"Qatar is rapidly changing," said Nick Bashkiroff, development director for the country's leading construction firm, United Development Company, from an office building overlooking Souk Waqif. On the wall of the conference room, two floors above a Ferrari dealership, hangs a satellite photo of a megaproject embodying Qatar's bold new dreams for international recognition: the Pearl, a $2.5 billion, 985-acre artificial island loaded with five-star hotels, two million square feet of high-end shopping and "beach clubs like you would find in the South of France," Mr. Bashkiroff said.

The Pearl, whose first phase will debut next year, is just one of the Xanadu-like attractions suddenly appearing as if from a rubbed Aladdin's lamp. Poof! A luxury resort resembling an ancient Arabian city, the Sharq Village & Spa, rises along the beachfront. Poof! The modernist Museum of Islamic Arts, designed by I. M. Pei, sprouts along the bay. Poof! The nation's largest shopping center, a monument of Italian Renaissance details traversed by Venetian canals, begins its ascent.

But I am not convinced that Sherwood has asked the right question. I was in Doha recently and was impressed with the pace and scale of the development. It was easy to conclude, though perhaps incorrectly, that Doha now looks like Dubai did 10 or so years ago. That said, it is not clear to me that a "me-too" strategy will serve Doha well. That idea arises from a very strong bias of mine, one developed from several years of teaching and researching strategy: while it is possible for fast and adept followers to surpass early adopters and current leaders, critical diffrentiation is a better approach. That is to say, it preferable to use one valauble, rare, and difficult-to-imitate resources and capabilites to provide a distinctive offering rather than trying to imitate someone else's formula for success. Applied to the Doha vs. Dubai scenario, I'd say that the more ways in which Doha can find to get mentioned in its own right and not in the same sentence as Dubai, the better off they will ultimately be. This winter's 15th Asian Games will be a good start for the city of Doha and the nation of Qatar to showcase their uniqueness.

And they are off to a very good start. The Games have a pretty unique mascot, Orry the Oryx, who unlike other mascots, did a Q & A session with the games organizers. How many times have you seen an Oryx talk lately?
Tags: Dubai | united arab emirates | UAE | doha | Qatar | Asian Games