “Weavers and Dealers: The Authenticity of an Oriental Carpet.” In The Social life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, Appadurai, ed. Arjun, . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Zacharias, Usha. “The Smile of Mona Lisa: Postcolonial Desires, Nationalist Families, and the Birth of Consumer Television in India.” Critical Studies in Media Communication 20, no. 4 (December 2003): 388–406.Google Scholar
Abaza, Mona. Changing Consumer Cultures of Modern Egypt: Cairo’s Urban Reshaping. Leiden: Brill, 2006.Google Scholar
Al-Dib, al-Husayni. Al-I’lan al-i’lamifi al-sahafa al-misriyya. Cairo: Maktabat al-Anglo al-Misriyya, 1989.Google Scholar
Al-Zuhayri, Tal’at. Al-Ilan bayna al-’ilm wa-al-tatbiq. Cairo: Dar al-Ma’arif, 1975.Google Scholar
Assaf, Mahmud. Usul al-i’lan fi-al-mujtama’ al-ishtiraki. Cairo: Dar al-Nashir al-‘Arabi, 1965.Google Scholar
Bazir’a, Mahmud Sadik. Al-I’lan fi al-Jumhuriya al-‘Arabiyya al-Mutahida. Cairo: Dar al-Nahda al-‘Arabiyya, 1971.Google Scholar
Boyd, Douglas A. Broadcasting in the Arab world: A Survey of the Electronic Media in the Middle East, second edition. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Cunningham, Robert B., and Yasin, K. Sarayrah. Wasta: The Hidden Force in Middle Eastern Society. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993.Google Scholar
Goldberg, Ellis. Trade, Reputation, and Child Labor in Twentieth-Century Egypt. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.Google Scholar
Goldman, Robert. Reading Ads Socially. London: Routledge, 1992.Google Scholar
Hanson, Philip. Advertising and Socialism: The Nature and Extent of Con¬sumer Advertising in the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia. London: Macmillan, 1974.Google Scholar
Kang, David C. Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Mazzarella, William. Shoveling Smoke: Advertising and Globalization in Con¬temporary India. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Richards, Thomas. The Commodity Culture of Victorian England: Advertising and Spectacle, 1851–1914. Stanford, CT: Stanford University Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Russell, Mona L. Creating the New Egyptian Woman: Consumerism, Edu¬cation and National Identity, 1863–1922. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.Google Scholar
Sabat, Khalil. Al-I’lan: tarikhuhu, ususuhu, wa-kawa’iduhu, fununuhu wa-akhlaqiyatuhu. Cairo: Maktabat al-Anjlo al-Misriyya, 1987.Google Scholar
Salamandra, Christa. A New Old Damascus: Authenticity and Distinction in Urban Syria. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Sam’an, Majdi. Al-I’lan al-tilifizyuni. Cairo: Al-Ahram, 1975.Google Scholar
Schudson, Michael. Advertising, the Uneasy Persuasion: Its Dubious Impact on American Society. New York: Basic Books, 1984.Google Scholar
Toland, Katherine, and Barbara, Mueller. Advertising and Societies: Global Issues. New York: Peter Lang, 2003.Google Scholar
Tucker, Robert. The Marx-Engels Reader. New York: Norton, 1972.Google Scholar
Waterbury, John. The Egypt of Nasser and Sadat: The Political Economy of Two Regimes. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983.Google Scholar
Watson, James, ed. Golden Arches East: McDonald’s in East Asia. Stanford, CT: Stanford University Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Zatlin, Jonathan R. The Currency of Socialism: Money and Political Culture in East Germany. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Abou-Kandil, Hisham A. “A Survey of Radio and Television Services in Egypt.” Cairo University—M.I.T Technology Planning Progam, Communication Needs for Rural Development Research Project, (report no. 1, 1979).Google Scholar
Arvidsson, Adam. “Brand Management and the Productivity of Consumption.” In Consuming Cultures, Global Perspectives: Historical Trajectories, Transnational Exchanges, ed. John, Brewer, Frank, Trentmann. Oxford, UK: Berg, 2006.Google Scholar
Church, Roy. “Advertising Consumer Goods in Nineteenth-Century Britain: Reinterpretations.” Economic History Review 53, no. 4 (2000): 621–45.Google Scholar
Dodge, Toby, and Richard, Higgott. “Globalization and Its Discontents: The Theory and Practice of Change in the Middle East.” In Globalization and the Middle East: Islam, Economy, Society and Politics, ed. Toby, Dodge, Richard, Higgott. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, Middle East Programme, 2002, pp. 13–35.Google Scholar
Elbashier, A.M., and Nicholls, J.R.. “Export Marketing in the Middle East: The Importance of Cultural Differences.” Journal of International Marketing with European Journal of Marketing 2/17, no. 1/1 (1983): 68–81.Google Scholar
El-Haddad, Awad B. “An Analysis of the Current Status of Marketing.” In International Business in the Middle East, ed. Erdener, Kaynak. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1986.Google Scholar
El-Sherbini, Abdel Aziz, and Sherif Ahmed, Fouad. “Marketing Problems in an Underdeveloped Country-Egypt.” L’Egypte contemporaine XLVII 285 (July 1956), 5–85.Google Scholar
Eltigi, Jehan Azizeldin. “The applicability of scientific advertising research methods to Egypt.” Unpublished MA thesis, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1989.Google Scholar
Frierson, Elizabeth. “Cheap and Easy: The Creation of Consumer Culture in Late Ottoman Society.” In Consumption Studies and the History of the Ottoman Empire, 1550–1923, an Introduction, ed. Quataert Donald, Albany. New York: SUNY Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Harison, Anahid. “Company Profile.” Business Monthly 2, no. 7 (1986): 54–5.Google Scholar
Harrison, Anahid. “It’s Not Just What You Say It’s How You Say It.” Business Monthly 2, no. 7 (1986): 28–9.Google Scholar
Harrison, Anahid. “The Not-so-Hidden Persuaders: Advertising Catches On in Egypt.” Business Monthly 2, no. 7 (1986): 10–2.Google Scholar
Hohenstein, Cheryl. “Sizing Up the Market: Research Can Make a Difference.” Business Monthly 2, no. 7 (1986): 14–7.Google Scholar
Jakobson, Roman. “On Linguistics Aspects of Translation.” In On Translation, ed. Reuben, A. Brower. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966 [1959].Google Scholar
Kjeldgaard, Dannie, and Soren, Askegaard. “The Glocalization of Youth Culture: The Global Youth Segment as Structures of Common Difference.” Journal of Consumer Research 33 (September, 2006): 231–47.Google Scholar
Köse, Yavuz. “Nestlé: A Brief History of the Marketing Strategies of the First Multinational Company in the Ottoman Empire.” Journal of Macromarketing 27 (2007): 74–85.Google Scholar
Maynard, Michael L. “From Global to Glocal: How Gillette’s Sensor Excel Accommodates Japan.” Keio Communication Review 25 (2003): 57–75.Google Scholar
Nixon, Sean. “Re-Imagining the Ad Agency: The Cultural Connotations of Economic Forms.” In Cultural Economy: Cultural Analysis and Commercial Life, ed. Paul Du, Gay Michael, Pryke. London: Sage, 2002, 132–47.Google Scholar
Özkan, Derya, and Robert, J. Foster. “Consumer Citizenship: Nationalism, and Neoliberal Globalization in Turkey: The Advertising Launch of Cola Turka.” Advertising and Society Review 6, no. 3 (2005): Available at: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/asr/v006/6.3ozkanJoster.html (accessed September 16, 2007).Google Scholar
Paek, Hye-Jin, and Zhongdang, Pan. “Spreading Global Consumerism: Effects of Mass Media and Advertising on Consumerist Values in China.” Mass Communication & Society 7, no. 4 (2004): 491–515.Google Scholar
Patterson, Patrick Hyder. “Truth Half Told: Finding the Perfect Pitch for Advertising and Marketing in Socialist Yugoslavia, 1950–1991.” Enterprise & Society 4 (June 2003): 179–225.Google Scholar
Raafat, Samir. “The Mass: From the 60s Music Scene.” Egyptian Mail 4 October 1997. http://www.egy.com/people/97-10-04.shtml. (accessed May 3, 2006).Google Scholar
Rice, Gillian. “Marketing Management in Egypt.” Management Decision 22, no. 4 (1984): 3–14.Google Scholar
Robertson, Ronald. “Glocalization: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogeneity.” In Global Modernities, ed. Mike, Featherstone, Scott, Lash, Ronald, Robertson. London: Sage, 1995, 23–44.Google Scholar
Saad, Rehab. “Loula Zaklama: Barriers Are for Breaking.” Al-Ahram Weekly On-Line (1998). Available at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1998/376/people.htm. (accessed May 3, 2006).Google Scholar
Saddik, Saddik. “An Analysis of the Status of Marketing in Egypt.” European Journal of Marketing 7, no. 2 (1973): 77–81.Google Scholar
Scanlon, Jennifer. “Mediators in the International Marketplace: U.S. Advertising in Latin America in the Early Twentieth Century.” Business History Review 77 (2003): 387–415.Google Scholar
Schultz, Ellen. “Will the Middle East Heat Up Again? For advertising, that is. Some experts says a new boom may not be too far off.” Adweek June 1 (1987).Google Scholar
Seidan, Monal. “The Selling Game.” El-Wekalah November (1995): 6–10.Google Scholar
Shechter, Relli. “Press Advertising in Egypt: Business Realities and Local Meaning, 1882–1956.” Arab Studies Journal 10/11, no. 2/1 (2003): 44–66.Google Scholar
Shechter, Relli. “Selling Luxury: The Rise of the Egyptian Cigarette and the Transformation of the Egyptian Tobacco Market, 1850–1914..” International Journal of Middle East Studies 35, no. 1 (2003): 51–75.Google Scholar
Spooner, Brian. “Weavers and Dealers: The Authenticity of an Oriental Carpet.” In The Social life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, Appadurai, ed. Arjun, . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Zacharias, Usha. “The Smile of Mona Lisa: Postcolonial Desires, Nationalist Families, and the Birth of Consumer Television in India.” Critical Studies in Media Communication 20, no. 4 (December 2003): 388–406.Google Scholar