This research describes a proposed study that will investigate the financial and marketing feasibility of establishing a franchise outlet of a United States based entertainment company in Dubai. Dubai is one of the former seven Trucial States that joined to form the United Arab Emirates. Dubai is the second most populous of the seven states comprising the United Arab Emirates, with a population approximating 500,000. The largest state, Abu Dhabi, has a population approximating 750,000. The City of Dubai, however, is the largest urban area in the United Arab Emirates, with a population approximating 325,000. The population of the City of Abu Dhabi, by contrast, approximates 300,000. No other urban area in the United Arab Emirates has a population in excess of 150,000.
The social environment of the United Arab Emirates is somewhat more modern than many of the country's larger neighbors, such as Saudi Arabia. Television service is widely available in the larger cities of the United Arab Emirates. Foreign produced television programs, print materials, and recorded music are not censored as severely as is the case in Saudi Arabia. Thus, the social environment in the United Arab Emirates generally and in Dubai specifically are more amenable to the importation of western entertainment products than is true of many other Islamic countries in the Gulf Region.
The franchising operation the feasibility of which will be assessed in the proposed study will deal in western entertainment products. Specifically, the franchising operation will involve a retail outlet of the Warner Bros. Stores chain. The Warner Bros. Stores chain is a subsidiary of the Time Warner Entertainment Company, which is itself a subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc. The Warner Bros. Store chain is a retail distributor of recorded music and music videos produced by the Warner Music Group of Time Warner Entertainment, prerecorded video cassettes of motion pictures pr...