Naval Shipbuilding Industry in Abu Dhabi and Complexity in Strategic Decision Implementation: an explorative qualitative research with a case-study approach

Abstract

This paper explores the complexity of strategic decision implementation challenges and factors in the naval shipbuilding industry environment in two main naval shipyards in United Arab Emirates capital, Abu Dhabi. Naval Shipbuilding began in 1995 as a strategic decision in a strategic industry in United Arab Emirates, UAE, established in the capital, Abu Dhabi. It is considered to be a new industry due to its unique products—naval vessels, that is a business under the direct supervision of the local government. Such strategic decisions have been taken by Abu Dhabi government and many challenges have arisen—in strategy, and in strategic decision implementation. Hence, to gain an in-depth understanding, an explorative qualitative research was carried out. In-depth Interviews, researcher observations, literature and documentation research were gathered for this study. From the literature review, challenges were found to be: capturing new markets’ opportunities, experience and technology, complex environment, strategy formulation, and implementation time estimation. Moreover, motivation, emotion, communication, and flexibility were noted to be main factors in successful strategic decision implementation. However, it was found the naval shipbuilding context has its own challenges and factors affecting strategic decision implementation. This qualitative research seeks to indentify such challenges, and factors from the field. Lastly, the analysis of the data revealed how the context affects the naval shipbuilding’s industry’s strategic decision implementation in Abu Dhabi, UAE.