Saudi Arabia needs a technology company which enables its people to access internet more easily on a daily basis. Obviously, Google, Facebook, and Tencent are the top three picks for Saudi Arabia. Tencent won the race due to its unique comparative advantages: the ability to deal with government relationships.
Located in mainland China, Tencent owns more than half of the market; QQ, one of Tencent’s products, is rated as the most Convenience and commonly used chatting tool in China. While the software of Tencent is generating huge profit for the company, Tencent also aware that how it is interacting with the government. In fact, Tencent has developed a team to deal with the relationship with the government.
Like Tencent, thousands of large corporations and small businesses are working closely with the government. “Being in loved with the government, but not marry them,” said Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group. In short, due to political reasons, the companies located in countries where the government has the control power of the economy such as China, India and Saudi Arabia, usually have the soft skills to make the government happy.
Saudi Arabia picked Tencent due to the following reasons:
Firstly, Tencent has the experience of creating job opportunities. It helped the chinese government to lower the unemployment rate. Second, Tencent owns a software called QQ Pay; like Paypal, QQ Pay processes many transactions every day. It is an easy payment method which speeds up the cash flow, and it really helps on promoting economic growth for a country. Third, Tencent is capable of helping a nation in many aspects. Tencent is not just a software company; it also provides the government with assistance in the fields such as medical care and military. Lastly, as the largest leading provider of Internet value-added services, Tencent represents China to engage with Saudi Arabia. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has developed an important friendship with China in terms of business, tourism, and military. Therefore, by accepting Tencent, Saudi Arabia strategically maintains its relationship with China.
Looking back at Google and Facebook, we easily discover that both of them operating under a country of capitalism. In comparison to the companies such as Tencent and Alibaba, Google and Facebook appear to be not acquainted in dealing relationships with government. Note that Tencent and Alibaba located where the government has a great control of the market. In fact, Tencent, Google, and Facebook function the same for Saudi Arabia. However, it is like making friends, Tencent’s personality fits Saudi Arabia better, or in fact, it fits the government better.
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