A perspective on United Arab Emirates small and medium-sized enterprises management utilising the European Foundation for Quality Management concepts of excellence

The UAE has the highest percentage increase in the numbers of new business start-ups of 54 Countries who participated in the (2009) Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Report. Although the resultant fall out of the 2008/9 credit crunch is still apparent, the UAE Government vision 2021 statement remains to build a knowledge intensive, entrepreneurial and innovative economy. Current UAE Government policy on the issue of trade licences effectively enhances entrepreneurial opportunities for Emirate nationals. With the growing importance of SME’s to the UAE economy, this research aims to explore the management approaches taken toward achieving business excellence by joint national / ex-patriot managed UAE SME’s, in what in the UAE is an increasingly international context for the SME supply chain. The paper utilises a survey of 50 onshore UAE based SME manufacturing companies, to determine management practices set against the eight EFQM concepts of business excellence, which are utilised as indicators of success for UAE SME management.