Drivers of Entrepreneurship in the United Arab Emirates - Research Proposal Example

Running Head: Research Proposal Research Proposal [Institute’s TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 Introduction 3 Research Hypotheses 4 Significance of Problem 5 Literature Review 6 Research Methodology 10 Research Design 10 Data Collection Techniques 11 Data Analysis 12 Project Timeline 13 References 14 Introduction UAE has become one of the most urbanized and fastest growing nations amongst the other countries of the globe over the past few decades. In fact, the infrastructure and the oil reserves have added a great value to the economy of the UAE. Nevertheless, UAE has witnessed more or less stable condition in the economic sector of the country with the rise in the oil prices later in the years, although the economic recession left an adverse impact on to the economy (Gorgenländer, 2011, pp. 24-27). While talking about the economies and businesses, one cannot ignore the fact that the innovative ideas and thoughts of the populace have led to inspired entrepreneurs across the globe. Moreover, the role of small and medium size enterprises (SME) has resulted in an upsurge and expansion in the economic activities throughout the nations of the world and UAE is one of those realms (Ács, and Szerb, 2012, pp. 1-3). Entrepreneurship and the impact that it leaves on the economic development has not only emerged but also loomed large with the last couple of years. The historical evidences prove that SMEs have become one of the leading factors in making the local economies flourishing (Susman, 2007, pp. 167-169). It is also prudent to note that past records of GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) has provided with three indicators that take account of factor-driven, efficiency-driven and innovation driven economies essential for the economic development of any country. However, UAE comes under consideration as the innovative-driven economies in relationship to other nations. This is due to the strong infrastructure as key strength of the UAE that provides a competitive edge over various other nations. This infrastructure does not create any hurdle for the entrepreneurs in either starting a business venture or operate the existing business functions (Stokes, Wilson and Mador, 2010, pp. 74-76). Research Hypotheses From the analysis of the studies, it has come under limelight that consumer and service oriented businesses such as retail, restaurants, education, health and several others as well as revolutionary business sector including the construction, manufacturing and transportation has been the prime areas of focus for the entrepreneurs of UAE. With reference to the technological advancements, the investigations demonstrate although the young entrepreneurs of UAE adopt technology without doubt but they do not have their focus on innovation of the technology. This has come under verification from the fact that these entrepreneurs exhibited nominal participation or contribution in the technology sectors (Allen, 2011, pp. 11-12). Based on the above-mentioned analysis this research strives to answer the following research hypothesizes: Hypothesis 1: Provide evidence form historical data that most of the entrepreneurial startups are in sectors other than high technology sectors. Hypothesis 2: There are some high technology start-ups; however, there is no clear evidence that they can be viewed as a part of measuring the entrepreneurial activity. Hypothesis 3: The government projects represented in Khalifa Fund and Mohamed Bin Rashid Establishment of Young Entrepreneurship, which were created to induce entrepreneurship activities in UAE, did not get results to push start-ups and make them become technology-based ones. Hypothesis 4: The level of technology start-ups is mostly a copy of international business models rather than locally innovative business models. Hypothesis 5: Research & Development need to be introduced at different levels in UAE to enable technology entrepreneurship. The concept of Technology Entrepreneurship needs to be introduced at undergraduate level and at other supporting education systems. Hypothesis 6: New government efforts and policies need to be introduced to encourage the process of technological entrepreneurship agglomeration such as Intellectual Property rights and modify bankruptcy laws. Hypothesis 7: The UAE has the right mixture of infrastructure and resources to move forward toward forming an international hub for technological entrepreneurship agglomeration. Significance of Problem The historical analysis has elucidated that the activity of entrepreneurship has come to forefront in the past few decades. In addition, the previous researches also bring to notice that a significant proportion of the world’s GDP comes from the small and medium sized enterprises. Besides, past studies have indicated that the small and medium enterprises have flexible nature that they can acclimatize easily and rapidly to the ever-changing market demands and even handle the economic pressures (Susman, 2007, pp. 167-169). Therefore, the sector of small and medium enterprises SMEs has become a dominant factor that facilitates in flourishing the local economies to great extent. This is because they create opportunities for employment for more people and have become a hub for preparing, improving, and promoting the low-skilled workers (Susman, 2007, pp. 167-169). With respect to the economy of UAE, in order to provide with a clear guideline to the process of future Entrepreneurship Agglomeration, the researcher must give a deep and thorough evaluation of the current activities of entrepreneurship in UAE is essential. As the hypothesis has come under reflection, it has become crucial and critical to carry out the research so that the problems and concerns can come under limelight with reference to the non-utilization of technological practices by the entrepreneurs. It has been an understanding from the past records of UAE that their infrastructure and potential in the technological advancement has been one of the powerful and influential aspects, which has significantly contributed to their economy. Therefore, they key issues must come under emphasis, as to why the entrepreneurs are not engaging themselves in the business start-ups with respect to the technology. This is pivotal, as the populace of the world has made numerous advancements and innovations with respect to the technology and in order to compete with other giants locally and internationally and gain competitive edge, the entrepreneurs must focus on the technology entrepreneurship. Literature Review As small and medium enterprises are playing such a pivotal function in the diversification of the economic resources, UAE government has commenced and plunged into cycle programs and projects that can provide support to the local entrepreneurial activities after recognizing and distinguishing the value of this segment (Al Abed, Hellyer, Vine, Al-Abed, Vine and Hellyer, 2004, pp. 98-100). Research programs have come under development that examine, monitors, and evaluates the impacts of entrepreneurship comprehensively on social and economic levels and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is amongst one of them that measures the effect from time to time (Ximo, 2012, pp. 12-18). From the past analysis, UAE has come under the top ratings on global perspectives for having new startup activities in comparison to other countries of the world. The statistical records also provide evidence that although the entrepreneurial activities have come under supremacy by the high-income group for business start-ups, but the recent records exhibit that people of low-income group are significantly increasing their involvement in the business start-ups. Additionally, it has also come under observation via the report that the entrepreneurial activities has escalated penetratingly amongst the young people mainly belonging to the age group of twenty five to forty five years (Deakins and Freel, 2009, pp. 39-41). Another imperative element that has come under observation is that UAE also comes under the world rankings for providing overall ease of doing business for the young entrepreneurs (Menipaz and Menipaz, 2011, pp. 45-47). The investigations has also shed light on the fact that the focus of UAE on entrepreneurship as the major facet of the development is not a new notion and the government of UAE has been playing a substantial role in laying key emphasis on entrepreneurship since the early years of the twenty first century (Ács, and Szerb, 2012, pp. 1-3). It has come to an understanding that UAE is amongst the nations that are in a continuous process of commencing and employing numerous initiatives in order to persuade and promote the young generation so that they can institute their own enterprises. For instance, Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training (CERT) comes under consideration as the major and prevalent education providers in the Middle East that forefront and progress the entrepreneurship amongst the youths (Ortmans, 2010). Historical studies indicate that UAE has always supported the entrepreneurs in accomplishing their visions and goals and can lead to have global expansions. Indeed, the government of UAE reflects the information that entrepreneurship must be fostered in order to develop as a culture of the nation. Therefore, several funding organizations have come under creation that intends to not only educate the young entrepreneurs but also become a source of motivation that can lead to economic boom (Oxford Business Group, 2010, pp. 48-50). The UAE not only persuade the young male members of the society to become leading entrepreneurs but also reveals that young females are also encouraged to perform the entrepreneurial activities (Fielden, 2010, pp. 189-190). This has come under substantiation through researches, which elucidates number of women involved in SMEs activities. Moreover, quite a few women organizations are also present that supports the women entrepreneurs, although it has come to notice that these support is limited to social and cultural objectives, rather than economic objectives (Haan, 2004, pp. 35-43). According to the analysis of GEM, the inspiration with which an individual launches its business operations is of utmost importance. Additionally, GEM illuminates that entrepreneurship comes under basis with two distinct kinds based on their drives. The first is the opportunity entrepreneurship where the individual witness prospect within the marketplace and be determined to start the business. While the other perspective is the necessity entrepreneurship, which explains that the individual is not able to find better job alternatives that drives them to start business (Smallbone and Welter, 2008, pp. 46-48). While looking at the primary motives that drive the entrepreneurs to launch their own business operations, past records have highlighted various aspects. Research has exposed that there are different causes for both the genders of UAE while launching up their own enterprises. Business opportunity and a good choice of career is the core aspect that an Emirati male looks for while initiating business setup. This means that male members are more opportunity driven. While quite in contrary, the female population of UAE prefers to build a uniform living standard, which means that females aim towards business so that they can raise their living standard and achieve a high social status (McCrohan and Preiss, 2006, pp. 16). While looking at the barriers that create a hindrance for the people of UAE to start an entrepreneurial activity, access to finance come under consideration as one of the principal and dominant constraints that hampers the SMEs to start up the business (World Bank, 2009, pp. 69). However, past research conducted by GEM demonstrates personal social networks became the primary source of financial support for the entrepreneurs, as they faced difficulty in getting access to the finance from the commercial banks (McCrohan and Preiss, 2006, pp. 47). Considering the factors that lead to the wind up the business amongst the UAE residents, regardless of the gender, competitive marketplace that creates a high level of competition amongst the entrepreneurs has evident to be one of the major cause. Another prime reason that prevents the entrepreneurs to start up or wrap up their business is the fear of failure, which is widespread in the minds of the population. This fear of failure also represents the inability of an individual lack of skills or competencies (McCrohan and Preiss, 2006, pp. 17). From the past examination of UAE entrepreneurial activities, few of the key areas need improvement so that UAE can persist with motivating the SME development. Public Education System is one of the weak areas that UAE needs to focus on in order to make students more innovative and creative. In addition, the students must have interactive sessions with the young entrepreneurs from timely basis, which can be a source of awareness (McCrohan, Erogul, Vellinga and Tong, 2009, pp. 17-21). Awards and recognition from the government for the small and medium enterprises, specifically for their innovative practices can serve as one of the imperative aspects. This encouragement and recognition would lead the entrepreneurs to adopt more innovative strategies into their businesses with the importance of the innovation that plays a key role in the development of the economy (McCrohan, Erogul, Vellinga and Tong, 2009, pp. 17-21). The UAE government should highlight and put emphasis on augmented support and training programs to the female entrepreneurship so that they can accomplish their goals and objectives. Besides, the government should also provide support programs for providing funds to all the nationals who wish to establish their own business (McCrohan, Erogul, Vellinga and Tong, 2009, pp. 17-21). To sum up, entrepreneurship is one of the prime activities for UAE that contributes to the economic development. UAE has established various initiatives in order to endorse and advance the local capabilities that can raise the overall GDP of UAE. These organizations not only educate and train the local entrepreneurs but also create awareness amongst them with respect to the value of being an entrepreneur (Dumper and Stanley, 2007, pp. 139-140). Research Methodology The research methodology is a systematic approach used by researchers that lay key emphasis on the completion of the analysis by accumulating widespread raw data that can come under amalgamation to have valuable information according to the aims, objectives, and hypothesis of the study. Research Design The research design is the outline drawn by the researcher in order to oversee the problems in relation to the hypothesis. However, the researcher would carry out research by using two kinds of methodologies: qualitative research and causality research. This is because both of these methodologies would enable the researcher to gather effective and valuable data. In addition, the gathered data would provide the researcher to synthesize the information into an effective interpretation (Kothari, 2008, pp. 1-5). The qualitative research is primarily subjective in nature, which means that the researcher can well define the problem in a comprehensive manner that facilitates in elucidating the consequences of the issues. The researcher does not get data in the form of numbers and figures; instead, the collected data from the respondents is more in the structure of feedbacks or comments. Furthermore, this method is crucial for analysis as it would noticeably answer the questions of why, how, what, when and where (Kothari, 2008, pp. 3-5). However, the other methodology, causality research is secondary type of research that would come under performance in the second stage of the study. Since the researcher has access to few of the historical databases, which can come under application in the evaluation process. The causality research would help the researcher in defining the relationship between two events (that is entrepreneurs in UAE and technological entrepreneurship), where one event is derived from the other one. Data Collection Techniques Since the research design includes the qualitative methodology, hence the target audience would comprise of small and focused respondents. Open-ended survey questionnaires or responses would be the primary method used as a mean of analysis. A set of questions would come under design that would help the researcher determine the causes as to why entrepreneurial startups are in other sectors are high than the technology sectors, why the government projects did not get results to push startups toward technology-based start-ups and so forth (Kothari, 2008, pp. 100-103). However, the respondents would be provided with questions as well, which they have to reply in brief sentences (that is, their feedbacks, comments, responses and reactions). This would allow the respondents (entrepreneurs) to communicate their attitudes and opinions comprehensively about why they do not launch their business activities within the technology sector (Kothari, 2008, pp. 95, 100-102). Nevertheless, the secondary data (collected from the historical databases) would also prove to be substantial, as it would lead the researcher to develop a systematic and comprehensive understanding about the current and past activities of entrepreneurship in UAE and elsewhere so that the future process of future entrepreneurship agglomeration can come under suggestion (Kothari, 2008, pp. 111) Data Analysis The respondents or the target audience would take account of the young entrepreneurs that wish to start-up their firms. The data analysis and interpretation is the most vital aspect of the study. The researcher based on the collected data through the questionnaires would prepare the results that about why the entrepreneurs are reluctant to start-up their business in the technological sector. The gathered data from the questionnaire will be tallied. The representation of the tallied data would be in the shape of charts so that the researcher can interpret the data in relation to the research questions (Kothari, 2008, pp. 122-123). Project Timeline Task Name Date Date Date Date Date Date Date Date Date Date 1 Literature Review / Formulation of Plan 1st week 2 Submission of Research Proposal 2nd week 3 Secondary Research 3-4th week 4 Analysis of Data 5-7th week 5 Primary Research 3-4th week 6 Distribution of Questionnaires 5-7th week 7 Collection of Questionnaires 8th week 8 Analysis of Questionnaires 9-11th week 9 Draft of Dissertation with findings of analyzed data 12-14th week 10 Final Submission 15th week References Ács, Z. J. and Szerb, L. 2012. Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index 2012. Edward Elgar Publishing. Al Abed, I., Hellyer, P., Vine, P., Al-Abed, I., Vine, P. and Hellyer, P, 2004. The United Arab Emirates Yearbook 2005. Trident Press Ltd. Allen, K. R. 2011. 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