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The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of strategic orientations (technology, alliance, and market orientations) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in an emerging market, namely Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Drawing upon data from 200 Dubai SMEs, this study uses a structured survey that was developed from a methodical literature review. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to evaluate the findings.

The findings revealed that market orientation has a positive effect on business performance compared to technology and alliance orientations within SMEs in the Dubai marketplace.

This study offers SMEs a better understanding of their strategic orientations to enhance business performance. However, this study is limited to only SMEs operating in the Dubai marketplace. Future research could also look at other markets and use qualitative research methods.

This study provides important insights that could guide SMEs in their understanding of strategic orientations and the benefits for business performance. These findings reinforce the growing empirical evidence of the positive effect of market orientation, as being a strategic direction for SMEs, on business performance.