Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of strategic orientations (technology, alliance, and market orientations) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in an emerging market, namely Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing upon data from 200 Dubai SMEs, this study uses a structured survey that was developed from a methodical literature review. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to evaluate the findings. Findings – The findings revealed that market orientation has a positive effect on business performance compared to technology and alliance orientations within SMEs in the Dubai marketplace. Research limitations/implications – This study offers SMEs a better understanding of their strategic orientations to enhance business performance. However, this study is limited to only SMEs operating in the Dubai marketplace. Future research could also look at other markets and use qualitative research methods. Originality/value – This study provides important insights that could guide SMEs in their understanding of strategic orientations and the benefits for business performance. These findings reinforce the growing empirical evidence of the positive effect of market orientation, as being a strategic direction for SMEs, on business performance.

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Purpose Diverse cultural contexts with their distinct enactments of traditional gender inequity present unique constraints for female leaders. In Western contexts, the Christianity-inspired principle of equality of all humans remains a latent principle operative toward greater gender egalitarianism. This paper aims to examine female leaders within an Islamic context devoid of such espoused equality in which gender differences are enshrined in culture and law. Design/methodology/approach Questionnaires based on the Competing Value Framework were developed and completed by 145 leaders and 365 employees from UAE companies. The salient findings of these responses were explored in six subsequent focus group discussions. Findings The study reveals no difference in how women perform leadership, except in terms of brokering skills in which women are perceived as superior to their male counterparts. Focus group discussion participants ascribed this difference to the Islamic benevolent sexism dynamic of according women greater respect, which facilitates their access to higher management. Originality/value This pioneering perspective of female leaders in a context of overt and sanctioned cultural and legal gender disparity contributes to scholarship on female leadership through a non-Western lens.

This study investigates the role of strategic orientations of small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in an emerging market, namely Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. It uses the businesslevel typology of Miles and Snow (prospector, analyzer, and defender) to examine the e®ect of strategic orientations on organizational determinants (organizational culture, technology orientation, alliance and cooperation, and market orientation) and their consequences in terms of innovation. Drawing upon data from 189 Dubai SMEs, the¯ndings reveal that there are differences in the organizational determinants with prospector and defender orientations, with analyzer orientations falling in-between. Prospectors place more reliance than defenders on developing organizational culture, technology orientation, alliance and cooperation, and market orientation. Constant changes in the Dubai business and market environments seem to a®ect SMEs' strategic orientations and smaller SMEs are more likely to be analyzers than the SMEs employing over 100 sta®. This study provides useful insights into the role of strategic orientations and organizational determinants of Dubai SMEs to accomplish successful innovation results.