Strategic Marketing in the UAE - Annotated Bibliography Example

Strategic marketing in the UAE: Article review (Name) (Institution) (Course) (Instructor’s Name) Date of submission Article 1. “Dubai – A star in the east: a case study in strategic destination Branding” by Balakrishnan, M. The title of this article is catchy, self explanatory and metaphorical in nature. It directly addresses what strategic marketing of Dubai as an international destination has achieved; turning Dubai into a star, visible to everyone and ‘bright.’ The article starts off with an abstract which has the purpose statement, design, findings and research limitations and originality sections each with a brief description of the section. In the introduction, the author underscores the relevance of the paper by indicating that the destination branding industry is worth US$ 1,480 billion with some countries earning US$ 2 billion annually from successful branding. This alone highlights the importance of reading the paper especially for investors interested in this investing in the UAE. Towards the end of the introduction is the purpose statement which is to discuss the application of classical marketing and branding strategies in a destination context. This thesis is clear, brief and to the point. Matthaus (2008) indicates that a thesis statement should occur only once in the paper though the conclusion part of the paper should make reference to the thesis in one way or another. In Balakrishnan’s paper the thesis only appears in this one instance only. The use of references in the introduction section remains widely debated. Some authors argue that the introduction depends on the type of paper. For an academic article such as this one, it is highly recommended to use citations while other forms of writing do not require citations (Giltrow et al. 2005). Use of citations in the introduction however must indicate some form of generalization. Giltrow et al. (2005) state that use of citations in the introduction section may limit the ability to make generalized statements forcing authors to make specified statement that require further explanation and clarification. This particular introduction has many citations that limit the scope of the paper to branding. For instance, the author cites Blain et al (2005) to say that branding of a destination is confined to logo design and development. This therefore limits the paper to dealing with issues concerning image of the destination as tourist and investment destination only. Again, this implies that the literature review section should concentrate on image development of the UAE alone. An examination of the literature review section will confirm or negate this. There is a section that precedes the literature review titled “Destination branding: academic foundation for framework development” which serves as part of the literature review going by its contents. This section gives an overview of the theories that have been used in the past to brand and market destinations which mainly deal with image development. It is at this juncture that the author makes it known that he intends to use a theoretical framework using the qualitative paradigm. He does this by mentioning a number of destination specific branding theories applied in marketing some destinations around the world. This implies that there is no consistency in the theories as their suitability heavily relies on the context. The other subheading that follows is “Dubai, a star in the Middle East” which is actually a portion of the title of the paper. This section functions as an introduction to the literature review section of the paper in that it aims to ignite the interest of the audience by stating some interesting facts about Dubai from existing literature. For instance, the author mentions the ranking of the city among other popular global tourist and investment destination. He also intentionally captures the imagination of investors by citing the level of investment in monetary terms. The section has also a number of citations to support his claims. The literature review is clearly titled “A brief literature review: discussion of key elements” which warns the audience over the brevity of this particular section. It is expected that the literature review section provides ideas and theories that are relevant to the topic in discussion. These ideas should be objective and well balanced in an argumentative sense. The depth of the ideas presented in any literature review section largely depends on the number of sources cited. In this particular case, the author has used numerous sources bearing in mind that the research is a secondary one. The author uses numerous secondary sources, such as government reports, past studies and books as his sources of data in the literature review section. The specified use of these sources is indicated through in-text citations. The in-text citations are also internet links of the references though there is no reference list at the end. This simplifies the audience’s attempt to clarify information from the sources. Majority of academic paper formatting styles require that all citations used in the body of the paper must be listed at the end of the paper in full. The reference list gives full name of the author(s), journal article or book title (Giltrow et al. 2005; Murray 2009). This is necessary to assist the audience to carry further research if need be. There are also bullets used where information is presentable in point form. This provides ease of reading and breaks the monotony of the paper. The subheadings on the other hand also break the monotony and classify information appropriately for ease of reading. Readers can easily memorize information presented in point form rather than in essay form. However, an essay format creates a clear flow of thoughts and continuity that lacks where information is presented in point form. Combining the two forms of writing helps in attaining the benefits of both forms of writing and minimizing each other’s weaknesses. The paper is organized well with an abstract, introduction, discussion and conclusion and recommendations sections. The paper deviates from the normal structure as it lacks methodology because it is a secondary research. One major weakness of the paper however is its lack of a reference list and a list of figures. In the body of the paper, there are citation of some figures and the numerous sources which are not listed at the end of the paper. The article has very little to offer in terms of product and service marketing. However, it presents very relevant tips for tourism and business destination marketers using strategies used in product marketing. Most tips in this case dwell on the economic aspects that attract business investors and not leisure travelers. The author indicates that destinations have to spread their brand portfolio to reduce the investment risk something that makes Dubai more competitive than other destinations. Unlike Singapore which is famous for business and not leisure, Dubai combines both. While majority of the literature deals with marketing a destination as a tourist or business one, this paper combines both. The presentation of the paper as whole is very clear. The author makes use of in text references that allow further research and credit his work. The paper is well structured with subheadings useful in locating specific information. However, the article is very long and may make a boring reading. It is highly recommended that the author uses tables and figures that are easy to grasp and also break monotony. For instance, he should have used graphs showing growth in investment in Dubai after each branding initiative such as economic policies. Article 2. “Tourism in Dubai: overcoming barriers to destination development” by Henderson, J. The title of this article is clear and gives a one line summary of the whole article. Although the article does not show the credentials of the author, it indicates his affiliation with Nanyang Technological University of Singapore giving it some credibility. The first section is the abstract which gives a brief description of the article. Matthaus (2008) says that an abstract should serve as the core marketing element of the paper in that it informs the audience what the paper is all about at a glance. He says that an abstract should summarize the paper indicating the major findings of the paper. The length of the abstract should be approximately 250 words which also depend on the length of the paper. The abstract should also consist of just one paragraph. This article follows these specifications as it contains 147 words, mentions major research finding and also has just one paragraph. The introduction in any paper is meant to familiarize the readers with the context of the topic of the paper and the purpose of the paper. In this particular article, the introduction gives the background of the discussion by noting that the political and environmental climates in the Middle East are not suitable for tourism. Furthermore, the UAE as a country lacks conventional natural attractions for tourists yet the country has succeeded in attracting tourists. The introduction has the purpose statement towards the end which is to explore the development factors and barriers in Dubai as a destination. This single statement clarifies the title of the article. While the title of an article has the capacity to pinpoint the contents of the paper, a thesis statement spells out the particular issues mentioned in the title that the paper addresses. The introduction part also carries a simple outline of the whole article. The article uses government sources, international agencies and books in the literature review. Government and international agencies sources such as the WTO carry the most recent information for an article published in 2006. The article has used the correct in-text referencing of author and year of publication. However, compared to other articles, the author has used references rather sparingly. The use of sources indicates the extent of the research. Some authors may prefer an intensive research that gives weight to a few sources but cites them many times while some writers may prefer using many sources to support a single argument. In this case, Henderson opted to do with many sources to support his arguments. Although it is clear that Henderson used many sources for his paper, the number of in-text citations is not consistent with some critical points in the paper presented without a single citation. For instance, the first paragraph under the ‘promotion’ subheading has no citation. Towards the end of this paragraph, the author writes “The creek, a natural sea-water inlet that divides the city, is depicted as a venue for cruises, some on traditional dhows, and its banks are leisure spaces” (Henderson p.94). However, he does not clarify who depicts the creek as a venue for cruise ships. This is one example of poor use of references among others in this paper. The flow of this literature review section is interrupted by easy to read tables that indicate the trends on annual tourism growth in Dubai and a map that shows the UAE and its neighbors. Use of tables in and diagrams in academic writing allows the author to present information using the least space and time. Where the tables are well organized, it is easier for the audience to understand and take in a lot of information with ease as opposed to reading long paragraphs of information that can be tabulated. The section has also well structured subheadings with each of the factors necessary for marketing a destination and challenges involved given a subheading. Given that the article relies on secondary data, the methodology section is missing while the discussion and analysis and the literature review are combined. The conclusion section winds up the paper and makes some notes such as the fact that destinations should manage macro-environmental challenges into assets. This article has some poor organization and structure. The author does not first of all recognize the importance of structuring his paper in the conventional methods of research papers that comprise the literature review and discussion sections among others that are common both in secondary and primary research studies (Murray 2009). He does not provide a methodological approach to his study but starts of with subheadings as part of a very long literature review. He ignores the importance of theoretical models in his research. Although he does not make it explicitly known, his research follows a conceptual framework inspired by the phenomenal ability of Dubai to compete well internationally with other tourist destinations despite lacking the conventional tourists’ offerings. The article links the problem statement in the introduction very well with the body of the paper in the conclusion. The author goes to the problem of Dubai not possessing any traditional factors necessary for tourism. He mentions the fact that Dubai has only succeeded as a tourism destination through its strategic ability to turn its disadvantages such as desert conditions into assets. This motivates and challenges marketers, both conventional marketers and destination marketers to look at the bigger picture and think outside the box. The article does not present new knowledge nor does it offer a new paradigm in destination marketing. It only deepens the knowledge further and addresses the macro-environment as a determinant in destination attractiveness. Existing literature covers this deeply to show that same way as products, destinations’ visibility and awareness in the market must be enhanced and the qualities and benefits of the brand made known to the target market. This is just what the paper is emphasizing albeit using Dubai as a case study. It thus indicates the practical application of marketing knowledge suggested by destination marketing literature. The title of the paper suggests that the scope of the paper is limited to overcoming barriers in destination marketing. However, the author broadens the scope of the paper by mentioning the factors necessary for destination development and marketing. This alone implies that the paper might be a case study of Dubai as an arid destination without the conventional tourist attractions but it also gives useful information to destination marketers. Such factors are discussed in the case of Dubai looking at the contextual elements. The paper is easy to read as it uses simple structured sentences. Long sentences tend to confuse readers and meaning maybe lost. To break the monotony of the paper, the author has inserted interesting facts about other countries around the world and contrasts them to Dubai. This helps to break monotony and keep readers interested. The paper uses a formal and informative style throughout. It presents facts and no models and theories are suggested but comparative information is given. The conclusion of the article notes that Dubai has been successful in using its environmental weaknesses such as the arid conditions to attract tourists. He notes that the strategies used by Dubai should be borrowed by other regions and countries keen on increasing tourist arrivals in other countries. Article 3. “Brand Dubai: The instant city; or the instantly recognizable city” by Bagaeen, S. The title of this article is very creative and contains more than what meets the eye. As a brand, Dubai is undergoing a marketing phase as a tourist destination. As an instant city, it presents what a city should provide promptly and with ease while it is simply recognizable internationally going by the number of arrivals. This indicates that the Dubai brand has great brand awareness. The abstract of the article starts off by labeling Dubai as a combination of Las Vegas, New York and Miami. This outright captures the attention of the audience in seeking to understand a wholesome city such as Dubai. The introduction thus gives the background situation and indicates problem of the paper which is to explain the success of marketing Dubai as a tourist and business destination. The success of Dubai as narrated in the introduction serves as motivation of other destination marketers. The author does this by showing how other cities and countries in the Arab world such as Riyadh, Doha, Qatar and Bahrain have followed suit by imitating Dubai’s branding strategies. The author thus seems to directly address destination marketers. His comparing of Dubai with other destinations such as Qatar and Doha is meant to stimulate creativity in destination marketing. This is because the author does not make any solid reference to contemporary branding strategies. The paper is not an actual research but a discussion of the strategies used in Dubai using secondary sources such as books and government press releases. There is no actual subheading labeled literature review hence the whole paper as a discussion using secondary sources comes out as a literature review. This is different from other research papers that follow a conventional structure that has a literature review and a discussion for secondary research. The discussion is organized into a number of subheadings each discussing a particular issue. This is very convenient for readers to locate specific information within the article. There are a number of photographs which precisely show some of Dubai’s highrise buildings. Again, there are tables that give immense information using very little space and are easy to analyze. The author makes interesting observations of the infrastructure in Dubai and says that it is critical in facilitating distribution systems for marketers operating in the country. The city has a number of hi-tech airports and seaports that connect it to the rest of the world. The title of this paper indicates that the work is all about discussing Dubai. However, the author has used the image of Riyadh at the beginning of the paper even before including an image of Dubai. It would have been expected that Dubai, as the subject of discussion, should be given precedence. A reader might confuse the content of the paper since the title of the article and the first image that catches the readers’ attention are not the same. It would have been better had the first image been that Dubai city and then that of Riyadh can be included later. The author has used a wide range of sources to support his claims in the paper. Not much of his claims rely on theories but on a number of observable facts such as Dubai’s growth in population and the continued growth of arrivals. This conforms to a qualitative approach in research where the researcher aims at showing how phenomena conforms to a particular pattern rather than the qualitative approach where researchers tend to concentrate on proving theories (Giltwo et al 2005). The author has used a combination of parenthetical referencing and endnotes. Many academic institutions and paper referencing and formatting styles insist on consistency when it comes to citations styles (Murray 2009). This weakens the professional presentation of the paper. Another area that weakens the paper is inconsistency in the length of paragraphs where some are very long and others relatively short. The indenting of the first line of paragraphs is also not consistent. The first paragraph of each section is not indented while subsequent ones have their first line indented. The conclusion of the paper contains the longest direct citation from a source. This contradicts what Matthaus (2008) and Giltrow et al. (2005) suggest about conclusions in that they should ideally provide a link between the purpose statement and the body of the paper. Citations in the conclusion imply that the author himself did not learn anything from the research as it is supposed to present his views on the findings. Furthermore, they also weaken the originality of the paper as whole since the author’s contribution in the paper is overshadowed whilst it should come out strongly in the conclusions made. The article’s appendix section appears in ahead of the references and endnotes section as opposed to the common style where the appendix appears as the last. While use of appendixes where necessary is recommends, the appendix in this paper is very detailed and competes with the content of the actual body of the paper. Furthermore, the fact that the appendix is located nest to the conclusion implies that some readers may overlook the subheading assume it’s a continuation of the paper. Alternatively, the appendix signifies the end of a paper and hence other readers may assume that the paper has no reference list f endnotes. Although the title of the paper promises to be broad in addressing destination marketing, it leans towards infrastructure and the construction industry as the new factors in destination marketing. He notes that the highrise buildings and the construction industry not only provide employment but also creates a business environment. This is a factor often considered to be a result of high investment in a destination but not a motivator for investment. This is a new approach in destination marketing which suggests that construction firms and related businesses invest in a country with a robust construction industry. The paper slows freely with various images depicting major buildings in Dubai and competing cities such as Doha and Riyadh catching the eye. This however gives the paper an informal look close to a magazine pullout or a newspaper article. Nonetheless, it is an important aspect in marketing as a package. Though the images are inside the article, they act as the packaging of the article as a glance at the article as whole reveals them conspicuously. The structuring of the paper is very essential and comparing Dubai to other cities such as Singapore and Riyadh helps point out the strategic marketing activities taken up by Dubai. It is important to note that Dubai is not only competing with other cities in the Arab world but also other international business and tourism destinations. Article 4. “Islamic marketing ethics and its impact on customer satisfaction in the Islamic banking industry” by Hassan, A., Chachi, A and Latiif, S. The article’s title is in sentence form, one that summarizes the entire article and contains some of the key words in the article. The credentials of the three authors of the article are clearly indicated in italics just after the authors’ names. Indicating the credentials of the authors increases the credibility of the paper as the audience feels assured that the authors have the authority and knowledge in that field. It assures the audience that the information contained in the articles can be relied upon. The abstract explains some of the key words and in English and Arabic and sets the groundwork for discussing meeting consumer needs ethically in Islamic banking. The introduction is too long for such a paper as it consists of eight paragraphs. Nonetheless, it is very detailed and explains the difference between Islamic banking and conventional banking. The introduction also has the purpose statement which is to spot the significant traits of Islamic marketing ethics and to examine the feasible task of Islamic ethical sales actions as may be perceived by the Islamic Banking clientele. The literature review section explains the five P’s of the marketing mix from an Islamic perspective. They indicate that this topic warrants an open discussion given that the ethics in Islamic banking are purely based on Q’uran teachings. The article addresses each of the P’s individually drawing support from secondary sources. The author uses both marketing and Islamic sources. Some of the marketing literature is up-to-date while some sources are outdated such as Wray (1991). The Islamic sources are relatively old which is normal for religious books eg. al-Ukhuwwah (1938). This section is well structured with well numbered subheadings each addressing a specific issue. The conclusion part of the paper details the implications of the paper’s findings on the marketing industry especially Islamic nations such as the UAE. The authors indicate that there is little literature on Islamic banking given that some paragraphs have no citations. They note that this is because the west has not been interested in investing in the Arab world in the past as it is today. This implies that paper is very timely in filling out a lacking field of knowledge in Islamic banking. The discussion of 4 P’s of marketing in a cultural and religious context is very relevant for all marketers in different fields. Ethics is nothing new and is a relevant issue in marketing especially involving how marketers relate with customers in a cultural and religious context. However, this subject is very critical in addressing the growth of the UAE which is largely a Muslim nation which has managed to surpass the religion issue to attract investors from all corners of the world. Although Islamic banking has been viewed to oppose to capitalistic ideas which are profit based, world famous capitalistic corporations have invested in Dubai where majority of the banks are Islamic. The article has some inconsistency in the indenting of first lines of paragraphs. Some sections under some subheadings have their first line of their first paragraphs indented while others do not. This inconsistency indicates that the authors did not use any particular formatting style. Learning institutions and journal editors insist on having a consistent formatting style for all papers. In almost all sections of the paper divided by subheadings, the paragraphs have constant length. A paper that has uneven lengths in paragraphs may lead to suspicion among readers that some ideas have not been covered adequately in the paper or others have been combined into one. This emanates from the conventional understanding in academic circles that each paragraph should have a point or an idea of its own. Another strength observable in how the authors organized their paragraphs is the very obvious topic sentences in each paragraph. The first sentence of each paragraph should capture the main point in the paragraph. At the same time, that first line should show continuity from the last sentence of the previous paragraph. This allows smooth flow of ideas and helps the audience in following the arguments presented in the paper. This also encourages the audience to read the paper up to the end and also enhances understanding. The authors have included the reference list at the end of the paper in the right manner indicating the authors’ names, year of publication, city of publication and year of publication. This is very helpful to readers as they cannot locate such sources easily in a library. However, some of these sources listed here only appear once in the entire text. Thus, by having a long reference list, the authors create an impression of wide but shallow research in writing their work. This erodes the credibility of the paper. This article in its entirety underscores the importance of ethics and cultural consideration in the marketing process. While other articles considered have mainly deal with marketing the UAE, this one deals with ethical considerations in the financial services marketing and specifically Islamic banks. These Islamic banks have been critical in the growth of the UAE as an investment destination providing financial support to investors there and even the local people. As a country whose 70% of the population comprises expatriates, it implies there is need for money transfer services from the country to a number of others. This implies that these banks are also ethical issues when dealing with money transfer in light of currency fluctuations. However, the article does not shed enough light on this issue to discuss whether the Islamic banks make ethically acceptable profits from money transfer services. This would make an interesting read but the authors have given it a wide berth. This article is very simple to read. Although the authors constantly use Arabic terms, they do explain them and indicate their relevance to banking. These have a cultural element and they create an informal perception of the paper that aids in the learning process in breaking the monotony. They have used numbers to jot down main points where necessary. Towards the end, the authors list down their recommendation clearly although they do not support them clearly from the literature review. References Bagaeen, S. “Brand Dubai: The instant city; or the instantly recognizable city” International planning studies. 12.2 (2007): 173–197. Print Balakrishnan, M. “Dubai – A star in the east: a case study in strategic destination Branding.” Journal of Place Management and Development. 1.1 (2008): 62-91. Print Giltrow J., et al. Academic writing: an introduction. London: Broadview Press 2005. Print Hassan, A., Chachi, A and Latiif, S. “Islamic marketing ethics and its impact on customer satisfaction in the Islamic banking industry” Journal of King Abul University: Islamic Economics. 21.1 (2008): 27-46. print Henderson, J. “Tourism in Dubai: overcoming barriers to destination development.” International journal of tourism research. 8.2 (2006): 87–99. print Matthau, A. Academic Writing - Student Term Papers - Structure, Introductions, Conclusions. New York: GRIN Verlag. 2008.Print Murray, R. Writing for Academic Journals. London: McGraw-Hill International. 2009 Print Read More