Unforeseen Challenges Facing Entrepreneurs in the UAE - Research Paper Example

Unforeseen Challenges Facing Entrepreneurs in the UAE Introduction Indeed, dealing and managing the changes required to establish an entrepreneurial project tends to be very demanding in the 21st century. Under such circumstances, the UAE government have been observed as quite supportive to small business entrepreneurs (El-Sokari, Horne, Huang and Awad, 2013). However, a critical evaluation of the current market scenario reveals that entrepreneurs in the UAE have to face various challenges that are, at often instances, remain unforeseen (Malit Jr & Oliver, 2013). Unforeseen challenges faced by the entrepreneurs in UAE Vision and idea development As stated by Manar, Omar, Heba, Asma and Asma (2012), entrepreneurs in UAE have recently been observed to decipher a certain degree of lacuna in envisioning their primary idea for a business and thus, universities engaged in educating potential entrepreneurs have taken various measures by way of games to stimulate the students’ ability to envision ideas. Suggestively, this particular mechanism can be regarded as effective in dealing with this unforeseen challenge (Hoque, 2013). Additionally, taking examples of entrepreneurship strategies applied by successful entrepreneurs in UAE may also contribute to the forecasting ability of these professionals, which can only be possible through practical experiences in the field (Drucker, 2012). Raising capital for the setup When focusing on the Emirati entrepreneurship trends, it can be observed that in comparison to male entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs have to face significant challenges in terms of capital generation, where their association with smaller business ideas and limited demand for products, increases their obstacles considerably (Kargwell & Inguva, 2012). The only key to solve this problem, entrepreneurs must be adequately aware of the governmental funding sources made available in support for small entrepreneurs in the UAE. Additionally, gender equality measures must be applied at a wider scale by the UAE government so that skilled entrepreneurs from various dimensions of the society can be encouraged (El-Sokari, Horne, Huang and Awad, 2013). Assembling a business team An entrepreneur’s task does not finish with just assembling a team and further expand to the transfer of vision and passion to the team. Cultural divergences and the currently observed alterations in the Emirati society can be signified as a major constituent in causing this particular challenge for the entrepreneurs (Malit Jr & Oliver, 2013). Contextually, understanding the cultural dimensions, various societal forces affecting the labour market and employees’ motivational needs must be considered as essential for skilled entrepreneurs in UAE to contribute to the efficiency of entrepreneurs in managing the team more efficiently (Drucker, 2012). Finding the right business location In UAE, national entrepreneurs are recently facing this challenge owing to a substantial rise in the competition level from the global plethora, as a consequence of the sudden increase in the penetration of international entrepreneurs (Malit Jr & Oliver, 2013). In this regard, the government should ensure that the skilled small Emirati entrepreneurs are able to obtain adequate support in developing their physical infrastructure and also take due measures to imbibe technological advancements, which will offer them competitive advantages over the international players. In addition, entrepreneurs from the medium and large-sized business sectors in the UAE should also be encouraged to come forward and support small entrepreneurs so that the location barriers are mitigated substantially. Finding the right employees As employees are the key strengths and pillars of any business, it is very difficult and meticulous work to find right and trustworthy employees who can understand and deliver their committed services to establish a new set up (Cappelli, 2013). With the changing global environment and need to imbibe technological advancements in their regular business process, Emirati entrepreneurs are also quite likely to face challenges in recruiting dependable and productive manpower from the national market, given their lesser ability to compete with large firms or foreign entrepreneurs (Manar, Omar, Heba, Asma and Asma, 2012). Under this circumstance as well, small entrepreneurs may need to support from larger firms as well as the government. However, it is also essential for these professionals to understand and make use of the human resources available in the market, based on an efficient manpower planning (Drucker, 2012). Finding and keeping customers satisfied Considering the recent UAE market, customers can be observed as driven towards international brands and unique products to have a new and better experience. However, fundamentally due to limited capital and knowledge regarding such a trend, Emirati entrepreneurs fail to forecast the challenge of customer demand and simultaneously ensure continuous improvement of the products/services through innovation, which gradually, decreases customers’ interests in buying the commodities (El-Sokari, Horne, Huang and Awad, 2013). In order to overcome this particular challenge, the entrepreneurs should ensure that they perform continuous observations of the customer purchase trends in the market that can further help them to forecast any change likely to occur and therefore, take requisite measures. Additionally, innovation should be given prime importance in this context as the only key to sustain in the increasingly competitive business realm (Drucker, 2012). Overcoming unpredicted competition In UAE, most small entrepreneurs have been studied to find competition as plague and lack in understanding that it should be taken as challenge as competition enables the business to be innovative and increasingly sustainable (El-Sokari, Horne, Huang and Awad, 2013). Again, to mitigate this challenge, entrepreneurs need to be skilled in continuous innovation as it can ensure better efficiency in satisfying customers as well as generating employee morale over the long-run and hence, obtain the expected competitive advantages (Drucker, 2012). Unforeseen expenses A business owner must be prepared for the unexpected expenses, which may be in terms of human resource management, customer retention or any other operational obstacle. Few challenges like loss of inventory, bad obligations from customers, loss of market segment, decreasing working capital, unpaid tax and bills and unexpected resignation among others account for this unforeseen challenge as faced by Emirati entrepreneurs in the current day context. As argued by Singh, Jones and Hall (2012), an urgent need can be identified among the national entrepreneurs in the GCC region concerning financial management to make better use of the limited financial resources and mitigate the aforementioned challenge. Keeping up with industrial changes and trends Singh, Jones and Hall (2012) also noted that entrepreneurs in the GCC region are currently observed to lack in adequate understanding of global trends that could stimulate their ability of physical infrastructure development. It is in this context that Emirati entrepreneurs have to face the unforeseen challenge of industrial changes and trends as they decipher limited ability to bring changes in their traditional physical infrastructural designing (Singh, Jones and Hall, 2012). To solve this challenge, Emirati entrepreneurs must essentially focus on continuous market research and assessment of their industrial positioning. Aided with an unambiguous vision, this measure shall assist them to forecast industrial changes and take preventive measures accordingly (Drucker, 2012). Exiting the business It is very necessary to make an exit plan before entering into the business, which will be essential to prevent the business and its stakeholders from suffering unpredicted losses. Most entrepreneurs actually do not make their exit plan and someone even if they make, they find it problematic to implement (Robbins, 2013; DeTienne, 2010). Understanding of business life-cycle shall be deemed as pivotal in resolving this issue. In addition, entrepreneurs must also be practical enough to understand their liabilities towards the business and the stakeholders, which will ignite a sense of moral responsibility within them and ensure better exit planning (Drucker, 2012). Conclusion The aim of this research paper is to explore the uncertainties and challenges faced by the entrepreneurs in the UAE. It has been noted that even after continuous efforts and support obtained from the UAE government, entrepreneurs in the nation have been reporting many fundamental difficulties in managing the business functions with smooth obtainment and allocation of resources. In most cases, these challenges remain unforeseen to the entrepreneurs imposing greater threat to the overall sustainability of the organisation. Unforeseen uncertainties cannot be anticipated in the beginning, so the entrepreneurs need to be prepared for any kind of challenges depending on their forecasting ability and proficiency in handling crisis situations. References Cappelli, P. (2013). Why companies aren't getting the employees they need. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204422404576596630897409182 DeTienne, D. R. (2010). Entrepreneurial exit as a critical component of the entrepreneurial process: Theoretical development. Journal of Business Venturing 25, 203–215. Drucker, P. (2012). Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Great Britain: Routledge. El-Sokari, H., Horne, C. V., Huang, Z. Y. & Awad, M. A. (2013). Entrepreneurship an Emirati Perspective. The Institute for Social and Economic Research. Hoque, F. (2013). What Is "Entrepreneurship" in the 21st century. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/faisal-hoque/what-is-entrepreneurship_b_3304100.html Kargwell, S. & Inguva, S. (2012). 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