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August 10, 2006

The Muslim World: What Executives Must Know

An expert on Islam tackles the role of women, Iran's quest for nukes, the stability of Iraq -- and much more

A GMJ Q&A with John L. Esposito, Ph.D., a world-renowned scholar on Islam, political Islam, and the impact of Islamic movements in Africa and Asia

The Middle East used to be mysterious to the West, but lately, many Western businesspeople are beginning to feel it's completely inexplicable. How can anyone even think of doing business there now, as Israel and Hezbollah are engaged in a bloody battle that could precipitate a wider war? Should companies invest in a region that may be on the cusp of nuclear proliferation? Will Iraq ever be stable? And while we're at it, why would some seemingly innocuous Danish cartoons inspire such a violent reaction?

These questions are the fulcrum on which billions of Western dollars teeter, and reliable answers are hard to find. That's why American and European businesspeople so often turn to John L. Esposito, Ph.D. Dr. Esposito is a university professor and a professor of religion and international affairs and of Islamic studies at Georgetown University and the founding director of Georgetown's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in the Walsh School of Foreign Service. He is also the past president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies and a consultant to governments and multinational corporations. He is editor in chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World and has authored more than 35 books, including What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam and Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam. Dr. Esposito is coauthor of the forthcoming book, Can You Hear Me? Listening to the Voices of a Billion Muslims.

In Part One of this interview, Dr. Esposito dismissed the notion that there's an unbridgeable divide between the West and the Muslim world. (See "Looking For Business in the Muslim World" in the "See Also" area on this page.) In fact, Western business leaders have developed solid and productive relationships in the Middle East for many years -- and Dr. Esposito explained how others can do it too. In this interview, Part Two of the series, Dr. Esposito discusses why profound cultural misunderstandings -- like the Danish cartoon controversy of earlier this year -- are bad for East/West business relations; what businesswomen should do in sexually segregated countries; whether or not it's a good idea to invest in Muslim countries right now; and why the worst response to Iran's nuclear ambitions is violence.

GMJ: Let's start by going back a few months. Many Danish companies lost money in the Middle East because of the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, yet many Westerners don't understand why those cartoons inspired rioting. Can you explain it?

Dr. Esposito: The Gallup Poll of the Muslim World can help people understand why the cartoon controversy occurred. What the poll showed is that if you ask Muslims what they admire about us, they say our technology and our freedoms. This goes against the conventional wisdom, post-9/11 in America. But when asked what the West can do to improve relations, they responded, "Stop denigrating our religion, thinking of Muslims and Arabs as inferior, and equating our religion with extremism."

Now, if you're doing business in the Middle East, it makes a difference if you understand this. Understanding these sentiments is crucial to understanding why the outrage over the cartoons was so broad-based -- even among educated professionals -- and why you wouldn't want to see your country inspiring that outrage.

If you knew these kinds of things would be controversial, you could distance yourself from them. You'd realize that there are economic implications to the Danish cartoons or, for that matter, the Dubai Ports World situation. These situations make it more difficult for businesspeople working overseas. If you want to continue to do business there, you must prove yourself within the society you're working in.

http://gmj.gallup.com/content/23587/The-Muslim-World-What-Executives-Must-Know.aspx