An Investigation: Digital Media Impact on UAE SMEs Performance

This report investigates the impact of digital media on the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It explores the evolving landscape of digital media, including e-commerce, social media, and mobile applications, and how these tools influence business operations. The report highlights the importance of digital media for SMEs in the UAE, considering its role in enhancing customer bases, improving communication, and expanding market reach. The research methodology combines qualitative and quantitative analysis, including surveys and interviews with over 500 SMEs across various industries, along with data from academic journals and articles. The study addresses research questions related to improving business performance, leveraging social media, identifying deficiencies in current digital strategies, and comparing the advantages and disadvantages of digital media adoption. The report includes a detailed timeline, a Gantt chart, and references to support the findings, providing a comprehensive overview of the digital media's influence on SMEs in the UAE.

Running Head: Digital Media Impact on the performance of SMEs in UAE
Digital Media Impact on the performance of SMEs in UAE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Digital Media Impact on the performance of SMEs in UAE

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Digital Media Impact on the performance of SMEs in UAE
Table of Contents
Working Title.............................................................................................................................3
Rationale for the project.............................................................................................................3
Overview of the Industry...........................................................................................................3
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................4
The Aims, Objectives and Research Questions.........................................................................5
Aims and Objectives..............................................................................................................5
Research Questions................................................................................................................6
An outline of the methodology..................................................................................................6
Participants and number of samples.......................................................................................6
Research Design.....................................................................................................................6
Data Collection Plan..............................................................................................................7
Reliability and validity of the instruments.............................................................................7
Ethical Consideration.............................................................................................................7
Proposed Analysis of data......................................................................................................8
Timeline.....................................................................................................................................8
Gantt chart..............................................................................................................................8
References................................................................................................................................10

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Digital Media Impact on the performance of SMEs in UAE
Working Title
Digital Media Impact on the performance of SMEs in UAE
Rationale for the project
All the dimensions of the business have been changed with the emergence of the
internet and therefore it has been considered important in the field of business. The online
transactions are easy, convenient and at the same time saving and for this reason it is
preferred by majority of the customers. It has revolutionized the business as well as the
behaviour of the consumers and has enabled easy communication among the customers and
the business organizations (Li, et al. 2018). Nowadays, it is important for the business
enterprises to use the techniques of modern digital technologies of the internet like the digital
media to survive in the competitive world. The use of internet can lead to new opportunities
of business expansion as it can be used as a tool for advertisement and promotional purposes
as well as a tool for better communication with the customers across the world. The small &
medium enterprises (SMEs) are now playing an important role in the current economies of
the developing countries and are also important at both micro and macro levels (Jain 2015).
At the same time, it is playing an important role in the employment of the workforce and in
the contribution of GDP in the developed countries. Thus, the performance of the SMEs will
have positive impact with the introduction of the digital media technologies in the business
proceedings.
Overview of the Industry
SMEs are important both in developing countries as well as in the developed
countries because of their contribution in employment of workforce as well as contribution to
GDP. It has been estimated that within the next few years the SMEs will earn an approximate

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Digital Media Impact on the performance of SMEs in UAE
amount of $3.5 billion in e-commerce sales and it may grow up to $300 billion (Ghobakhloo
and Tang 2015). Currently, the SMEs are in a better position for the purpose of accessing the
global market as well as sharing of the relevant information related to the demands and needs
of the customers. They also have the ability to tailor the products and services as per the
flexible needs and demands of the customers. Therefore, it can said that with the introduction
of the media of digital in the proceedings of the business will highly and positively impact the
performance of the SMEs (Ainin, et al. 2015). Moreover, the recent world has been captured
by digital media and the digital media products and these products have rapidly spread in
almost all types of industries even in health, education and government. There are different
forms of digital media products and these forms are- E-commerce, Websites, Games (both
mobile and online), social media, mobile applications, animation, data visualization, video
and location-based services (Ainin, et al. 2015). The digital media is sometimes also termed
as Electronic Media. According to Medoff and Kaye, “Electronic Media is the storage media
or broadcast media which take the advantage of the electronic technology”.
Literature Review
Many researches have been conducted by many researchers. A study has been
conducted by Keegan (2017) based on a study of Google it has been found that UAE has
stood number one in terms of the global smartphone penetration. Regardless of the size of the
business, the digital media and its new applications have reached to most of the businesses in
UAE. Another study states that the rapid popularity and the usage of the digital media has
made its way in different forms of big corporations of business and has proved to serve the
diverse needs of the customers. However, in terms of the SMEs, they are still left behind and
are struggling to adapt with this new and present technology. It has been found in another
study by Qeke, (2019) that due to lack of modern technologies like digital marketing in

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Digital Media Impact on the performance of SMEs in UAE
various business activities and other marketing and advertising campaigns have made the
SMEs to lie below the bottom line in comparison to multinational companies in terms of
earning profits.
According to Müller, Buliga and Voigt, (2018) the country of UAE has been
considered as the leading country in the Middle East reign in terms of adaptation of the
digital entrepreneurs. This country is having a respectable number of SMEs and about 94
percent of the businesses in UAE are operating as SMEs. Therefore, it has enormous potential
in the fields of digital media and marketing and advertising of online brands. As a result, the
business organizations which have gone online are now facing tremendous success as
compared to those organizations which are still using the traditional methods of operating the
business.
Therefore, this study has been undertaken so that the potential benefits along with the
potential disadvantages and the deficiencies of the digital technologies in SMEs can be
focused on. This focus is important so that the SMEs can join this competition of business
and economy along with other fast growing business organizations.
The Aims, Objectives and Research Questions
Aims and Objectives
The aims and objectives of this study is-
 Improving the business performance of the SMEs for the purpose of increasing the
customer base and strengthening the communication for thrashing out the possibilities
for digitising their business proceedings.

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Digital Media Impact on the performance of SMEs in UAE
 The evaluation of the possibilities for favouring the SMEs with the rapid moving
social media in terms of strengthening the marketing and advertisement campaigns
and finding of new markets.
 Identification of the deficiencies of the subject with an aim to propose new studies for
meeting the deficiencies.
 Comparison of the advantages as well as the disadvantages of the digital media for
SMEs in UAE.
Research Questions
Q1. How the business performance can be improved for the purpose of increasing the
customer base and strengthening the communication for thrashing out the possibilities for
digitising their business proceedings?
Q2. What are the possibilities which favour the SMEs with the rapid moving social media in
terms of strengthening the marketing and advertisement campaigns and finding of new
markets?
Q3. How the deficiencies will be identified with an aim to propose new studies for meeting
the deficiencies?
Q4. How to make a comparison of the advantages and the disadvantages of the digital media
for SMEs in UAE?
An outline of the methodology
Participants and number of samples
This research of evaluating the digital media impact on the performance of SMEs in
UAE has combined both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The research work will be

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Digital Media Impact on the performance of SMEs in UAE
conducted with over 500 SMEs in UAE which belong under 10 different industries and from
other sources which will be collected from different articles and journals.
Research Design
The research will be conducted with the help of sample techniques like probability
and non-probability. At the same, the research will also contain other techniques like
stratified sampling. The purpose of using stratified sampling is to help in the better
understanding of the study. The research work will be conducted with the help of quantitative
and qualitative data which will make the research work more reliable as well as successful.
Data Collection Plan
During the conduct of the research work the data will be collected after taking surveys
and interviews by the researchers. Therefore, for the purpose of carrying out the survey,
survey questionnaires have been prepared and these questionnaires have been distributed to
only those respondents who are willing to participate in the research program. In order to
contain proper information about the purpose of the research the questionnaires will include
multiple choice questions and close ended questions and this will also help to maintain the
anonymity of all the participants who are taking part in the research. At the same time, the
data which are qualitative in nature will be collected from various publications like journals
and articles.
Reliability and validity of the instruments
In order to measure the imitation of the results which have been prepared with the use
of instruments and different sets of data the reliability test will be used. Alternatively, the
Cronbach’s alpha test will be used for measuring the consistency of the data which have been
collected during this research work (Diedenhofen and Musch 2016). The validation of the

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Digital Media Impact on the performance of SMEs in UAE
research work will be ensured with the help of proper use of the instruments. It is important
for every research work to maintain the reliability as well as the validity of the research work.
Ethical Consideration
There are few ethical guidelines which are needed to be followed while conducting
the surveys. During the time of the research no participants should be forced to participate in
the research and they should participate voluntarily. The survey paper should not contain any
advertisements, name of the company or the logo of the company (Leavy 2017).
Proposed Analysis of data
The collected data of the research have been converted into numeric, percentage and
graphical representation for a better and comprehensive understanding of the data. This will
ensure that the proper evaluation of the outcome of the research has been done and it has
been performed with quantitative analysis.
Timeline
Gantt chart
Task 1st
Week
2nd
Week
3rd
Week
4th
Week
5th
Week
6th
Week
7th
Week
8th
Week
9th
Week
Selection of topic
and search for
justification
Constructing
literature
Selecting
appropriate

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Digital Media Impact on the performance of SMEs in UAE
methods
Data collection
Data analysis and
representation
Reviewing the
outcomes
Conclusions and
recommendations
Submitting draft
of the project
Printing and final
submission
Table: Table showing the timeline of the research work
(Source: As created by author)

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Digital Media Impact on the performance of SMEs in UAE
References
Ainin, S., Parveen, F., Moghavvemi, S., Jaafar, N.I. and Shuib, N.L.M., 2015. Factors
influencing the use of social media by SMEs and its performance outcomes. Industrial
Management & Data Systems.
Diedenhofen, B. and Musch, J., 2016. cocron: A Web Interface and R Package for the
Statistical Comparison of Cronbach's Alpha Coefficients. International Journal of Internet
Science, 11(1).
Ghobakhloo, M. and Tang, S.H., 2015. Information system success among manufacturing
SMEs: case of developing countries. Information Technology for Development, 21(4),
pp.573-600.
Jain, R., 2015. Impact of social media marketing on SME business. SAMVAD, 8.
Keegan, W.J., 2017. Global marketing management. Pearson India.
Leavy, P., 2017. Research design: Quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, and
community-based participatory research approaches. Guilford Publications.
Li, L., Su, F., Zhang, W. and Mao, J.Y., 2018. Digital transformation by SME entrepreneurs:
A capability perspective. Information Systems Journal, 28(6), pp.1129-1157.
Medoff, N.J. and Kaye, B., 2016. Electronic media: then, now, and later. Taylor & Francis.
Müller, J.M., Buliga, O. and Voigt, K.I., 2018. Fortune favors the prepared: How SMEs
approach business model innovations in Industry 4.0. Technological Forecasting and Social
Change, 132, pp.2-17.

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Digital Media Impact on the performance of SMEs in UAE
Qeke, S.R., 2019. Triple bottom-line framework as a tool for measuring the sustainability of
manufacturing SMEs in the Cape metropole (Doctoral dissertation, Cape Peninsula
University of Technology).
Rezaei, S., Hill, V. and Liu, Y., 2018. In Search of the Ideal Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.
In Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (pp. 11-51).
Springer, Cham.