Al Futtaim tops survey of ‘best-run’ family firms

A significant 63% of respondents say they would definitely recommend ‘Al Futtaim’ group as an employer, while MAF group receives 57% approval, a new survey by YouGov Siraj reveals.

The study, to assess the reputation of some of the more well-known family owned businesses in Dubai, reveals the Al Futtaim name inspires trust and confidence amongst UAE residents.

Of the 12 family business groups studied, Al Futtaim (Trading Enterprises) and Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) generate the strongest positive perceptions, followed by the Juma Al Majid, Al Tayer, Al Ghurair, Al Habtoor and Al Rostamani.

“A good measure of corporate reputation is how willing are people to recommend an organisation as an employer”, says Suhail Sheikh, Research Director at YouGov Siraj.

“A lot of business entities have been talking about their corporate reputation, but only a few actually do something to leverage it. Corporate Social Responsibility , Go Green and Carbon Footprint are buzz words are thrown around, to try and enhance a company’s reputation but what affects people’s perception’s on the ground is actually different”.

Al Futtaim (66 per cent) and MAF (43 per cent) also come on top for perceived “good customer service” with Juma Al Majid, Al Tayer, Al Habtoor, Al Ghurair and Al Rostamani also commended by one-third of respondents.

The same business houses lead on corporate leadership and professionalism in all sectors (where they operate) with Al Futtaim scoring 57 per cent, with MAF group scoring 38 per cent and Juma Al Majid on 31 per cent.

The Juma Al Majid name emerges amongst the top two, second only to Al Futtaim group, when respondents are asked to name organisations with CSR programs serving the UAE society,

Survey participants were also asked which family groups they would invest a hypothetical Dh100,000 in.

Once again, Al Futtaim came out on top (Dh29,300), with nearly twice that of its nearest competitor MAF (Dh15,200), with EMKE and Juma Al Majid lagging further behind (Dh9,500 each).

Of the eight remaining groups, Al Rostamani, Al Ghurair and Al Habtoor, gained more than 5 per cent of respondent’s hypothetical investment, with the other five (including Belhasa group, Galadari Brothers and Al Naboodah) sharing the remaining balance.

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