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This paper in its first part aims at contextualizing Abu Dhabi's urban development and understanding the factors that have governed its urban growth through a historical case study approach. Relying on archival records and primary sources five stages of urban growth are identified. Data mining of media archives allows for a first hand account of developments taking place thus grounding the depictions. The second part contextualizes this review through a case study of the Central Market project — also known as Abu Dhabi's World Trade Center. The paper concludes by elaborating on the significance of such a historical analysis as it shifts the discourse away from a focus on the ‘artificiality’ of cities in the Gulf to one that is based on a recognition about the historicity of its urban centers, however recent it may be. Additionally the pertinence of such an analysis for cities worldwide is discussed as well.

This case study focuses on the problems that a company have in segmenting a local market of a gas distribution company and some strategies that they can use for developing a viable market segmentation to target the right segment that will provide a good economics, revenue base customers who also have the mindset to change to a new product. At the end of this exercise, students should have a clear understanding of the following: the essentials concepts of market segmentation, targeting and positioning and how they can be leveraged so that businesses increase their returns; the main elements/steps that drive market segmentation and business positioning; the appropriate methods for market segmentation when targeting local markets for a city gas project; and the challenges companies might face when changing a product.

In 2018, commercial customers began asking Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Distribution to provide a sustainable solution to ensure a continuous supply of safe gas and avoid the interruptions and hazards associated with the supply of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to their premises. The request was discussed with the ADNOC marketing, supply and trading (MST) Division to investigate the possibility of growing the natural gas business in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, thus contributing to the Emirate’s security, economy, environment and community, and ultimately to ADNOC Strategy 2030. Khaled Salmeen, Director of the ADNOC MST Division, believed that industrial customers accounted for higher business volume and profitability. Nevertheless, he advised Shuhab Al Shehhi, the City Gas Project Manager, to study the potential benefits in targeting both residential and commercial customers as part of ADNOC’s responsibility towards community engagement and investments. Al Shehhi had to address several questions: How could the City Gas Project be strategized and positioned so as to target all market segments? What were the potential outcomes? Would targeting all market segments strengthen ADNOC’s brand position?

This case study was written for Marketing and Strategic Management courses in Bachelor of Business Administration programs.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 8 Marketing

This study investigates the effect of Earnings per Share (EPS), Dividends per Share (DPS), and Book Value per Share (BVPS) on stock market prices in Abu Dhabi Securities Market. All listed companies in the Abu Dhabi Securities Market are included in this study except those companies which were listed after the starting of year 2002. In addition, those companies which had been prevented from trading in the market for one year or more during the years from 2002 to 2006 were also excluded because the available data of these companies are not adequate. As a result, among the 60 listed firms in Abu Dhabi Securities Market, 22 were excluded. Four hypotheses are under consideration in this study. The simple linear regression method was used to test the first three hypotheses based on t‐test, while the multiple linear regression method was used to test the last hypothesis based on F‐test. Moreover, the correlation method is used to support the findings. The current study found a significant effect of EPS and BVPS on stock market price in the Abu Dhabi Securities Market, whereas no significant effect of DPS was found.

Globalization has brought apparent transformations to the UAE market. Shift in market trends due to a growing multicultural population induces marketers to update their marketing strategies. Focusing on the purchase behavior and level of satisfaction of consumers coming from different regions, the purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of multi‐cultural consumers in the buying behaviour in the Abu Dhabi market for durable and non‐durable consumer products.

The sampling frame to examine the impact of heterogeneous culture in a geocentric market comprised 300 consumers belonging to different nationalities working in the UAE. Satisfaction Index, Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance and Kruskal–Wallis test were used to test hypotheses constructed from literature.

The three hypotheses formulated to test inter‐cultural differences revealed the influence of multi‐culture on consumers' buying behaviour. This paper recommends that by optimizing the utility of well‐advanced digital media in the Emirates, marketers can customize strategies by which to penetrate culturally segmented niches.

Global marketing is emerging in the Arab markets, assuming that global culture will bring about a paradigm shift from homogenous to heterogeneous buying habits. Exploring the influence of multicultural consumerism, the study illustrates the divergent demands of Abu Dhabi consumers.

After reading the case study, the students will be able to analyze the impact of post-pandemic “new normal” customer behavioral change on a start-up aggregator operating virtually. Recognize the need for the service marketing strategy to prepare a service provider/aggregator to sustain a dynamic and volatile consumer environment. Understand the importance of competitors’ analysis as a primary step of service marketing strategy in influencing “new normal” consumer behavior. Examine the utility of customer engagement through website blogs, social media posts, videos and continuously updated information on the mobile application in influencing the “new normal” customer behavior, from skinner operant conditioning behavior and Rusbolt’s investment model perspectives.

Rafeeg is a mobile application-based home maintenance service providing company, conceived and founded in 2017 by Khamis Alsheryani – who, as an Emirati entrepreneur, has a prior record of accomplishing successful mobile applications and business ventures since 2004. The unique selling proposition of Rafeeg in the Abu Dhabi market is its functioning as the home maintenance services aggregator bringing its suppliers and consumers under-one-roof alongside maintaining ensuring high quality, punctuality and security at competitive prices. Rafeeg has collaborated with approximately 1,000 licensed suppliers using nearly 5,000 technicians and maintenance workers with a customer base of about 70,000 households. Although it is formally situated in Al Salam St, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), the company communicates with its consumers virtually. However, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UAE in March 2020, Rafeeg witnessed a considerable decrease in service requests. Consumers’ psychological fear of the pandemics spread into their houses through the technicians and maintenance workers and the degree of hygienic practices the latter follows before their service provision acted as the major reason behind the fall in requests. Despite Alsheryani’s assurance on the provision of only those suppliers who are verified of their hygienic practices, negative COVID-19 test reports and their availability to the consumers as proof and regular temperature checks of the technicians, the consumer apprehensions remained stagnant and the loss of new service requests, as well as revenue, continued. The pandemic’s spread and consequent lockdown of services in the UAE affected Rafeeg’s business operations gravely, as projected by its sudden drop-in service requests – from 53,638 average monthly customer requests in January and February to approximately 10,000 in March and April. The sudden drop of 81% in new requests drove Alsheryani to develop a service marketing strategy in May to boost consumer behavior, encouraging them to resume their requests without further apprehensions. However, with the continuous rise in the pandemic and vaccines still under trial and research, Alsheryani contemplates the viability of the new marketing strategy. Alsheryani took measures in supplier training programs, excommunicating with suppliers who fail to comply with his strict safety regulations, developing the app with clearly stated, uniform, safety procedures and bearing the additional safety-related costs small suppliers provide quality work as part of the strategy. Despite so, will there be an increase in new requests? Will the bearing of additional costs on the suppliers’ behalf jeopardize its competitive advantage in UAE? Should he consider an alternate business model to adapt to the new normal environment?

This case is written for undergraduate students majoring in consumer behavior, consumer engagement approaches, digital marketing approaches using websites, mobile applications, social media communities and service marketing strategies. Students, through this case, can relate the importance of virtual space in engaging consumers and the importance of the latter in addressing the dynamicity of consumer behavior, especially affected by sudden environmental change, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The case study also subtly highlights the importance of collaboration with suppliers in an aggregator business model to capture the essence of changing consumer behavior. This case study is appropriate for students having previous knowledge of Rusbolt’s investment model and skinner’s operant behavioral model of consumer behavior and their application in service marketing. Besides, students must be aware of the online business model and aggregator businesses in the service industry of the UAE. The case study purports to motivate critical analytical thinking among students and build their understanding of the importance of consumer behavior for business sustenance.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CCS 8: Marketing.

This paper aims to investigate the linear and nonlinear interactions between the blockchain technology index and the UAE stock market index within the context of the Abu Dhabi and Dubai banking sector.

In this study, linear analysis was performed using the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model (GARCH) (1,1) model, whereas nonlinear analysis was performed using the wavelet coherence model.

Based on the results of the GARCH (1) model, the authors find that the blockchain technology index has a positive significant impact on stock market returns in the Abu Dhabi and Dubai banking sector. In addition, the findings indicate that increasing blockchain integration in the banking industry decreases banks’ stock market volatility and facilitates price stabilization. Additionally, the coherence wavelet analysis reveals that there is a phase relationship between the blockchain technology index and banks’ stock market indices in the banking sector of the UAE. The association was stronger during the global pandemic crisis because they were moving together across different timescales.

With the help of the linear analysis, this study offers a focal point and valuable insights to policymakers, central banks and commercial banks management on how implementing blockchain technology in the banking industry help boost stock market returns, reduce volatility and facilitate price stability. As a result of the nonlinear analysis of the significant long-term degree of co-movement between blockchain technology and banks’ stock markets in UAE, policymakers or the management of banks in UAE should take the growth of the blockchain technology industry into consideration to ensure the continued development of the banking sector. For investors, the findings provide implications for portfolio managers operating in the UAE who are encouraged to take short-term co-movement into account (1–16-week horizons) through both frequency and time when designing their portfolio while keeping long-horizon periods in mind is not recommended.

It is a pioneering study that empirically examines the linear and nonlinear nexus between the blockchain technology index and banks’ stock market returns and price stability.

This case study aims to yield the following learning outcomes: understand the key performance indicators of successful human resource management (HRM) in the hospitality and tourism sector, especially during pandemics; identify the various concepts and strategies of HRM and recruitment over a short period; conceptualize the types of HRM practices such as safety and health, recruitment and promotion and rewards when facing pandemic conditions as well as the handling of hotel staff in strained times; evaluate the crisis management solutions used by human resources to lower the employee turnover rate; and develop a crisis management plan from a human resource standpoint in a pandemic situation.

A five-star hotel in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bab Al Qasr Hotel & Residence (BAQHotel) opened in October 2016. In April 2020, the hotel began accepting patients with COVID-19 in conjunction with the Abu Dhabi’s Healthcare Company (SEHA), as a support to the UAE Government, through Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi (DCTAD), to meet the local needs and sustain business during these unforeseen circumstances, which heavily impacted the whole World. Samer Majari, the Human Resource Director of BAQ hotel was responsible for recruiting and supervising delegates, while ensuring the comfort of hotel staff, arranging for their transportation, catering, safety and well-being. To combat the high staff turnover, including COVID-19-positive staff, Majari reviewed the existing staff model; divided the staff into two groups for providing services to both sides of the hotel; arranged for separate accommodations, food and transportation; and retained the existing resources and recruited new workers. This study aims to provide management solutions that concern hiring of staff from the existing UAE market and highlights ways of creating a lower staff turnover rate through incentives and compensations, while also managing staff by motivating them and also safeguarding them against COVID-19.

This case study intends to provide a context for creative solutions to human resource challenges facing organizations during a pandemic. It also involves swift responses to crises faced by HR managers and the immediate solutions required. Therefore, this case study can be used in undergraduate level courses for students pursuing a bachelor’s or a master’s degree in HRM, hospitality management, crisis management or international business studies. Moreover, this case study can be used for corporate training and to help hospitality industry staff, mid-level human resource managers and organizational development practitioners to better understand crisis management in their hotels.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained great attention among regulators, stock market authorities, and firms' stakeholders for many decades. In this chapter, we first review the main regulations, standards, and laws issued by UAE federal authorities namely the Company Commercial Law of 2015, the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX) disclosure guidance of 2019, Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, and UAE CSR platform. Second, we present a summary of the empirical research on CSR issues in UAE context, namely in the following four fields: (1) CSR determinants both at the micro and macro levels, (2) CSR measures in the three pillars (environmental, social, and governance), (3) the impact of CSR policy and practices on financial performance/market value, (4) and the role of some mediating/moderating variables such as leadership and board gender diversity. Results show greater compliance to CSR standards among different industries and institutions but heterogenous empirical findings in the four explored fields. While there is crucial alignment with both social and environmental standards as evidenced by numerous empirical studies, additional efforts should be deployed to highlight the governance pillar through firms' discretionary reporting. Our survey provides useful directives and outcomes as it portrays both legal aspects coupled with some empirical evidence of CSR issues in the UAE context. Our study helps corporations to comply with local standards on sustainability reporting and highlights the potential economic benefits and advantages for firms adopting CSR strategy. Furthermore, it can be considered as the cornerstone for regulatory bodies in the United Arab Emirates when issuing/enhancing new standards/rules on CSR practices.

The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of UAE Stock Exchange industry. In particular this paper aims to assess a potential merger between Dubai Financial Markets-Nasdaq-Dubai and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, evaluating risks, rewards, policy and business implications.

The paper presents a theoretical framework and a literature review of M & As in financial sector. It then carries out a case study on a potential merger between the UAE Stock Exchanges and a discussion on the implications for the actors involved.

The contraction both in market capitalization and in trading value in the three UAE Stock Exchanges caused by subprime financial crisis and market fragmentation could be a key factors in implementing a merger between them. Because of high-fixed costs and trading platform, a single consolidated stock exchange may benefit from significant economies of scale, particularly network effects, and economies of scope.

This paper could be useful to Security and Commodity Authority, in order to support a merger between Dubai and Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange. Given that UAE capital market regulator has tried to improve efficiency in UAE stock market over the last years, a merger between UAE Stock Exchanges could have positive effects on overall efficiency.

It is the first paper that analyze UAE Stock Exchange industry. It is the first study that focusses on a potential merger between emerging markets’ stock exchanges. It is one of the first contributions that relates stock exchanges belonging to emerging and developed countries.

Strategic management, Strategic marketing, Entrepreneurship and Small business ventures.

This case study will be useful for undergraduate level students majoring in strategic management, entrepreneurship, small business ventures and marketing.

Just Fresh Juice is a small entrepreneurial venture in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), specialising in preparing all-fresh juices, special mixes and fruit salads. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how Just Fresh can maintain its competitive advantage, and how it could sustain its rapid growth in the market and gain more market share in the long run. Just Fresh focuses on satisfying its customers more effectively than its competitors through a competitive strategy of cost leadership (Papulova and Papulova, 2006), direct interaction with the customers through social media (Srinivasan, 2014) and creating a customer experience (Porter, 2008), as delivering a good customer experience is often more effective in building a competitive advantage than optimising internal processes.

The purpose of this case is to enable management students to evaluate and analyse a small business established in the United Arab Emirates. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of new business set-up and build proper business strategy. They will be able to perform the company’s competitive standing using Porter’s Five competitive forces and analyse its business strategies as well. They will be able to analyse the current status of the company using SWOT analysis and to design alternative strategies for the company using TOWS analysis. Furthermore, students will be able to build a cost analysis model for the company.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.