Analysis of Saudi Arabia’s revenue model disruption and technology trends within Jordan

While speaking with a Saudi traveler in the desert of Wadi Rum, Jordan, its been observed that disruption of Saudi Arabia’s revenue model has forced much domestic changes within the country.

The prince has brought about drastic reforms in response to the disruption much to the chagrin of traditionalist hardliners. Women are now given the rights to drive vehicles and also work. For the first time ever Saudi’s were able to see Circ Du Soleil within their country. It can be speculated that these reforms are intended to double the total number of potential workforce in the country and get the thought process of the workforce more in sync with the rest of the world as Saudi Arabia gears its economy for a world that is no longer dependent on oil for energy.

Disruption examined using Micheal Porter’s 5 forces framework

Substitutes

The shale oil innovation has put a max cap on oil prices around the world at USD80 per barrel. Traditionally oil dependent countries within the OPEC could artificially restrict oil supply to drive up oil prices. However, post the era of innovation when such strategy employed, shale oil producers will immediately start pumping supplies into the market when price becomes viable.

New entrants

The Paris Climate agreement has catalyst a movement to shift away from oil to renewable sources of energy. Already China and India have became large players of solar energy. With innovation within this sector continuously driving down costs, it is likely the world will see an inflection point whereby solar energy becomes cheaper to produce than fossil fuel based energy.

Implications

A paradigm shift will occur amongst Saudi’s in relation to their attitude towards women as independent individuals with economic autonomy as opposed to individuals whose sole function is to be on the receiving side of male attention and care.

It remains unclear the impact of social media on the the upcoming shift within population.

Its also been observed via various sources within the Bay Area that Saudi Arabia is increasingly turning to investments in technology to drive the next stage of their economic growth.

Saudi Arabia is seen as the economic trend leader within region. It is likely their eventual model will get mimicked by other oil-dependent middle eastern countries.

Other notable observations within Jordan

Asian companies like Hyundai, Toyota, Kia, Nissan have been observed to dominate the region in terms of manufactured cars. The only other notable brands that are not Asian are Mercedes and Ford.

Android and Asian companies like Samsung, Huawei and Sony have been observed to dominate the region in terms of mobile computing.

Facebook is the only social network that has been observed to deeply penetrate the region. Majority of folks utilize WatsApp. Facebook is less commonly seen on phones of users.

User huddled over Android device in Wadi Rum. To understand their needs, technologist need to become more keenly familiar with the Android OS.

Related references

  • Only the paranoid survives, Andy Grove

Reflections on King Herod’s architectural feats

In a short span of 30 years, this individual was able to build up three significant fortress within his domain

  • Herodium
  • Masada
  • Temple of Jerusalem

Sources describe him as ambitious, demanding and meticulous in planning down to the last details. These are very familiar character traits shared by the following individuals

  • Steve Jobs
  • Jeff Bezos
  • Elon Musk

Temple Mount, formerly site of Temple 2

Model of the Herodium fortress

Model of the Masada fortress

Observation on Israel and the Palestinian states

Isreal in terms of infrastructure, organization and economy is observed to be more developed than Palestine.

Walking the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, I barely see any trash. In the Palestinian States, trash is observed all over the place. The former was deliberately planned for. I observe cleaners going about their duties at 5am in the mornings.

Isreali Houses were looked clean and meticulously constructed some powered with solar panels. Some Palestinian houses remained under construction for a long time before completion. The Kibbutz is a spectacular operating stand alone model pioneered by the Israeli.

The military system in Isreal is observed to be more developed than Palestine.

The first thing my Palestinian driver mentioned as I boarded his car was that Palestinians have nothing.

The main contrast I could draw from my interactions between the two groups are the Israelis are formal and organized while the Palestinians  relationship oriented and unstructured in their organization.

The critical question I draw from all these observations is why were the Israeli able to develope their infrastructure at a much faster than the Palestinians and hence dominate the region despite having almost similar starting points post WWII?

If I dare speculate, it’s attributed to inefficient deployment of resources within the latter system due to management corruption. If a country is to be viewed as a GDP compounding machine, corruption should be viewed ad a source of leakage which detracts from the compounding effect.

As a side note, I think the original team that setup Singapore more than just borrowed the military system from Isreal. The clean and green approach to city planning might have been borrowed as well. Sections of Tel Aviv such as parks and sky lines reminds me of sections in Singapore. Last but not the least, the zero tolerance policy to

Necessity breeds innovation

Tight constrains and external pressure are fertile grounds for solutions that can perform at even higher order of magnitude than existing ones. 

Population in China and India are each at least 5 times bigger than US. The solution that exist in US might not necessary address the scale needed for these two territories. Already, specific healthcare treatment in India can be provide way better at a fraction of the cost incurred in the US.

While population in Africa might not be as high as India and China, the severe lack of infrastructure and resource of the former acts as a constrain that demands for an even better solution than what is available for waste process

This African factory turns trash into energy, clean water and bricks

Providing electricity to over 3 million people. Read more: https://wef.ch/2IwT37M

Posted by World Economic Forum on Saturday, October 6, 2018

 

Domestic waste is converted to energy and clean water through burning, while ashes are converted into bricks for building houses.  With no legacy infrastructure to deal with,  resource efficient infrastructure can be put in place from day one. Last mover advantage.

Useful references

  • Why the west rules for now: http://garyteh.com/2018/02/book-summary-why-the-west-rules-for-now/