A GCC Focused Textbook on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Small Businesses
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management: A new Approach to Innovation for GCC Entrepreneurs provides insight on the GCC business system and practices, discussion of entrepreneurial and SMEs activities, case studies of innovation and startups, an overview of the challenges to creating an innovative environment, and explains the steps that are needed to create a new venture.
When we speak of small business in the GCC region, we are referring to more than one million small firms. Business education, innovation, and entrepreneurial development however, fall short from what exists in other developed economies. As the authors engaged in the practice of small business management as well as education about small business management at the university level in the GCC, they felt that more specific tools were needed to make business education relevant to this region. One of those tools was a textbook that applies a more regionally appropriate approach to the activities, examples, cases, roles, and laws of the GCC. In particular, this text book discusses:
- A conceptual framework for entrepreneurship and innovation development globally as well as specifically in the GCC
- The GCC business system from a historical and economic perspective (Islam & Oil, GCC Trade Integration, Labor Markets and Demographics)
- The challenges facing innovation in small business in the GCC: Legal, Education, Culture, managerial development, corporate governance, and financing.
- The legal environment
- The regulatory environment for small business (Obtaining a business license, approval of special requirements, IP, Etc)
- How to create a business plan
- Definition of entrepreneurship: characteristics and qualities
- Explanations of critical business functions to develop an enterprise
Problems to Solve
Books on entrepreneurship and innovation written outside the GCC context have myriad disadvantages for students, and instructors in the GCC, and for those outside the GCC who are engaged in the study of business in the Middle East:
- GCC business students find it difficult to relate to the business activities, examples, roles, and laws of non-GCC jurisdictions.
- The book lacks insights on the issues specific to the GCC small business environment such as innovation and entrepreneurial development.
- Instructors, who come from a multitude of backgrounds and geographies with limited experience in the GCC market, have no regional examples to teach in class.
- In most cases, these books are not written for students who speak English as their second language.
Solutions
The authors’ intentions and objectives are to overcome the previously mentioned disadvantages by writing a textbook that is relevant to the GCC countries. The book has the following criteria:
- It maintains the same global sequence and steps used in the development of a business plan.
- It is written in straightforward English that can be easily understood by English speaking university students of all nationalities.
- It discusses the historical development of small business and entrepreneurs in the GCC region.
- It applies examples and cases from the GCC market.
- It introduces a conceptual framework on how entrepreneurial innovation evolves in the region.
- It introduces the GCC institutions which support and develop entrepreneurs and business owners.
- It gives examples of how GCC entrepreneurs and small and family businesses thrive.
- It provides an insight on the laws and procedures that govern the small business practices.
Most importantly this book lists and discusses the major factors for Developing Supporting Environment for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the GCC
