Export drivers of small enterprises in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

The aim of this exploratory research is to shed light on the characteristics of small business enterprises in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) when selling their products in global markets. The study includes management perceptions as to why these firms are venturing across borders; a factor contributing to both successes and failures, in addition to their performance at the main locations of their activities. After studying a sample of 109 small business enterprises, it was concluded that ambitions for greater profits coupled with market sizes abroad are the main reasons for seeking to sell in international markets. Weak partnerships, financial difficulties, a lack of motivation, and poor knowledge of global standards are key influences negatively impacting on the ability to sell abroad. The researchers concluded that there were no ill effects as a result of cultural issues on a firm's intent to go global; but high quality products, price competitiveness, and government support were found to be important success factors in their activities.

Key Words:

• export
• global market
• small and medium enterprises
• investments
• SMEs
• e-globalized economy
• e-globalization

Introduction

Most multinational companies call for enforceable standards of corporate social responsibility, and are realizing the benefits of their activities across their national borders. Even small enterprises recognize the benefits of their engagements in such activities. As global operations fundamentally alter the direction and strategic capabilities of a firm, its mission statement, if originally developed from a domestic perspective, must be globalized.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a very important role in the economic growth, employment, and sustainable development of countries including the UAE, and constitute 90% of all enterprises (Chamber of Commerce, 2009). A competition change in recent years in international markets and in industry evolutions is associated with high rates of entry and exit, and is associated with considerable changes in firm population. Such changes became an area of interest among businessmen, as the intensity of competition grew causing margins to narrow (Robert, 2008).

The industry life cycle involving the international migration of production and demand for new products emerges first in the advanced industrialized countries and then diffuses internationally. With maturity, products require fewer inputs of technology and sophisticated skills (Siggelkow & Levinthal, 2005). With this situation, firms have the opportunity to become less dependent upon the domestic situation, which stimulates development and profitability.

Internationalization as applied to a business firm can be viewed as a process, an end result and a way of thinking. International activities among firms may contribute social benefits through fostering local employment, in addition to economic benefits for those firms (through global integration). Such a situation features the enterprise capability to coordinate and harmonize long-term strategy (Moeran, 2005). Thus, it can involve the interaction of environmental forces and managerial behavior as well as the main effects of each on itself. Currently, business enterprises are interested in global marketing with the intention to shift the supply and demand characteristics in the world market. Such phenomena contribute to a change in the competitive environment (Harris & Kimberly, 2003).

The complexities and dynamics of entrepreneurial activities as well as their respective contexts have received little attention. This is surprising given the prevalence of entrepreneurship worldwide and its economic and societal contributions at all levels – individuals, families, communities, and nations as well as world markets (Danes, Lee, Stafford, & Heck, 2008). However, little has been concluded in terms of investigating the characters associated with exporting companies that operate in the global markets in the UAE. Therefore, this paper is an attempt to investigate, through exploratory research of a sample of manufacturing small business enterprises, the level and the extent of these firms’ involvement in export activities in the manufacturing sector of the economy. It is the researchers’ belief that the findings will shed light on the problems facing these enterprises in international marketing, the extent of support by government agencies, and the likelihood of help from other firms in the private or public sectors of the economy.

Regardless of the market's entry mode being used, these enterprises must perform other marketing activities to enhance themselves in the international markets (Harris & Kimberly, 2003). Through the discussion, the researcher will emphasize the importance of export marketing even to other enterprises within the economy.

To an extent the issues are semantic. Irrespective of their organizational structure and the rationale and purposes of the present investigation, the researcher's objectives will be achieved through:

1. The assessment of variables motivating these enterprises to venture globally.

2. The assessment of variables contributing to the success or failure of these enterprises, experienced when entering global marketing.

3. The size of the global markets that these enterprises tend to focus on.

4. The assessment of variables contributing to the success or failure of these enterprises. There is a need to understand and include related fields of inquiry relevant to entrepreneurship (Heck, Hoy, Poutziouris, & Steier, 2008).

The nature of the e-globalized economy

E-globalization is a key to growth as it increases the likelihood of a firm attracting global customers. Unquestionably, one of the benefits of the internet-enabled global market place is the ability of small businesses to become effective players in foreign markets, which makes customers more likely to purchase the firms’ products and services (Abouzeedan, 2005). Knowledge concerning international markets is important to nations as a whole as well as to the level of local enterprises. Such knowledge is different from that relating to domestic markets, although at times the differences are not that great. Moreover, such knowledge goes hand-in-hand with a kind of distinctive competence and experience that is required if a company is to succeed (Selnes & James, 2003).

A company's main incentive is opportunity for growth and profit. In addition, sales in foreign markets can contribute to stabilizing revenue/turnover fluctuations whether caused by seasonality, technology changes, saturated markets, or economic conditions (Gerald et al., 1995). Therefore, it is desirable to assess which factors stimulate firms to seek markets to export their products. Government agencies may promote support and sustainability by providing the stimulus for diversification into global outlets.

The world offers a growing international market potential for companies that do not already operate in foreign markets (Guangping & Richard, 2002). The challenge to firms is to identify and overcome the nature of barriers to these markets.

Selection within the market over time is based upon similarities between the national market structures of a political, social, economic, or cultural nature, so that the export marketers expand from one market to the next, introducing a minimum of further adaptation to the product as well as other export marketing parameters. This is a type of experience-based market selection (Waller, 2004). Therefore, through the analysis of the global markets by territories where these enterprises have undertaken activities, it will be possible to discover more characteristics of these selected markets. In addition, such analysis may help enterprises to gather knowledge currently lacking about the products and services required in these markets. This knowledge may prove useful to identify the enterprises’ characteristics and potential success globally.Managerial attitudes play a critical if not the primary role in determining the exporting activities of the firm. Therefore, there is a distinct relationship between individual decision characteristics and export behavior. It will be interesting to know the critical success factors associated with the international activities within the economic sector of the industry and identify those that are more prevalent (Aaker, 2004). Thus, favorable attitudes toward foreign activities have been considered an essential prerequisite before firms consider expanding into global markets. The stronger the firm's motivation for growth, the greater will be the activities it generates including research activity for new opportunities (Na, Marshall, & Son, 2003). This research may be useful in providing an outline for small business enterprises that supply manufacturing products in the economy. This information is also useful to government agencies in enhancing their role and support for these enterprises and encouraging their international activities and export performance. Fig. 1 illustrates the idea of how a firm could go global or refrain.

Fig. 1. A model for a firm going global

Export marketing motivation

A company needs to specify a schedule and the resources needed for reaching critical mass in each segment of the market. Thus, incentives contribute toward a firm's decision to improve their global activities. Kayworth and Dorothy (2002) argue that the primary motives for exporting were to avoid the saturated home market and the decline in domestic sales while specific consideration also needs to be given to work in an international environment. Changes in the international environment affect the value of an overseas market for an enterprise. These external changes occur when a firm is searching for new customers in other countries, and when a client requests a local firm to open facilities in new foreign markets where the client has established operations (exogenous factors). A firm may go international when it has a competitive advantage to distinguish it from other similar firms for example, appropriate levels of technology and the ability to exploit knowledge (endogenous factors).

Management perceptions toward global marketing can affect the way in which the enterprise attempts to venture internationally. Such perceptions are thought to be more effective when seeking new resources, knowledge, and technology. A company venturing globally must have objectives it wishes to achieve that will serve as criteria for assessment of progress. The basis of company goals will be comprised of identifying and measuring market opportunities. Such opportunities will be perceived by the management of the firm as a stimulus and as strong enough to go global (Johnson & Schultz, 2004). For our enterprises it will be interesting to shed light on their motivation to venture into international marketing.

In terms of marketing, these stimuli are called proactive stimuli triggered to exploit these opportunities effectively and efficiently and enhance the potential for government agencies’ support for these enterprises, in terms of informing them about regulation, exchange systems, and the type and quality of product in these foreign markets. Initiatives of this type are better than reactive stimuli (Berens, van Riel, & van Bruggen, 2005). Enterprises looking for opportunities in foreign markets may do so due to a surplus in their production capacity and intensive local competition. These efforts are attempts to reduce market risks, working in new outlets, and increasing profit or increasing unsolicited export orders.

Export barriers

There are traditional criteria for assessing the opportunities of entrance into international markets. These criteria are costs of entry into various countries and markets and the risks involved in foreign business opportunities (Cramton, 2001). Given the limitations of applying a specific entry model to these global markets there are some problems in applying an analysis to the needs of these enterprises. Such firms should focus simultaneously across a broad range of foreign markets to help balance capital to gain stronger long-term market positions (Postrel, 2002). In general, one may expect that the external environment is the most significant problem associated with venturing into global markets. Also, some variables of the internal environment represent possible constraints hindering the enterprises from export expansion.

As industries become increasingly global, a firm must begin to coordinate an increasing number of functional activities to effectively compete across countries. The most frequently cited obstacles in the field of international marketing include foreign government restrictions, exchange rate difficulties, capital requirements, access to distribution marketing channels, cultural differences, and tariff barriers. The most significant challenge for firms, therefore, is the ability to adjust to unfamiliar forces for the benefit of the firm's mission (Pearce & Robinson, 2007). With such macro-level factors involved, small enterprises need to invest large financial resources in order to reduce the effects of entry barriers, particularly if the capital is required for unrecoverable expenditures; for example, research and development (R&D) and advertising campaigns. Issues such as changes in the currency exchange rate or even devaluation also fall under the umbrella of the external environment. Problems like these reduce a firm's ability to compete even in the local market. While major corporations have the financial resources to invade almost any industry, the huge capital required in certain fields for small firms, such as computer manufacturing industries, will limit the pool of likely entrants (Mitchell, 2003).

The seriousness of the threat of entry depends on the barriers present and on the reaction of existing or unexpected competitors that the entrant can expect. On the micro-level, operational problems such as supply chain, transportation services, delay of payment from buyers, and achieving distributors may be controlled by the enterprises’ management and provides the groundwork for a strategic agenda of action (Bettencourt, 2004). They highlight the crucial strengths and weaknesses of the firm and animate the positioning of the company in its industry. These internal issues may be controlled by the enterprise. The R&D's ability to get information about the external markets is also an internal concern and related to management's ability to make a decision about such concerns. Poor organization in terms of financial capabilities and human skill will exacerbate these internal problems. In general, an enterprise needs an efficient and effective management to encompass and reduce the effects of these micro-level problems and to make key decisions to work effectively in overseas markets (Broderick, Greenley, & Mueller, 2007).

The researchers believe that if barriers to entry are high and a newcomer might expect an untoward relationship from entrenched competitors, then there is a strong likelihood that the newcomer is unlikely to enter and threaten the local market.

Small companies, at least the better ones, usually thrive because they serve market niches. This is usually called market focus; the extent to which a business concentrates on a narrowly defined market and it is a method for evaluating the firms’ competitive advantage. Market focus allows some businesses to compete on the basis of low cost and achieve rapid results against much larger businesses with greater resources. Therefore, the lack of foreign market information sources contributes to the information problem (Hansen, 2002). A marketing information system helps the firm to analyze information for making marketing decisions and managing customer relationships. In order to produce superior value and satisfaction for customers, firms need a flow of information input. Firms also need an abundance of information on competitors, distributors, and other forces in the market place. Such effective information will improve the communication process with alliances and customers and avoid major difficulties for decisionmakers.

Reviewing the literature on export barriers shows that writers identify no fewer than 39 types of export barriers (Dane & Pratt, 2007).These barriers may be segmented to operational, functional, procedural, governmental, and environmental tasks.

Export markets’ characteristics and success factors

Although cultural differences are assets in organizations, sometimes they can be seen as sources of conflict and therefore differences in values and ethics can be sources of disagreement. Understanding these differences will help the firms to develop their international operations and guide enterprises in country selection decisions and select international markets with higher cultural commonalities (Harris & Blair, 2006).

Exporting involves the least change in a company's product lines, organization, investments, or mission. Before going abroad, the firm must weigh several risks and answer many questions about its ability to operate globally as well as the risks and difficulties of entering international markets. Most companies do not act until some situation or event thrust them into the global arena. Thus, it is likely that risk factors will limit their export initiatives to fewer markets (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2006). Therefore, companies will achieve some success in bridging the barriers through investing in more resources and expanding in more territories. Companies usually enter a market in a location and then expand their activities later in other geographical areas.

What is mentioned above is applied to small enterprises and newborn global firms (Ottesen & Gronhaug, 2002). The availability of information concerning barriers will encourage newcomers to venture internationally. Information on the chosen market sector also enables newcomers to realize rapid expansion in their new target locations.

A country's attractiveness for export depends on the product, geographical factors, cultural differences, and other factors. Testing may provide useful data regarding the characteristics needed to help the firm to enter foreign markets. Product innovation is creating something new for the foreign market. Armstrong and Kotler (2003) argued that there are at least four political factors that should be considered when deciding whether to do business in a given country. These are attitudes toward international buying, government bureaucracy, political stability, and monetary regulation. Here we may say that the utilization of governmental agents’ support may contribute to success.

Management perception and positive attitudes toward exporting can also have a bearing on success while determining whether or not a firm will take the initiative to export. A firms’ competitive advantages and management skills are variables that may contribute to the success of an enterprise in the global environment (Kumar, Scheer, & Kotler, 2000).

In conclusion, management marketing policy, knowledge of the external environment, and the firm's specific advantages will contribute to the success of enterprises in international marketing.

Research methodology

The research adopted in this paper is exploratory in nature, aiming to shed light on the behavior of the small enterprises in the international markets in Abu Dhabi in particular and the UAE in general. The data was collected by a questionnaire, the content of which reflects the research objectives (Appendix 1). The enterprises in the sample were chosen from the Industrial Directory in Abu Dhabi Emirate Chamber of Commerce, which were either attempting to or were already exporting their products. A pre-test was undertaken with 12 representatives of the enterprises venturing abroad. Their insights proved useful in adjusting the sequence or the content of some questions that were adapted accordingly.

The Chamber of Commerce regulation was used for the study incorporating any enterprise employing no more than 100 employees with 255 enterprises representing the sample of the study. Confidentiality was guaranteed for all respondents. Direct interviews were made to distribute the questionnaire that was collected later within a period of time accepted as convenient for the respondents. Only 65 firms returned their forms and these forms were used in the data analysis representing a 25% response rate that was sufficient for exploratory research and that was acceptable statistically.

Information is a critical ingredient in formulating and implementing a successful marketing strategy. In scanning their mode in going international and the extent of export involvement associated with enterprises in the sample, a cluster analysis (for classifying objects) was undertaken based on the enterprises’ market size (i.e. number of territories that each enterprise exports to and the ratio of export turnover to total sales). Three clusters were identified: 35 enterprises were classified as ‘Limited market exporter.’ 20 as being ‘familiar with markets Exporter,’ and 10 were regarded as ‘Worldwide exporters.’

The limited market exporters are those with demonstrated commitments who are already venturing into international markets and operating in different regions. Therefore, export sales represent an accredited percentage of revenues. The second cluster groups are those enterprises with limited activities in the foreign markets and thus are familiar with markets or regions. This is due to knowledge about these markets, avoiding risks in international markets and, probably, the higher costs associated with these markets. Therefore, the percentages of sales are relatively low. The third cluster groups are those enterprises that are worldwide market exporters. To some extent they are more aware of and familiar with their markets and tend to operate in a number of regions and, therefore, have export activities and revenues that are higher than the former groups (limited market exporters).

The above statistics show that the majority of these enterprises in the sample benefit from activities in the international markets at different levels. Thus, the research findings are based on the above three groups of the sample.

Findings and analysis

International marketing literature identified many variables motivating firms to venture internationally. Light is shed on the motivation for export of these enterprises. As an enterprise becomes global, managers of these companies within an industry must increase the coordination and concentration of functional activities. Table 1 presents motivation variables according to their importance to the enterprises in the sample.

Table 1. Export motivations: similarities/differences

Exporting motives	Limited markets exporters group I		Familiar with markets exporters group II		Worldwide markets exporters group III		One-way ANOVA & Scheffe's test
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	F	P–value	Scheffe's test
Large markets	2.60	0.98	2.990.65	0.84	2.72	0.74	1.34	0.14	III > II, III > I III > I
Gaining high profits	2.74	0.78	2.74	0.78	2.60	0.78	0.28	0.67
Neighboring markets	1.60	0.97	1.45	0.67	1.74	0.72	0.69	0.32
Development size	2.78	0.67	3.04	0.72	3.08	0.60	2.10	0.07
Entry easiness	2.10	0.96	2.08	1.01	2.41	0.60	1.14	0.19
Distributors requests	2.06	0.88	2.24	1.13	2.82	0.65	7.16	0.00*
Excess capacity	1.42	0.75	1.70	0.81	1.99	0.81	4.69	0.00*
Unsolicited orders	2.02	0.78	1.91	0.98	2.02	0.71	0.09	0.80
More stable markets	2.50	0.84	2.83	0.65	2.63	0.69	1.30	0.20

*P < 0.01.

From Table 1, it is evident that achieving profit is the primary motivator for the limited market exporters group. One conclusion that can be drawn from this is that these enterprises have knowledge of how to work in markets with limited risks. The size of the foreign market may encourage them to venture internationally. Reducing excess capacity and the close proximity of global markets appears to be the least motivating factors. For the enterprises within the group of ‘Familiar with market exporter,’ the large market size may contribute to their development and to the reasonable stability associated with these markets, and these were the most important motivators for the firms to go global. The potential profits may be encouraging motivators for the firms venturing abroad. On the other hand, the utilization of markets to minimize excess capacity appears to be the driving motivator. For the third group, ‘Worldwide markets exporters,’ the rate of doing business and the commitment to meet foreign orders are the two obvious motivators for sustaining global market activities and exploiting existing opportunities. The relatively lower risks, lower costs in international activities, easy commitment for executing foreign request and orders, and prospect of finding similar markets abroad are factors motivating them to venture abroad. The large market size, the stability of these markets, and low risks constitute the motivators for these companies to go global. Managements’ opinion is similar to that for the ‘Limited markets exporters group,’ the close proximity of international markets and use of exports to reduce excess capacity were among the least motivating factors for these companies.

One may conclude from the above discussion that increasing the growth rate is the motivation for venturing internationally. Therefore, increasing profits within a larger market size and the low risks in these stable markets were considered influential motivators for going global. Whereas, the closeness to foreign markets and use of excess capacity appeared to be least important for the companies’ managements. Thus, we may conclude that the most important and the least important motivators are similar in these three clusters.

Such similarities in venturing globally were confirmed through a one-way ANOVA analysis for these three groups in the sample. Only two motivators were found that showed significant differences between the groups in the sample. First is their commitment to meet the foreign markets’ obligations or requests. This is more significant for worldwide market export groups than with the familiar market exporter groups. The second motivator is to help in the use of excess production capacity (more significant for groups’ worldwide markets exporters than the familiar market exporter groups). No significant differences were found between these groups in the sample concerning the other seven motivators from the nine measures.

The seriousness of the threat of entry depends on the barriers present and on the reaction from existing competitors that the entrant can expect. New entrants to markets bring new capacity, a desire to gain market share, and often increased competition.

For limited market exporters, group searching for access to a new distributor or alliance to minimize risks were perceived as barriers to venturing in international markets. Finding the right alliance is not an easy task – a problem faced by many companies venturing internationally. Financial difficulties, transportation problems associated with international marketing activities, knowledge of global standards, lack of motivation, and lack of experience are regarded as obstacles to these companies (Table 2). Entrenched companies may have cost advantages and attained economies of scale that are not available to potential rivals. Start-up costs associated with exports incurred by differentiating their products abroad creates a barrier by forcing these enterprises to spend heavily to overcome existing customer loyalty to other companies. Such additional costs may make the competition with other local companies more difficult.

Table 2. Exporting barriers: similarities/differences

Exporting barriers	Limited markets exporters group I		Familiar with market exporters group II		Worldwide markets exporters group III		One-way ANOVA and Scheffe's test
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	F	P–value	Scheffe's test
Competition level abroad	2.95	0.93	3.85	0.65	2.98	0.96	1.30	0.20
Financial difficulties / cost	2.97	0.94	2.98	0.82	2.80	0.99	1.20	0.19	I > III
Lacking Knowledge about foreign markets	2.55	0.99	2.27	1.01	2.50	1.00	3.95	0.00**
Depot procedures	2.01	0.90	2.30	0.83	2.31	0.89	0.03	0.89
The right alliances	3.01	0.99	3.75	0.94	3.65	0.75	0.09	0.84
Transportation problems	2.99	0.83	2.35	0.82	2.34	0.71	1.01	0.21
Unsuitable market conditions	2.30	0.81	2.03	0.73	2.13	0.84	0.79	0.39
Cultural variable	2.10	0.84	3.01	0.99	2.20	0.84	2.01	0.08
Overseas market costs	2.90	0.92	2.93	0.79	2.88	0.71	0.30	0.62
Global standards	2.99	1.01	2.99	0.92	2.98	0.99	0.77	0.39
Exchange rate	2.60	0.95	2.370.69		2.42	0.85	0.62	0.48
Taxes on imports	2.99	1.01	3.03	0.91	2.99	1.03	0.05	0.80
Lack of Motivation	2.99	0.92	3.01	0.99	2.99	0.93	1.52	0.13	I > II, I > III
Lack of experience	2.97	0.91	1.98	1.00	2.010.76		8.02	0.00*	I > II, I > III
Time management	2.99	1.01	2.01	0.81	2.21	0.63	6.02	0.00*	I > III
Lack of logistics	2.98	0.91	2.92	1.01	1.99	0.81	2.99	0.02**

P < 0.01, ** P < 0.05, *** P < 0.1.

Lacking knowledge about markets overseas is putting aspiring enterprises in economic difficulty concerning access to distribution channels. The more limited the wholesale or retail channels are, the tougher will be the entry into the foreign markets. For those familiar with market exporter groups, they face the same barriers. The levels of competition, finding access to distribution channels, and the associated costs for venturing abroad all represent barriers. Also, this group considers the lack of incentives for going global a barrier and should be given more attention.

For the limited market exporters group, finding the right alliance (distribution agents), high costs in overseas markets, and completion levels with other producers represent the key barriers for venturing globally.

In general it appears that finding the right alliance/distributor in the foreign markets is the main barrier for their international marketing activities and no significant differences were found when the three groups were analyzed concerning the exporting motives or stimuli. However, lack of knowledge about the foreign markets was perceived as the most significant barrier for managements of these enterprises. The lack of experience accompanied by the need for time and experience are the most significant barriers for the limited markets exporters group in contrast to the other two groups (i.e. familiar market exporters and worldwide market exporters group).

It is appropriate to mention the foreign markets /locations to whom these enterprises export their products. In a marketing context and after evaluating the identified segments, a decision is made by firms whether or not to pursue a particular opportunity (Bhatnagar & Ghose, 2004). Regions where these enterprises export are shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Table 3. Location coverage

Locations	Limited market exporters	Familiar with market exporters	Worldwide market exporters
Saudi Arabia	1.9	80.01	85.0
Kuwait	1.9	68.2	85.0
Iran	7.6	59.3	89.6
India	3.6	65.5	95.1
Indonesia	12.2	51.01	95.1
Malaysia	21.3	43.01	95.1
Pakistan	31.4	43.01	86.4
Bahrain	21.0	51.2	92.0
Iraq	59.4	68.2	99.4
Oman	52.5	47.1	95.1
Means of locations served	2.50	7.1	12.61
Number of markets’ Rregions	2–4	3–9	9–12

The worldwide market exporters group in the sample are exporting their products to the neighboring countries with over 70% of this group having successfully ventured abroad and experienced business in between 9 and 12 geographic locations including Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. This group has achieved orders in 8 out of the 12 market territories listed. Those familiar with market exports tended to have knowledge about Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, with over 68% venturing there. This is interesting from a cultural perspective, since the government of the UAE encourages these small enterprises to export their products to neighboring countries. Such activities are characterized with fewer risks, knowledge and experience about these markets. This group has obtained orders from between three and nine different geographic locations within six countries. The limited exporters group is operating at lower levels in foreign markets. They are represented in the locations listed in Table 3. On average, they are venturing into only two international territories, with over 52% venturing abroad. Thus, it is a lower percentage when compared to the other two groups in the sample.

We asked respondents in these enterprises to mention the reasons behind their success in the international markets and their views are given in (Table 4). Respondents attribute their success in the foreign markets to the high quality of their products. The limited market exporters group perceived that new products and their pricing policy were reasons behind their success. These two factors increased their competitive advantage and competitiveness. Whereas, those familiar with market exporters group attributed their success and expansion in the foreign markets to management commitment and management's skills and knowledge. However, knowledge was the least important factor for the success of the limited market exporters group. Similarly, these two success factors may explain the success of the worldwide markets exporters group in the foreign markets.

Table 4. Success factors in global markets

Variable of exporting success	Limited market exporters		Familiar with market exports		Worldwide market exporters
	Percentage	Rank	Percentage	Rank	Percentage	Rank
High quality products	73.8	1	80.1	1	95.6	1
Competitive prices	47.5	2	79.1	2	90.3	2
Inventions new ideas	13.1	7	45.0	6	85.3	5
Managerial skills and experience	40.3	3	67.1	3	75.6	9
Management commitment	21.3	5	40.1	7	90.0	3
Reliable alliances/agents	15.1	6	30.1	9	77.1	8
Financial resources adequacy	25.9	4	60.2	4	78.1	7
Reliable overseas information	7.3	8	51.0	5	88.5	4
Updating marketing strategies	4.1	9	35.2	8	80.1	6
Employees teamwork relationships	0.3	11	0.5	11	7.0	11
Technological skills	2.3	10	15.0	10	9.0	10

Through discussion with respondents in the sample, it is concluded that the common perception of management was the high quality of their product that contributed significantly to their continued export demand in foreign markets.

Discussion and conclusions

Our exploratory research may shed light on some of the characteristics of the small business enterprises in the United Arab Emirates selling their products in the global markets. The paper is an attempt to investigate the level and the extent of these firms’ involvement in export activities in the manufacturing sector of the economy. Therefore, our research may be useful in providing an outline for small business enterprises that supply manufacturing products in the economy.

The analysis provides government agencies as well as management in these enterprises a basis for encouraging their firms to enter into new markets or maintain their existence in foreign ones.

None of the respondents in the enterprises investigated mentioned the points of entrance. We believe that the low educational level and a failure to recognize available techniques as a way to enter foreign markets may be reasons for the inability to venture abroad. Government support may also open doors for these enterprises to use available techniques enabling global access.

Finding a reliable distributor is not an easy task, but one is faced with many companies when venturing abroad. Cost disadvantages associated with international marketing activities, powerful suppliers, currency exchange fluctuation, and lack of knowledge represent examples of obstacles facing these companies. Despite the uncertainty and dynamic nature of business environments, access to information and distributors is crucial to achieving better performance.

Government support is often vital for small enterprises in the UAE to bridge export barriers. Such agencies may provide financial support, provide information about the foreign markets, encourage them to participate in local or international trade fairs, and provide or advise on specific marketing strategy.

Building cooperative relationships and alliances abroad is important to those companies familiar with market exports and the worldwide market exporter groups. Such relationships need to be nurtured when the global external and economic environments change. Achieving mutual benefits between partners as well as raising customer–producer awareness will be better achieved through building cooperation between alliances.

Future research

Our research provides an insight into small enterprises venturing into international marketing in the UAE. Therefore, research in the Gulf States may provide additional information on the economic situation of enterprises in these countries. Additional research could focus on enterprises providing services for export activities.

Conflict of interest and funding

The authors have not received any funding or benefits from industry or elsewhere to conduct this study.

Appendix A: Appendix 1.

Table 5. The questionnaire design

No.	The question
1	What is the real problem?
2	How long has this problem existed?
3	Is the problem related to some ‘unfinished business’?
4	Where is the most energy for change?
5	Does the problem serve a function? If so, what is it?
6	Do owner/managers of small firms believe personal or impersonal sources of information to be more important?
7	What are the most prevalent impersonal sources of information, and are written or oral impersonal sources used more frequently?