Abu Dhabi University Undergraduate Research Competition and Proud Zayed University Professors

 This past Thursday was a full day at the Abu Dhabi University 2nd Annual Undergraduate Research Competition - to learn more about it you can visit the website: website (scroll down). I can say that it was a valuable learning experience for the students and gave the mentoring professors moments of intense pride.

The research journey began with many rounds of writing abstracts and then sending them in with all the required documents on February 28 - in all 248 submissions from 21 universities around the UAE were sent in and 100 accepted for paper submission. Three research teams were selected from my Capstone class from the male students and three teams were selected of female students from Dr. Damien Arthur's class to be among the 100 student teams to present at the competition held last Thursday. 

The real hard work began then with wrapping up research and writing the final papers which were submitted on May 2 - then good news arrived when we heard that three teams from our College were selected for the finals and three teams for poster presentations. (Needless to say the College of Business from Zayed University Abu Dhabi was very well represented!) 

The preparation for the big day involved many practice sessions and perhaps more than a little stress - this was a first for all the students involved. The day began early, and all the students were early. We looked at the program first thing... 

All the College of Business teams were in the same session after lunch

Required Selfie!

None of our teams presented in the morning, but many of the students (and of course Damien and I) attended the presentations of teams from around the UAE. I know my students were a bit surprised how interesting it was and how time passed quicker than they imagined it would.

After lunch we got to the room early to get good seats - a selfie and photos followed of course.

Waiting to present

The first group presented on Emiraitisation and the public sector - they knew their stuff and did very well.

Waiting for questions (yes, the research process involves a lot of waiting)

Published abstract

Published abstract

The second group presented on entrepreneurship and Emirati youth - and demonstrated they understood the issues and were ready to answer all the questions posed of them.

The entrepreneurial process

Then Damien's group of female students presented and not only did they impress me, they impressed the judges and were awarded first place in the business track! Their research involved looking into the perceptions of expats of Emirati employees and they handled a sensitive topic extremely well.

The ladies with their cheque! (Photo courtesy of D. Arthur)

Published abstract (photo courtesy of D. Arthur)

From January, this has been an interesting and rewarding journey on the research path... I am super proud of the effort and courage to do something new on the part of all my students. I will let Damien's tweet tell you how he felt! "I have never been more proud of my students than I am today. 1st prize in the UAE student research comp!" 

Congratulations to all the students and I hope you remember how much fun this was and that you encourage your younger siblings and friends to participate in the coming years... and even continue the research journey yourself :)

Operations Management field trip to RAK Pearls

On Saturday I went with Dr. Batoul's Operations Management class to Ras Al Khamiah and we visited the first company to manufacture cultured pearls in the Middle East - RAK Pearls. To learn more about the company visit their website here: RAK Pearls website

Our tour starts in the soon to be opened education centre

Our tour was given by Mr. Mohamed Al Suwaidi and it started with an overview of the history of pearling in the region. For over 7,000 years the area in the Arabian Gulf from RAK to Qatar the livelihood of thousands of men and their families depended on the pearling industry. Since the 30s with the rise of cultured pearls in Japan and the discovery of oil there has been little industrial regional production of pearls.

In 2005 RAK Pearls began operations with a vision to restart the industry in the country based on sustainability of the industry, the environment and as a way of preserving (or rediscovering) an important part of Emirati culture and heritage.

We started the tour talking about the past... the traditional dhow boats used and the daily life of the divers on the pearling ships. 

The men would go out on the boats and stay out from early to mid-June to mid September - or around four months and ten days. The pearl beds from RAK to Qatar lay under shallow water - making them accesable to the divers. The men would dive from sunrise to sunset and the dives would last between 2 - 3 minutes (yes, without breathing!)

The men would wake and say the morning prayer and have one or two dates and coffee and dive all day until the evening prayer, after which they would have their single meal of the day - catch of the day and rice. Work continued as they began to open the oysters from previous days that had died in their shells - making them easier to open (and super stinky I can only imagine). Only 1 - 2% had pearls that had market value... so incredible amounts of work for limited reward.

A diver's work was measured in the number of baskets of oysters gathered in the day.

How many baskets today?

How pearls were graded and weighed in the past...

We then learned of the new method used by RAK Pearls - that was a result of an R&D joint venture between themselves and a company in Japan. I took a video (with permission of course) about the "transplant" method and you can watch it here: RAK Pearls video


Essentially a seed (made from the shell of a large oyster from the Mississippi River) is implanted into the gonad of an oyster, along with cells from a "donor" oyster - which will cover the seed with mother of pearl... super interesting actually, even if I got wobbly watching the "transplant".

Donor oysters open and ready, surgical instruments, seeds and oysters ready for seeding covered with a damp towel.

Watching the operation with great interest....

After the seeding the oysters the oysters rest for a month, are sorted for the ones that survived
and then placed in trays in the "beds"

The oysters are then left to grow in the warm, clean waters of the bay... but they are "pressure" washed once a week to keep the shells free from dust from the mountains and parasites - so the oyster has nothing to do but create that beautiful pearl.

Then, almost a year later they are ready for harvesting - and they are left to grow for about twice as long as mass produced cultured pearls as Mr. Mohammed said they are aiming for quality and not quantity. 

Nothing is wasted during harvesting - the mother of pearl is used for decorative gift ware, the ground up shell is sold to cosmetic firms, the edible part of the pearl is sold to restaurants and the rest of the oyster is sold as fertilizer... nothing is wasted! Sustainability implemented and not just in the vision statement....

Then, the very exciting part of the tour. We each choose our oyster and find our pearl :) 

My pearl!

Some of the students showing off their pearls (most will be given to Moms of course!)

Deluxe corporate gift of the Dubai 2020 logo

RAK - stunning as usual

I think we all learned a lot in this tour - not just about Operations Management - but about SME Strategy and sustainability in action. 

Top ten blog posts in 2013 (6-10)

As I mentioned in my "Lessons” of blogging post in May (you can read here, readers seem to like lists. As the final days of 2013 countdown I thought it might be interesting – for me as much as for you – to countdown the top ten blog posts of the year as rated by number of views. (I know this places a bias on posts published at the beginning of the year, but hey, the world of lists is full of biases!)

Number 10:

There are three article snapshot posts that made it in the top 10. Coming in at number 10 with 136 views is the post Article Snapshot: Business Opportunities in the UAE. The post provided an excerpt of an article I wrote for a newly launched online magazine in Canada – Canadian Business Strategist Magazine. It outlined the many untapped opportunities available to Canadian companies (or really any company) in health care, adventure and eco-tourism, metals, convenience stores, fashion and food and beverage.

Number 9:

The ninth most read blog post at 145 views was Male Youth Entrepreneurship in the UAE: a Research Project. The project was to study the motivators and deterrents of young men to become entrepreneurs and also looked at the lessons learned from two Emirati entrepreneurs interviewed by Yousef Al Shehhi. Yousef (now graduated) did a great job and he presented his findings at the MIT-Masdar Institute Forum on Entrepreneurship and Innovation  to great interest by researchers and the general public. 

Yousef and his poster 

Number 8:

Looking back at the numbers I was kind of surprised at number 8... The post Joining the Conversation: How to get our voices heard from the Middle East (2/2), with 149 views, is all about research and becoming a bigger part of the global management research community. As we approach the deadline for 2014 Academy of Management submissions I hope there will be more submissions from the Middle East in 2014 than 2013... I know many in the group photo below are working towards that goal!

Caucus participants AOM 2013

Number 7:

The second article snapshot is an article wrote in collaboration with researchers in Tunisia and Yemen. At 165 views, Entrepreneurs and their networks in MENA: an article and project using big data (and policy recommendations too!) was the results of a much larger grant project supported by the IRDC involving 14 MENA countries looking at the networks used by entrepreneurs. (I wrote about the five day workshop we had in 2012 starting in daily blog posts - day 1 here). Taha, Lotfi and I found that there was significant difference between entrepreneurs at various stages of venture development for network size and network diversity and that entrepreneurs with larger networks (number of advisers and more diverse (from different environments, e.g. private, work, professional advisers are more likely to launch their business in a short time. However, most entrepreneurs in the region have shallow and narrow networks... which leads us to our policy recommendations... 

The number of networks used by entrepreneurs in the MENA region

Number 6:

The third article snapshot - in a way a culmination of a project begun in August 2010 in the very room I am currently working in in Lorraine, Quebec - had 178 views. Article snapshot: “Technological innovation in the United Arab Emirates: process and challenges” is about the innovation process of an Emirati inventor and entrepreneur - Mariam Al Hallami, the first author, found that while the process used by the entrepreneur in the UAE is similar to that of entrepreneurs in the West, the lack of Industrial Research Centers puts a hamper scaling up inventions and innovations.

R&D expenditure - the MENA region needs to step up spending!

So that was 10 through 6... the top 5 will follow shortly....

Article snapshot: “Technological innovation in the United Arab Emirates: process and challenges”

This blog post is a snapshot of an accepted article in a peer reviewed journal. If you would like to read it click here. If you wish to quote the information in this post please cite:

Al Hallami, M., Van Horne, C., Huang, V.Z., 2013. “Technological innovation in the United Arab Emirates: process and challenges”, Transnational Corporations Review. 5(2), 46-59.
Just today we found out that an article that had been hanging around for awhile (and most recently updated with some new data) was accepted for publication in a peer reviewed journal! Did I mention the first author is an Emirati? Young woman? Just now finishing her Master's? Well, yeah :) This just shows what hard work can accomplish.

The article's journey started a few years ago - when Mariam and I worked on it for a conference. It then became the spark for a chapter the two of us published on Innovation in Abu Dhabi - which was just published this year. Whereas the chapter looked at innovation from a strategic perspective, this article looks specifically at the process and the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in that process.

There are two main questions that motivated the research:

1. Is there anything unique about the R&D and innovation process used by the Emirati entrepreneur? 
2. Could the process be more efficient?
1. What steps in the process are most in need of external support?

R&D data from MENA and the UAE

First, the data from the 2011 UAE GEM Report paint a bleak picture of the technological innovations even used by entrepreneurs in the UAE. I explained more fully in another blog post, but basically close to 100% of SMEs are in industries considered low to no-tech.

Furthermore, the R&D investment rates of the UAE are low - and even when the whole MENA Region is considered, expenditures represent less than 1% of world wide R&D spending.

Adapted from UNESCO Institute of Statistic, “A Global Perspective On R&D” (2009)

Those aren't statistics that make the innovation researcher's heart swell for sure! On the other hand, there is nowhere to go but up!

Case study

There are inventors and entrepreneurs in the UAE though - Emiratis with patents and companies trying to bring high tech products to the global market. The case study follows the innovation process of a round floating mobile platform, termed the “floating villa” by the Al Hallami Group.  It is a newly introduced product to solve problems such as the lack of space and land in major cities and tourist attraction places. “The purpose of this innovation is to introduce a feasible solution to minimize environmental damages while making use of sea area.  It is a mixture of an environmental friendly, strong, safe, stable; size variable and mobile construction that is a blend of both a yacht and a villa.” (Al Hallami, 2010).

Innovation Process

From studying the idea to commercialization process, interviews, site visits and reviewing the patents the following process was identified. It is similar to ones found in the literature - there are phases and it is iterative - but how it mainly differs is the lack of access to public industrial research centers or universities research groups who could assist local companies with applied research projects or even projects that take "theory to the shop floor". I am very familiar with these types of relationships in Canada (OK, maybe I wrote a PhD thesis about it or something like that) and they do work... in more ways than just simple technology transfer.

Al Hallami Group “Floating Villa” innovation process

Suggestions

As a result of this paper R&D exploration in processes, two main suggestions were made. There appears to be a need to increase support and government backed initiatives for large-scale R&D processes by creating government funded applied research centers, funding opportunities for collaborative research with universities and researchers and increase support for graduate engineering and technical education for the local Emirati population.

Secondly, creating R&D focused privately based venture capital funds could be encouraged perhaps through the development of an Islamic based venture capital framework where funds could be considered part of the Zakat[1] every Muslim annually pays.

I am pleased with this article and happy that it has finally found a home. Of course I will update the post when it appears in Google Scholar - I celebrate every new addition to my profile there and I think my nerdyness has rubbed off on the lead author as well!!!!!

---

[1] The yearly act of giving charity and supporting the community based on the total wealth of the individual. 

Emirati Male Youth Entrepreneurship: Yousef's poster presentation at the MIT-Masdar Institute Forum on entrepreneurship and innovation

Last Monday I attended the the Masdar Institute and MIT national forum on innovation and entrepreneurship.  We got the invitation a few days ahead of time and I noticed that students were invited to submit posters on "commercializeable research". As you might remember (loyal readers all) I am supervising a project by Yousef Al Shehhi on Emirati Male Youth Entrepreneurship.

Hmmmmm... it didn't really fit, but if I only did things according to strict rules I would still be on Vancouver Island working at BC Ferries.

So, with only a few days to get the poster ready we had to work fast. Yousef was volunteering at the Abu Dhabi book fair and didn't have access to all his notes... so he bbmed me what he wanted to be included and I had an older version of his notes and it got cobbled together!

Al Shehhi, Van Horne and Huang 2013

I should mention that I was taught how to do academic posters by true masters... so while it is not perfect, we are proud of how it turned out.

So, we sent it in a few hours before the deadline - and the next day we learn it was accepted for presentation (but the presentation was the next day!) They said they loved his research :) Yousef arranged with his professors to miss his classes and he started to prepare. It was his first poster presentation - and while he had presented his work before, this was the first time in public.

Monday morning arrives and I get there early and I only see three posters! And the other two are obviously advanced Master's or PhD posters...

Yousef Al Shehhi: Research Assistant at ZU

Yousef, as with all my students to date, do not display the nervousness I add when I first started presenting - it was like he had done this a million times before!

Yousef explaining his project to students from the Masdar Institute

He had many visitors and he had to stay until the end as there were many people who wanted to speak with him. He has been invited to present his results at a few organisations in Abu Dhabi and he impressed the people at the Masdar Institute. Needless to say I am a very proud professor!

The next steps are catching up on Wamda posts (he has been very busy), getting the remaining data and then preparing the final report and presentation. In addition he will prepare a short workshop on entrepreneurship in Arabic to give to some of the students at ZU still concentrating on learning English. Perhaps he will present it in a high school... we will see.

So prepare for another post in the next few weeks :) Perhaps even a guest blog post (I hope you are reading this Yousef!)

Low levels of technology in start-ups in the UAE

This post provides data and a condensed exert from the GEM UAE 2011 Report and is copyrighted material of the authors of the report. It can be downloaded here: UAE 2011 GEM Report If you would like to quote the report or this blog post please use the following details: 

Van Horne, C., Huang, V., and Al Awad, M. 2012. “UAE GEM Report 2011”, Zayed University, UAE

As a researcher in innovation processes I have seen the spark of an initial idea, seen it work its way through research and development, testing through simulation, prototypes, beta testing and then finally on to the final product being used by the end consumer.

In a knowledge economy, technology and the birth of new firms from technology driven innovative ideas and services, need to be nurtured and encouraged. In a small market knowledge economy, innovation and technology are key to increasing exports and the sale of intellectual property.

Using data from 2011 - the UAE GEM Report has found that almost all new business started in the UAE in 2011 have no or low technological levels, with only 2.3% being medium-tech or high-tech new ventures (Figure 1). when figures for Emirati entrepreneurs the figures are even more shocking - 100% of new businesses are no/low tech.

 Level of  technology in UAE start-ups 2011

Perhaps worse is that these figures have not changes since the GEM Report was first published in 2006. In comparison with other innovation-driven economies, the UAE has the second lowest rate of medium technology to high technology established businesses at 2.3% compared to the lowest performing country, Czech Republic at 1.3% and the best performing country, Norway at 14.3%.

As the aerospace and advanced manufacturing industries develop and expand in the UAE this should promote the start-up of high tech small firms. Perhaps targeted initiatives could be developed to promote young people to start up high-tech businesses in their "garages" - perhaps through developing applications, games and other products I am unfamiliar with as a middle-aged professor!

This semester I have a group of male students looking at how "garage based businesses" could be supported in Abu Dhabi - the students are technologically savvy and understand the high-tech needs of their generation. Perhaps they will have some great ideas to increase the technology levels in start-ups in the UAE!

Male Youth Entrepreneurship in the UAE: a Research Project

Male Youth Entrepreneurship in the UAE: Questions, Challenges and a Path for Development 

This is an outline of a research project we will be conducting this semester with our research assistant (who will be doing the majority of the work, although we will be there to guide him every step of the way). Yousef will be signing up for wamda where you will be able to follow the progression of the project (posts in English and Arabic). From time to time he will do a guest blog for me as well.

There are many underlying objectives of this project, including creating knowledge in an area which has been under-researched in the UAE and wider MENA region. Of course it is also to say - STOP with the high-paid, fly-in consultants and develop local talent and local knowledge. Also, it is to spread the joy of research to a high-potential student :)

Executive Summary

This internship proposal outlines research to be conducted in the UAE on Male Youth Entrepreneurship, and provide the steps that will need to be taken to gather the relevant information and data required to provide an effective road map to encourage creativity and entrepreneurial activity amongst Emirati male youth.

The supervisory team consists of Constance Van Horne and Victor Huang, two professors of management doing research in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship, and an Emirati research assistant/intern, Yousef Rashed Al Shehhi, a graduating student in the College of Business at Zayed University with a specialization in Human Resource Management, to perform directed secondary and primary research, develop a report with recommendations and prepare a presentation for interested stakeholders.

Purpose of the Research

The UAE is similar to the Arab world in that the majority of the local population is under the age of 24. Although there appears to be an abundance of resources, full and gainful employment of local Emiratis is and will remain to be a challenge in the coming decades. The reluctance of the private sector to hire Emirati youth, coupled with the saturation of government positions by mid-age Emiratis, foreshadows a great need for future entrepreneurial activity – self-employment – by today’s youth.

The challenge is complex, both because youth entrepreneurship in the Arab world in general, and in the UAE in particular, is little understood and the blueprints developed and used in other parts of the world are not suitable for the local cultural, economic, social and environmental context.

According to the data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report in 2011, the vast majority of Emirati early stage entrepreneurs choose to become entrepreneurs due to opportunity recognition and the desire for independence and autonomy, rather than through necessity or economic need. Although there is no current data or research on Emirati youth and the motivations for starting their own businesses, anecdotal evidence from Zayed University students, suggests that they are motivated by passion for their idea or project, a craving for independence and a craving to be well known as a successful business person – a “self-made” success.

Although this seems to be widely “known” and accepted that these are the motivators for Emirati youth, there is almost a complete lack of understanding of how to get from spark – to fully formed idea – to business model development – to financing – to opening the doors for business.

However, an understanding of the motivations and possible incentives is only part of the story. The sustainable economic, social, cultural and environmental needs of the UAE, and its diverse regions, need to be understood to develop “incentives” and guidelines for future Emirati entrepreneurs to follow and be inspired by.

This proposed research will combine field research with local Emirati male youth from across the UAE, combined with an analysis of the strategic plans of the UAE to develop a portrait of the motivators of Emirati youth towards entrepreneurship and a framework of industries, regions and types of small business which should be encouraged. This framework would combine the strategic visions of the nation as well as the stated interests and passions of Emirati youth themselves – what they dream of creating and becoming.

Research tools

The research team will conduct interviews with identified key Emirati young entrepreneurs and Emirati youth advocates. Focus groups of Emirati high school students interested in entrepreneurship will also be conducted (in Fujairah and Abu Dhabi). Interviews with educational, support institutions and parents will also be conducted. This qualitative research will be combined with a review of the longitudinal UAE GEM data from 2006-2011 and an analytical review of the pertinent Strategic Plans of the Nation.

Deliverables 

The deliverables will be a final report to be "published" through i-books, a pilot-lesson plan to motivate young males on the possibilities of entrepreneurship and a formal presentation to interested stakeholders.

Eco-tourism development in Dibba

This blog post uses the results of two graduation research projects about eco-tourism as a tool for economic development in Dibba. The projects were done by many young men from that region:

Abdullah Obaid Al Shehyari, Ahmed Mohammed Al Hafeeti, Mohammed Rashid Al Shehhi, Majed Ali Al Duhohri, Yousef Rashid Al Shehhi, Ali Salem Al-Zeyyodi, Mohammed Abdullah Al-Yammahi,  Abdullah Ahmed Al-Saridi,  Obaied Rashed Al-Saridi and Jumm’a Betti Al – Ka’bi.

The research project began as a collaborative brainstorming effort. Through many iterations between the team and myself as the supervising professor, the teams came up with the following research problem statement:

Research Problem

The local economy in Dibba is underdeveloped and this causes young people to leave the region for Abu Dhabi and Dubai (Farghali, 2012). One of the possible solutions would be the development of the new industries small and medium firms and human capital development of the local population. These issues could be addressed through the support and development of a locally run eco-tourism industry.

Research questions:

•           How can ecotourism contribute to the economy of Dibba?

•           What could be done to train/ prepare the local population to actively participation in the development and the promotion of our culture and the industry?

•           What could be done for Ecotourism development in the Dibba region through economic and cultural tourism?

The groups then divided the work into two separate categories, tangible and intangible heritage (yes, there is a theme in what “projects” I encourage my students to do!)

A lot of this blogpost is almost directly from their report. They know I am doing this and have agreed that I can use the photos as well. If you would like to learn more about their research, please contact me.

The first step was to understand as much as possible about the concept of Eco-tourism. The students liked the concept, the more they found out about it. Here is a short exert from the report:

“There are several characteristics or principles that describe Ecotourism. These principles started by minimizing the negative impacts that can damage or destroy a destination. In addition, the goal of companies is to educate the traveler on the importance of conservation and emphasise the importance of responsible business that works with local authorities and people to meet the local needs and ensure conservation.  Moreover, the concept stresses the need for planning and sustainable growth of the tourism industry and seeks to ensure that tourism development does not exceed the social and environmental capacity and maximize economic benefits to local communities and increase the percentage of revenues by concentrating on the use of locally-owned facilities and services (Wood, 2002).

Therefore, the idea of Ecotourism helps save the environment besides developing economic activities. Furthermore, it creates understanding of cultural and natural history of the area and improve the welfare of local people. In addition, the use of heritage/green buildings and the development of ecotourism guidelines for local people and potential expat entrepreneurial partners and visitors would help to implement the idea of Ecotourism in the area.”

They go on to write that any development would need to be done through consulting the various stakeholders such as the tourism authorities of Fujairah, Sharjah and the UAE, the municipality of Dibba, the hotel operators, current tourism operators and local people. They suggest guidelines to ensure sustainability – in particular cultural and environmental, and they would love to see more people come for the heritage and cultural attractions not just the (marvelous) beach.

Dibba

They researched and wrote about several areas that could be interesting to develop. The local honey industry (which I have written about), heritage dancing and singing (which I also have written about in this blog), food, fishing and pearling, the local date and fruit farms, and the traditional handicrafts of women (and men in the past who worked on basket and net making).

In the mountains of Dibba

Dibba beach: I obviously took this photo considering its awesome quality!

They wrote of the importance of Al Bidiya Mosque, which is now under consideration as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (I reviewed Marco Sosa’s photographic essay on the mosque in December). They also did research on Wam – an abandoned village that very few tourists know about or visit.

Front cover for Marco's book

From their extensive interviews, primary and secondary research they came up with a very well thought out SWOT analysis.

Strengths UAE is a destination for international and domestic tourists  Certified tourism requirements on entertaining part  and high quality of hotels Well-knit communication and transportation system around the seven emirates Rich cultural heritage with castles, archeological sites such old houses particularly at the north part of UAE Wonderful and clean beaches ·         An attractive place for tourists especially in special occasions ·         Suitable place for many tourism activities

Weaknesses Government yet to tap skills of locals to run tourism projects Weak marketing strategy used to market tourism products Lack of training courses and exposure visits New business enterprises related to tourism have to go through different restrictive formalities Absence of clear and well defined polices Tourism projects sanctioned without proper understanding of local conditions Lack of community participation in tourism projects Lack of initiative on tourist agencies by making tourism easy for tourists

Opportunities Availability of experts in several areas of tourism Increasing in tourist arrivals New job and income possibilities from tourism Availability of media support

Threats Competing economic activities Increase of misdirected and uncontrolled visitors Transformation from nature-friendly activities to mass tourism

Of course the next step would be to take the results of this project and see if we (meaning the students of course, I love saying we, knowing they have to do all the hard work!) could develop a project this semester to start on the development of eco-tourism guidelines. We will see!

Bravo gentlemen. You worked very well together on a report that is interesting, timely and provides a good starting point for further research.

Why Entrepreneurs Discontinue Businesses in the UAE

This post provides a condensed exert from the GEM UAE 2011 Report and is copyrighted material of the authors of the report. It can be downloaded here: UAE 2011 GEM Report

If you would like to quote the report or this blogpost please use the following details: 

Van Horne, C., Huang, V., and Al Awad, M. 2012. “UAE GEM Report 2011”, Zayed University, UAE

While most attention is given to entrepreneurs starting businesses, the rate of discontinued businesses is considered as a significant component of entrepreneurial dynamism in an economy. The UAE has a relatively high rate of discontinuation of business amongst innovation-driven economies at 2.2%, but the percentage is even higher among Emirates at 4.5%. Discontinuing a business is not necessarily a negative action on the part of an entrepreneur – it can indicate sale of the business, market forces, starting a new venture or personal reasons. 

In 2011, the reasons given for closing an entrepreneurial venture in the last year was mainly due to the unprofitable nature of the venture at 39.4%, personal reasons at 23.5% and problems raising finance at 19.5%. The underlying rationale behind the reasons of this increase in discontinuation, is not fully captured through GEM data. However, it would be highly valuable to research this trend in further detail, as it may uncover key challenges to be addressed in an effort to further increase the chances of success of the smaller enterprise.

However, this high percentage of individuals indicating financial reasons for ending a business would seem to suggest a strong need for funding support mechanisms along the entrepreneurial process – from nascent entrepreneurs gathering the necessary resources to begin their business, to “baby business” owners striving to achieve competitive advantage, to more established businesses finding themselves needing to grow to survive. Starting one’s own company in the midst of an economic downturn may seem, to many, like a bad idea. Lenders are cautious, businesses conservative and consumers are on the defensive, which create less than ideal market conditions for young enterprises.

 Table 1: Reasons given by entrepreneurs for discontinuing operations

	Opportunity to sell	Non profitable	Problems Raising finance	Another job/business opportunity	Exit planned in advance	Retirement	Personal reasons	Incident	Other
2006	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
2007	3.0%	18.1%	12.5%	17.4%	12.8%	2.0%	26.9%	7.2%	0.0%
2009	9.7%	22.0%	21.1%	20.9%	1.7%	0.0%	22.7%	1.9%	0.0%
2011	6.2%	39.4%	19.5%	2.6%	6.1%	2.3%	23.5%	0.2%	0.0%