Digital Transformation Strategies Of UAE Enterprises: A Dynamic Capabilities Perspective

Journal Name: Academy of Strategic Management Journal
Issue and Volume 20, Special Issue 4, 2021

The UAE vision 2021 gives a strong thrust towards digital initiatives, such as e-governance in the government sector, digital currency, and blockchain, etc. In this respect, the UAE companies are much more well placed than their global peers in Digital Transformation even before the covid-19 pandemic spread. The IMD World ranking 2019 placed the UAE first in the region and 12th Globally in Digital Competitiveness. The study throws light on the organization-wide strategies undertaken by the UAE-based pre-digital enterprises in their process of digital transformation. It explores organizational practices that shape a successful digital transformation strategy and a number of factors that can hinder the execution of their transformation from the perspective of front-line and middle-level executives. The findings provide enterprises a framework to assess their current processes and strategies against the key building blocks of successful digital transformation in their endeavor to achieve a dynamic fit with the environment. This paper fulfills an identified need to develop a process model encompassing the pertinent variables of DT strategies of the UAE enterprises.