MARCH 2009
EDITORIAL
COMMENT
Defective democracy
Arabs vote, but 'free' or 'fair' not in the election vocabulary
Norbert Schiller
EXECUTIVE INSIGHTS
Dialing into customer-centricity in telecom expansion
Calling customer centricity
Hilal Halaoui and Adel Belcaid
Investing in a more caring and considerate corporate image
A caring corporate image
Mark Helou and Ramsay G. Najjar
Successful development of small and medium-sized enterprises
Succeeding in SME development
Ziad Ferzly
Carbon offsets - the moral and necessary future of business
Carbon offsets & commerce
Armen Vartanian
LEVANT
Lebanon – Storm brews in cedar seas
Proposed mega-project dredging up environmental battle
Executive Staff
Expanding coverage
Lebanese insurers still see growth despite a sinking world economy
Executive Staff
Ripe for fresh businesses
Excess liquidity and loans programs should sow harvest of SMEs
Executive Staff
Ever the snow bunnies
Despite the warmer weather, skiers are lining up for the chair lifts
Executive Staff
Rockin’ the shop
Music business in Beirut keeps the beat even in an off-key industry
Executive Staff
GCC
The dollar’s exposure
Greenback’s sway around the world wears a litany of liabilities
Executive Staff
Opportunity in Dubai’s crisis
Cheaper rents and declining wages lower start-up costs for businesses
Executive Staff
A parking lot like no other
‘Barwa Al Baraha’ set to be the world’s biggest truck park
Executive Staff
Antoine Drean & Jean Aboumrad – Q&A
A chat with the chairman/CEO and the managing director
Executive Staff
NORTH AFRICA
Industrial ambitions
Rabat unveils plan to carry the economy on the back of industry
Executive Staff
BANKING & FINANCE
Merrill Lynch – Gary Dugan (Q&A)
The managing director and chief investment officer in the EMEA
Executive Staff
National Bank of Abu Dhabi – Michael H. Tomalin
An exclusive interview with the chief executive
Executive Staff
UAE – Sovereigns of solvency
Abu Dhabi cushions banks with capital, Dubai may need to do the same
Executive Staff
BUSINESS ESSENTIALS
FINANCIAL INDICATORS
CAPITALIST CULTURE
Rule of law – Mr. Lebanon’s redress
What the Hariri tribunal means for Lebanese justice
Michael Young