Sheikh Saoud bin Khalid bin Khalid Al-Qassimi Chair in Family Business at American University of Sharjah
Activity Report 2021-2022
Student Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in the UAE
2021 Survey Report – 3rd Edition
“This report can help policymakers gain a more comprehensive understanding of students’ entrepreneurial behavior and their motivation to become entrepreneurs. Therefore, it reflects on the role that educational institutions, as one of the main stakeholders, have in the UAE business ecosystem. Are universities prepared to be part of the cultural transformation that the knowledge- and entrepreneurial-based economy requires? What is the university’s role in the UAE’s family business and entrepreneurial ecosystem? How are universities innovating and changing their learning processes and structures to transform their business models to meet the 21st century challenges??
Prof. Dr. Basco Rodrigo
Weathering the storm. Family firm strategies in the midst of growing uncertainty
Family businesses are arguably one of the most important entities in the social fabric of
societies in the Middle East and Africa. Their transgenerational survival matters because they constitute a significant source of wealth creation within their local communities. With this in mind, the Sheikh Saoud bin Khalid bin Khalid Al-Qassimi Chair in Family Business at the American University of Sharjah and the STEP Project Global Consortium invited several universities in the Middle East and Africa to join the research project, “The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on family firms”.
The resilience of family firms allows them to combine economic and family-oriented goals. While guiding their firms in very competitive industries, leaders of these entities also have to maintain family cohesion around the economic project. Therefore, this report aims to explore how Middle Eastern and African family firms have behaved and implemented different models
of resilience to weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic did not spare family firms from its ravages. It directly affected their revenue streams and disturbed their financial positions. However, the new normality triggered their instincts for resilience. To
understand the models of resilience operating in family firms, it is important to recognise the three dimensions in which they have responded to current uncertainty:
● Critical recovery memory. Generations of survival knowledge from previous crises over the years has guided their reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic.
● Short-term decision-making. These families absorb the initial impact and stabilise their firms by using their immediate economic, social, and available human resources.
● Strategic actions. Family firms strategically transition through the recovery period, and prepare themselves for the new normality.
Next Generation Succession Intention
Family firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have always been the backbone of the country’s economic growth. Therefore, ensuring the continuity of these distinct types of firms is important to guarantee the prosperity of the UAE’s economy. One of the most critical issues that may threaten the continuity of family firms is succession, that is, the ownership, governance, and management transition from the current generation to the next generation of family members (NextGens). Succession is the process through which family members re-adjust the roles and has consequences for both the family and the firm’s business model.
To initiate any family business succession process, the following fundamental question needs to be answered:
To what extent are the NextGens willing to take responsibility for the family firm?
Activity Report 2020-2021
It’s been 6 years since the Sheikh Saoud bin Khalid bin Khalid Al-Qassimi Chair in Family Business was launched at American University of Sharjah. Being the first of its kind in the Gulf region, the Sheikh Saoud bin Khalid bin Khalid Al-Qassimi Chair in Family Business has the mission to support the family business ecosystem in the Arab world.
Continuing with our positive and productive trajectory, during the 2020-2021 academic year the Sheikh Saoud bin Khalid bin Khalid Al-Qassimi Chair in Family Business team has consolidated the research, teaching, and knowledge-transfer activities to develop and create ground-breaking knowledge in family business.
Next Generation Succession Intention – United Arab Emirates
Basco Rodrigo, Rana Hamdan, & Arpita Vyas
Family firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have always been the backbone of the country’s economic growth. Therefore, ensuring the continuity of these distinct types of firms is important to guarantee the prosperity of the UAE’s economy. One of the most critical issues that may threaten the continuity of family firms is succession, that is, the ownership, governance, and management transition from the current generation to the next generation of family members (NextGens). Succession is the process through which family members re-adjust the roles and has consequences for both the family and the firm’s business model.
To initiate any family business succession process, the following fundamental question needs to be answered:
To what extent are the NextGens willing to take responsibility
for the family firm?
In this study, we aim to explore the drivers of succession intentions of the NextGens that eventually lead to their decisions to either join their family firm or not. . . .
Ownership Concentration in Listed Firms in the Gulf Cooperation Council: Implications for Corporate Governance
The research team led by Prof. Basco Rodrigo at American University of Sharjah has published the “Ownership Concentration in Listed Firms in the Gulf Cooperation Council: Implications for Corporate Governance”. This report sheds light on the current corporate structures in the GCC region by examining the ownership concentration and ownership identity of listed firms in the region. An ownership structure is important because it may, on the one hand, reduce possible conflicts of interest between managers and shareholders, while, on the other hand, it may increase the likelihood of large shareholders extracting private benefits of control at the expense of minority shareholders. Thus, the level of ownership concentration may encourage or discourage minority and international investors to invest in firms in the region.
Activity Report 2019-2020
Since its establishment in 2015, the Sheikh Saoud bin Khalid bin Khalid Al-Qassimi Chair in Family Business at the American University of Sharjah continues its mission to become a recognized family business knowledge hub in the United Arab Emirates. The 2019-2020 academic year was particularly important and exceptional in terms of the challenges faced and the accomplishments achieved.
The Sheikh Saoud bin Khalid bin Khalid Al-Qassimi Chair in Family Business extends special thanks to all the individuals and institutions that support our mission and collaborate with us in our research and other activities. At the Chair,we continue with our robust commitment towards enhancing and promoting the knowledge of family businesses and contributing knowledge and support to the local community of family businesses.
Despite the challenges brought by the global pandemic, our team managed to design, develop, and promote a set of research, teaching, and knowledge transfer activities to generate ground-breaking knowledge of family businesses and provide support for family businesses and regional communities.
Saud Bin Majid’s Dilemma. Al Saud Company Case Study
Introduction by Sheikh Sooud Al Qassemi
Upon returning to the UAE in the fall of 1998 at the age of 20 after a four-year stay in Paris and unexpectedly assuming a role with substantial responsibilities in the firm my family founded about 20 years ago, I realised I was out of my depth.
I proceeded to enrol in short-term courses and conferences that discussed the challenges faced by family businesses in the region. I had the opportunity to listen and learn from many leaders, but above all else, the candid and frank talks by members of leading family businesses who shared their experiences of dealing with conflict had the largest impact on me.
In reality, nothing can completely prepare a young man or woman for the responsibilities that a role in a family business entails. However, I realised that being armed with as much knowledge as possible of other cases in which disagreements had arisen can significantly help in resolving issues or avoiding them altogether.
Furthermore, philanthropy had always been a major component of my father’s beliefs. He had urged us throughout our lives to support numerous causes around the world. Upon his passing and based on one of his final wishes, we decided to allocate money to an educational cause in the UAE. We realised that many family businesses that do an equal amount of good are approaching a point of inflexion at which the businesses are being handed over to second- and third-generation members who, like me in my younger years, are not aware of the complexities of running a family business. As a result, many of these businesses end up closing down due to misunderstanding between family members.
Education has always featured prominently in my family as well. When my maternal grandfather passed away in 1958, my maternal grandmother insisted on sending her granddaughters to school to pursue their education despite it being somewhat frowned upon by society in the 1950s. As a result, in the past few years, my mother, Na’ama Bint Majid, and my aunt, Mahra Bint Majid, have been recognised as the fi rst teacher and the first school director in the UAE, respectively. My mother’s and my aunt’s success added to the impetus of funding an educational chair at a local university. The American University of Sharjah, being a leading educational institution, was the ideal home for such an initiative.
My family has always envisioned this initiative to be larger than a single classroom and to be targeted to the wider community. We are pleased to see leading members of family businesses being invited to speak and exchange views with each other as well with students and to witness wider initiatives, such as the Family Business in the Arab World Conference.
Securing the future of family businesses, which account for the majority of establishments and employers in the region, also means securing a better future for the region. In fact, several years since the establishment of the Sheikh Saoud bin Khalid bin Khalid Al-Qassimi Chair in Family Business, additional courses are still needed throughout the region for us to minimise the risk of potential misunderstandings within family businesses.
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