The IIFE Research Center is an institution promoting inter-disciplinary research on historical, social, and managerial issues related to Arab family businesses. IIFE plays host to visiting fellows on an annual basis, organizes research events, builds up a database on Arab business enterprise issues, organizes open competitions for research grants and doctoral scholarships, and conducts its own research projects under a set of research themes.
A IIFE Research Center project is e. g. the Arab Family Business CEO StudyThe challenges that Middle East family businesses face have been the subject of much talk in the region in recent years. But despite few high-profile events and extensive press coverage, little substantial knowledge has been generated about their history, structure, social context and managerial evolution.
The family, whether nuclear or extended, is the fundamental social unit of the Arab world. This is true not only in private social life, but also in the spheres of business, politics and even religion. Yet, while much ink has been spilled about the developmental challenges of the region from a macro-economic or institutional perspective, remarkably little research has been devoted to the informal kinship structures underlying business and politics.
Although its primary empirical focus will be the Arab world, IIFE will encourage exchange with experts on family business issues and informality focusing on other regions. It will bring together experts on family businesses in Western countries and other disciplinary specialists with experts on the region, and it will target researchers not only in business administration, economics, and Middle Eastern studies, but also disciplines such as political science, history, sociology, and anthropology.
An example of already existing IIFE Research Center project is e. g. the Arab Family Business CEO Study in cooperation with the Qatar Foundation, in which 60 qualitative expert interviews with owners and managers of leading family enterprises throughout the Arab world will allow to identify, and begin to address, core issues affecting Arab family businesses.
