A.T. Kearney launches National Transformations Institute in the Middle East

The global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney has launched a National Transformations Institute in the Middle East to support local governments and organisations with strategic planning as the region embarks on a series of ambitious economic reforms.

As an era of economic and social change sweeps through the Middle East in response to the dramatic plunge in oil prices, the Global Business Policy Council, an international A.T. Kearney strategic think-thank which advises on developments in the geopolitical, economic, social, and technological realms, has unveiled a dedicated regional operations unit to be based in Dubai.

The National Transformations Institute, to be led by Rudolph Lohmeyer, the Vice President of the Global Business Policy Council and a recognised international expert in long-term strategic planning, will offer support services to the Middle East’s public and private sectors as the region undergoes a period of recalibration through a number of bold national transformation programmes.

Following in the wake of the dive in global oil prices, and the consequent need to diversify local economies away from a reliance on resources, numerous Middle East governments, and in particular those of the GCC, have set course for new frontiers with a broad range of measures that will have an enduring impact on the region at large, laid out in enterprising national agendas such as the Vision 2030 and Vision 2021 projects of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.“The Middle East is one of the most rapidly and deeply transforming regions in the world. We are seeing governments courageously committed to driving historic change with unprecedented speed for the benefit of future generations,” Lohmeyer said at the launch of the new A.T. Kearney Institute, “It is therefore the ideal place to create a laboratory for understanding the changing nature of national transformations and the levers of action for guiding them to the desired results.”

But the consulting firm also warned that the next three to five years would be critical, with Lohmeyer adding; “This is a finite window with a time limit. The choices made now will really extend influence even more than they usually would into the long term… It’s a very favourable window, a very attractive set of circumstances. However, there are no easy fixes and on the contrary the hard day-to-day work on reform is going to be crucial.”

Lohmeyer cited several specific challenges and opportunities facing the region's policymakers if their efforts are to pay off, including greater intraregional economic integration, capturing the increasing volumes of trade-flow, and attracting significantly higher levels of untapped foreign direct investment, with the firm already firing its first shot across the bow in respect to the latter, suggesting that countries in the Middle East will need to promote the ‘transparent enforcement of the rule of law” in order to so. 

Just recently, fellow strategy and management consulting outfit Strategy& has further suggested that the governments of the GCC should consider setting up behavioural insight units to better ensure the success of the region's transformation endeavours.