The Efficacy of U.S. Business Education in the Transfer of Management Technology—The Case of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This article reports on a study that examined the relative importance accorded to a series of managerial skills by Saudi managers who had obtained their undergraduate business education in the United States. It investigated the degree to which certain micro and macro factors may act as barriers to the application of these skills in Saudi Arabia. The results suggest that the top-ranking impeding variables (authoritarian leadership style, resistance to new ideas, and lack of qualified staff) all relate to intrafirm factors. Implications of the findings are discussed.