Reaching for success in finding a place under the sun among the rest of the countries in the globalized world is one of the most complicated tasks for any state in the XXI century. Because of the competition and the extremely high standards, as well as the need for maintaining high GDP, entering the globalized world and, therefore, providing its citizens with decent living and working conditions is quite a challenging task, which the authorities of the UAE have had the chance to learn recently. Because of the lack of initiative among young businessmen and the instances of gender profiling occurring on a regular basis within the UAE business setting, the number of SMEs on the territory of the UAE has dropped [1], which calls for major research on the obstacles that young entrepreneurs and businessmen face on their way to the top.
As the recent data says, the major problem with present-day UAE entrepreneurship is that the very idea of starting a business and running a company has been redefined to bare money-making process, whereas it, in fact, is a much more complicated task that presupposes handling a number of problems and overcoming numerous obstacles. Affected by a range of factors, including political, economic, financial, demographical, and cultural, entrepreneurship requires that not only the major components of business were in their places and that a company should have an efficient strategy to back up its actions with, but also that the state should provide the environment in which such a company could exist. However, based on the specifics of the UAE business settings, it can be assumed that the local SMEs, as well as public companies, have little to no chances for development and, more to the point, further integration into the globalized market and establishing contact with other major corporations. Mostly triggered by the lack of qualified staff, which, in its turn, is caused by the inefficient educational system and system of staff training, as well as the numerous gender-based and ethnicity-based prejudices, these obstacles to the evolution of the UAE SMEs and public companies must be dealt with.
Speaking of the integration into the global market, one must mention that the standards for entrepreneurship adopted in the UAE do not quite match the ones that are regarded as acceptable in European countries or in the United States. Therefore, one of the hypotheses for the given research is that the UAE should accept some of the elements of European and American entrepreneurship so that the Emirati SMEs could continue to develop and be capable of entering the world market, remaining competitive, and the same time.
Among the most obvious elements of running a business that the European and American governments provide for entrepreneurs, an efficient education system should be mentioned first. Indeed, taking a closer look at the way the education system works, one must admit that it provides students with two important pieces of information, i.e., how to acquire knowledge and how to put theories into practice. In many ways, a good education system encourages students for lifelong learning, which affects them as they become professionals in that they never stop acquiring new knowledge and keeping in pace with progress. Therefore, the European and American education model must be considered first. Once an efficient education system is established in the state, it will affect the situation concerning the SMEs development within the state, since the owners of private entrepreneurship will finally have an opportunity to employ qualified staff that will evolve professionally and boosts the company’s growth.
Another issue to touch upon is the equality principle, especially the problems regarding gender profiling [2]; the former was planted into the European and American business systems, yet was sadly left out of the one within the UAE. Unfortunately, the issue concerning gender inequality stems from the prejudices planted into the Arabian culture, which means that chauvinist principles within the UAE business setting are not that easy to get rid of. However, by following the example of European and American states, UAE entrepreneurs will be able to redefine their organizational environment.
Speaking of the change in the course of the UAE entrepreneurship, the example of Masdar University as a case of perfect integration with the American education system should be considered. Collaborating with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Masdar provides an excellent example of how education principles accepted in the West can be integrated into the East culture. Despite the fact the experience that Masdar acquired in the process of collaboration with the American partners still needs to be expanded, it is very unique and it offers very valuable information for further consideration. The given cooperation allows for creating the setting for the later information exchange and promising partnership.
Since the given paper is going to revolve around the idea of improving the current state of the Emirati SMEs and the policies that are adopted within the UAE private and public companies, it can be assumed that the objectives of the given paper are:
- Analyzing the avenues for young entrepreneurs to run a business in the UAE;
- Searching for the means to encourage private entrepreneurship, primarily the evolution of SMEs;
- Defining the means to solve gender profiling, which currently exists in most of the UAE public and private companies [3];
- Designing the means to solve the issue regarding the foreign workforce domination in private entrepreneurship;
- Promoting professional evolution among the UAE employees and encouraging the emergence of training courses that help the UAE employees upgrade their professional skills;
- Analyzing the possibility of improving the current educational system as the means to have more experienced staff and boost the UAE business;
- Analyzing the problem of gender profiling and searching for the means to solve it;
- Merging the traditional UAE business strategies with the ones of the European and American states in order to come up with an organizational behavior principle that would not cause as much gender conflict;
- Contributing to the introduction of the key principles of intrapreneurship into the UAE business field;
- Creating the setting for diversified knowledge economy within the UAE private and public companies;
- Seeking the man to encourage social networking as the key to the UAE economy reconstruction;
- Analyzing the similarities and differences in the design of entrepreneurial relationships, structure, and policies of organizational behavior in Europe and the USA, as well as comparing them to the ones in the UAE;
- Designing the means to promote equality in the UAE SMEs and public companies by incorporating intrapreneurship and the principles of the European/USA employment policies.
References
The Government of Abu Dhabi. The Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030. Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development. Abu Dhabi, UAE, 2012. Web.
Women Business Owners in the United Arab Emirates. The Center of Arab Women for Training and Research, Abu Dhabi, 2007. Web.
Oxford Business Group. The Report: Ras Al Kaimah 2012. Oxford Business Group, Oxford, UK, 2012.