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Entrepreneurship, strategic management and international business management.

This case is intended for teaching entrepreneurship, strategic management, international business courses at the undergraduate as well as graduate levels.

This is a field-researched real case about a growing fast food business started by local UAE entrepreneurs in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Just Falafel, a UAE based fast food pioneer company in the vegetarian and healthy food category is one of the most popular food outlets in the UAE. The company was poised for growth as demand was exceeding all expectations. Newer markets were being considered for expansion. By taking into consideration the present economic conditions as well as market stability it is possible to make a detailed calculation of market growth. There were many challenges Just Falafel had to face: increasing demand and brand awareness of Western fast food giants; and the future skills Just Falafel needed to develop to meet the regional and global challenges. Just Falafel specializes only in falafel and the company devised different flavors to differentiate its sandwiches based on each culture. This in turn expanded the outlet greatly and it gained high revenues in a short period of time. But there are many challenges and hurdles which the company has to consider if it is continue in the future. The owners and management are wondering what their next step ought to be in light of the economic recession. Should they expand? If so, where? If not, why not?

The case will help students to identify and evaluate the business strategy and the business model adopted by the company for international expansion. This will also enable students to critically think in various facets and reach a decision based on the facts provided.

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In Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, entrepreneurship is not a very popular option among women. The low rate of entrepreneurship as a career choice among females is attributed to factors that are specific to females in GCC region. The purpose of this paper is to understand these variables and their interrelationships that lead to low rate of adoption of entrepreneurship as a career choice among females in GCC region.

The research followed a two-stage process; first, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify barriers to female entrepreneurship in GCC region. In the second stage, the identified barriers were modeled using fuzzy interpretive structural modeling technique to construct a hierarchical structure and the impact matrix cross-reference multiplication applied to a classification approach to analyze the control power and dependence among these barriers.

The research shows that there exists a group of barriers having a high driving power and low dependence requiring maximum attention and of strategic importance, while another group consists of those variables that have high dependence and are the resultant actions.

This research will help policy makers to focus on variables that are most important and requires immediate attention for the development and empowerment of female entrepreneurship in the GCC region. The paper suggests future course of action to provide an impetus to efforts aimed at improving female entrepreneurship in the GCC region.

The policy makers in the GCC region have accorded high priority to entrepreneurship to reduce the dependence of population on government jobs. This research is one of the few studies on female entrepreneurship conducted in GCC region to understand the impediments that limit the adoption of entrepreneurship as a career choice by women.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the factors that influence the mindset of youth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in choosing entrepreneurship as their future employment. It also suggests the pathway to improve the role of the universities as strategic drivers in inducing an entrepreneurial mindset.

An exhaustive literature review of extant research followed by an exploratory study was conducted. Furthermore, to understand factors influencing the role of universities, interpretive structural modelling methodology is applied to evolve a hierarchy-based relationship among the strategic factors.

The results of empirical research suggest that young people in the UAE rank entrepreneurship as their first employment choice. However, most of them have not attended any formal entrepreneurship-related course in school or in college. The study also suggests that individual and environmental factors influence the entrepreneurial mindset of both males and females in the UAE. The structural model developed in the study indicates that to give an impetus to the entrepreneurial mindset, the government must create a supporting environment with UAE universities playing the role of a catalyst.

Professional entrepreneurship instruction is seen as a strategic tool to stimulate financial and societal growth. The results could provide insights for both entrepreneurship educators and policymakers and will boost their commitment to promote the entrepreneurial mindset within UAE society by enhancing and developing traits associated with entrepreneurial success. The results support recognition of the factors that induce educational programmes and economic incentives targeted at the development of sustainable entrepreneurial culture and ventures in the UAE.

The study is an effort to highlight the role of higher education in envisaging and cultivating entrepreneurs in a fast-growing developing country through a survey and a hierarchy-based model.

The three Central European countries (CE‐3), Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, are gradually opening for direct investment. The opportunities are there for the U.S. investors, who need to be well aware and informed about the economies of the CE‐3, the business characteristics, the mentality of the people, and the successful companies already established there.

Critical mutual benefits from Austria joining the EU are identified and discussed. Austria obtains greater economic bargaining power, loses some soverignty but retains neutrality and voice. EU gains strategic location, an educated and skilled workforce and perhaps a conscience regarding environment and small business protection. The “Anschluss” this time is a win/win situation for Austria, EU and for Europe.

This paper discusses the European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA), and the European Union (EU) in relation to Iceland. The fisheries sector is being treated extensively, since it is crucial for Iceland's economic survival. Finally, the paper presents various facts as to whether Iceland should join the EU or not.

This paper seeks to identify success factors of oil and gas international joint ventures (IJVs) in Russia. The paper focuses on the evaluation of the factors determining the success of IJVs.

An empirical study of 49 IJVs was completed using a core list of 31 success factors. Statistical and cluster analysis of the relative importance of the success factors was completed.

The results revealed that diverse importance values on the success factors were placed by Russian and foreign partners, suggesting that such an inconsistency could be the cause of high failure rates among IJVs.

The sample size is restricted to only those companies with contact details published on the internet. No data were available on determination of the population size which may bring into question the generalizability of the results to a full population.

This investigation can be useful to managers, both Russian and foreign. It provides them with general indications about the most important aspects and determinants of successful energy agreements, which they can apply and tailor to their specific situations and when seeking to make agreements for IJVs in Russia.

The value of this research is the grouping of success factors into clusters, thus replicating and at the same time confirming previous research findings.

This paper aims to explore internal and external organizational factors affecting electronic commerce or e-commerce systems adoption by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan.

The authors developed a model containing factors that might support e-commerce adoption. The model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis and then used to explore the relationships between factors. The authors used qualitative and quantitative approaches, including interviews, to explore awareness and adoption of e-commerce systems by Jordanian SMEs. SMEs in Jordan were identified from the Annual Handbook Index of 2012, compiled by the Jordanian Chamber of Commerce, and 500 in the industrial and services sectors were randomly selected as the study sample.

The effect of the adoption of e-commerce systems by SMEs is affected by both internal and external organizational factors, particularly readiness, strategy, managers’ perceptions and external pressure by trading partners. Readiness and external pressure are most important for achieving maximum benefit from e-commerce adoption.

The relative importance of factors affecting e-commerce adoption may vary depending on local business conditions. SME managers in Jordan who wish to benefit from e-commerce introduction must therefore invest in activities to improve SME readiness, especially information technology infrastructure.

This study is the first to explore both internal and external organizational factors important for e-commerce adoption by Jordanian SMEs. It tells SME managers which factors are likely to affect e-commerce adoption.

Knowledge of teachers’ participative decision making (PDM) and job satisfaction (JS) is important, as teachers comprise most of a school’s staff. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of teacher gender, nationality and school type on teachers’ PDM and JS in Abu Dhabi’s schools and to determine whether there any significant differences in PDM and teachers’ JS among teachers of different genders, school types and nationalities.

A questionnaire was used to collect data for the study by measuring each responding teacher’s involvement in making school decisions in both the instructional and managerial domains and JS. The questionnaire was distributed among teachers in 28 different schools around the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

The primary results demonstrated that teachers’ PDM differs by teacher gender, nationality and school type, whereas teacher’s JS differs by teacher gender and nationality, with school type having in general no significant effect on teacher JS.

This study contributes to literature on the UAE educational field, educational leadership and school management.

Strategic management/entrepreneurship.

Undergraduate and/or MBA level in either a strategic management and/or entrepreneurship courses.

The dilemma that Zayed, Al–Maha's founder and owner, is facing, is typical for an entrepreneur who has been successful for a number of years (ten, in his case), without a formal strategy. He is now at a cross–road: should he expand in his present location in the Madinat Zayed Shopping Center, in Abu Dhabi, UAE, or open another store in another location? if he grows within its current location, how would that be? Zayed, like many small–store owners in a developing economy, faces fierce competition especially in the mobile phone business. Technology is changing constantly, demand is increasing and he has to address all these issues, among others, before making a decision. Should he create an advisory council so he can be the recipient of feedback from trusted individuals who might serve on this council? Finally, he is seeking his close friend Refaat's opinion, as to what to do next and how.

Students should be able to: analyze the internal and external environments of a small–medium enterprise (SME); understand the importance of a vision/mission and smart objectives; make strategic decisions regarding the future direction of an SME; analyze the financial statements of an SME; draft a strategic plan based on the aforementioned; and understand the pros and cons of an SME in a developing economy such as the UAE.

Teaching notes.