Oxford alumini debate the corporate reputation of the UAE « ArabianMoney

Last night the annual dinner debate of the Oxford University Business School alumini, meeting at the World Trade Centre Club in Dubai, argued the motion that ‘This house believes that the corporate reputation of the UAE is unchanged’.

The motion was roundly defeated, although a small minority asked to vote that ‘it was too early to say’. ArabianMoney editor Peter Cooper spoke against the motion and veteran Gulf banker Richard Stockdale presented the case in favour.

In the end Mr Stockdale’s powerful marshalling of historic facts supporting the idea of continuity could not over come the simple analysis of the recent past. Namely that a shift from boom to bust over the past two years has quite self-evidently changed the corporate reputation of the UAE.