Mohamed Hareb Al Otaiba (MHAO), one of the oldest diversified business groups in the UAE, has just completed a major revamping of its organisational structure to position itself strategically in a highly competitive market in time for its diamond jubilee year in 2006.

MHAO has taken these strategic measures in its pursuit for excellence in all areas, particularly in customer service, in a bid to cater to the changing market trends and meet sophisticated customer demands.
Today, the group proudly boasts a complete understanding of its clients’ needs and a reputation built on solid bedrock of trust and integrity, which has helped it to forge lasting relationships with its decades-old clientele.
MHAO is involved in the supply, installation, commissioning and after-sales service of equipment for major projects in commercial kitchens and laundries; domestic appliances and kitchen cabinetry; bowling centres; sports, health and leisure centres and office automation products.
As agents and distributors, MHAO represents leading brands of home appliances such as Bosch and Baumatic; Nashuatec office automation products and other office equipment; Scotsman, Foster Convotherm in the field of commercial kitchen equipment, and sports and leisure brands like Brunswick, and Cybex.
Exclusivity is the hallmark of Otaiba’s highly-discerning clients: The group is the official agent, business partner and OEM product dealer of premium brands of commercial kitchen equipment, state-of-the-art office automation systems for hi-tech offices, recreational and sporting equipment for the leisure sports industry, hospitality equipment for luxury resorts, and domestic appliances and kitchens for large-scale development projects.
Backed by the vast experience it has gained in diverse local market segments, the group has recently turned many of its divisions into separate companies working under the larger umbrella of Al Otaiba Group and has invested heavily in setting up a specialised premier customer services company – AOS.
In the process of its evolution into a truly service-centric entity, the transformation in the company’s strategic and operational thinking has been far-reaching.
“I’ve never been one for looking at incremental changes, it’s always huge leaps in performance,” says CEO Sunil Prabhakaran, who is leading the surge of the 60-year-old company.
“In the face of a market that has changed and customers whose demands are substantially different today, Mohamed Hareb Al Otaiba is driven by a service vision. People today are buying results, not products or services – they see products and services as a means to achieve the results they want and those results are our deliverables, managed by the customer value equation.”
From humble beginnings in 1946, the group has come a long way, never losing sight of the larger objective of becoming the most reliable organisation, committed to quality, ultimate customer services and client satisfaction, says Prabhakaran.
From general trading, the company moved on to the air-conditioning business in 1950 and later took up domestic appliances, furniture and industrial kitchens, which were the booming sectors back in 1980s. The drive to diversify its portfolio resulted in Al Otaiba becoming the sole agent of Avis. Sports equipment and many other divisions were created, nurtured and matured over the decades during which the company’s list of prestigious principals has kept on growing.
The company has evolved into a group that not only handles world-renowned brands but also focuses on value propositions to establish its competitive differentiation in the supply, installation, commissioning and after-sales service of commercial kitchens and laundry equipment, domestic appliances, leisure and sports centres, such as bowling facilities, as well as office equipment.
As a market leader, it was natural for MHAO to expand its horizons and explore foreign markets in the Middle East, South Asia and Central Asia. Taking advantage of having a base in Dubai – which is considered the re-export hub in the region – MHAO had concentrated its efforts on increasing its exports, which today contribute more than 15 per cent of the total income of the group.
Feasibility studies are conducted and markets are continuously evaluated by MHAO, which intends to make its presence felt in overseas markets, besides servicing its home base in the UAE in a professional manner.
Today, there probably isn’t an area of operations in which MHAO doesn’t hold sway. Al Otaiba has expanded into a group that handles renowned brands like Avis Rent-A-Car, Xerox Emirates, Al Otaiba and Garg Contracting, Clarion Dubai and Mitsubishi Corporation.
 “Most client demands are specific, whether the project is a bowling centre or a five-star kitchen. And that’s our strength –  we have a team of professionals simply to cater to these requests. A solution is not a solution unless it’s custom,” he adds.
Al Otaiba’s ambitious turnaround has been tackled on three fronts: service, process re-engineering and expansion.
The buzzword around which the company is building its change management plan is service. AOS has been specifically created to lead the company’s strategic service vision through its various companies/divisions.
“The concept travels across the board. This service focus will enable us to differentiate our offerings and deliver better value,” says Prabhakaran. “We believe that our ambitious plan can only be achieved by developing the internal capability of the workforce to maximise all that the company is capable of.’’
Critical re-engineering has been implemented through the installation of ERP/CRM (enterprise resource planning/customer relationship management) and a host of other software applications, including an inhouse-designed TRM (time and resource management) package.
“We are positioning ourselves as a company of ideas and will be seen as an innovative, market-driven company, which will fill existing vacuums or pre-empt market needs. It’s not make-and-sell that drives us; it’s sense-and-respond,” he comments.
Expansion forms the third prong of the company’s plan. The company is planning to get into further business areas, and these are selected for their sheer synergy with existing operations. Prabhakaran also sees a synergistic vertical expansion, incorporating new departments that will both collaborate with in-house sections and consult with outside companies.
“One of our major achievements is the design and development of AOS – based on the principles of customer value equation and service profit chain, enabling MHAO to align with its strategic service vision, the premise being that the whole corporate is a service delivery system. AOS is being developed as the ‘result’ provider for the entire MHAO group – pre, during and post sales,” he explains.
 “The philosophy of demerging divisions and converting them into independent profit centres sits perfectly with our theme of expansion and growth.  Each of our companies – be it Homewide, Corporate Connections, Sportal, AOS or FSEC – is tailored around the needs of the market and specific customer segments, in synchronisation with our value-driven sense-and-respond strategies. These are the times where we need to focus on retention, loyalty building; and lifetime value – as opposed to focusing only on immediate transactions and gains. With each business unit designed specifically with customer value in mind, MHAO will be able to establish a sustainable competitive edge in every industry it participates in,” he adds.
Diversification will continue to be a part of MHAO’s corporate philosophy and new profitable partnerships and joint ventures will be sought as the future unfolds for the Al Otaiba group.
 “We have already entered into a joint venture with an Italian office furniture company to establish Al Otaiba Babini,” he points out.
 The group is looking forward to herald a fresh approach to business in this region, which is based on the philosophy of selling result-oriented solutions. With this integrated approach, MHAO hopes to serve expanding business needs of its clients in the years to come.