¶ … Adoption Of Social Media by Small Business and Entrepreneurs in the Gulf Region The internet technology has revolutionized the communication landscape among businesses in both developed and emerging economies because of the unprecedented growth of the social media. Social media is an interactive technology system that business and people use to collaborate, connect, and create personal and business profiles. A growing consensus among marketing professionals, business and academic communities shows that social media is very critical to the business communities. The social media has become a new phenomenon that has radically changed the strategy businesses communicate and operate. Through social media, businesses globally have been able to gain access to resources that would have been difficult to secure internally. An advanced in the internet technology has led to the rapid growth of social media with 1.5 billion active monthly users on Facebook, 359 million monthly active users on Google+, more than 270 million active users for LinkedIn, and 215 Million monthly active users for Twitter. Moreover, recent competitive landscapes among businesses make the big firms in the Fortune 1000 in the United States to turn to social media to achieve the competitive market advantages. (Ngugi et al., 2010; Jones and Holt, 2008). SMEs (small and medium enterprises) are also increasingly using social media to diffuse information about their products to achieve competitive market advantages. (Peltier, & Naidu, 2012). Thus, social media assist organizations to collaborate and get in contact with consumer, suppliers, distributors and consultants. Through social interactive networks, increasing numbers of SMEs are able to achieve the market advantages in the competitive and ever-changing market landscape. For example, 75% of the SMEs in the United States have networking pages in the social media. Moreover, 61% use the social media to attract a new customer, 57% use the LinkedIn to attract new customer, and 45% are using other social media to make profitable businesses. (Taneja, & Toombs, 2014). For example, Merchant Circle, which is one of the SMEs organizations, is using the Facebook (70.3%), Twitter (39.8%), LinkedIn (58. 2%), and Myspace (19.2%), and Bing (33.2%) to promote their businesses.

Thus, social media has become a source of networking information tool that organizations use to source for the new market opportunities. Similar to large firms, many SMEs have been able to use social media to reduce the transactional costs, and improve the communication platform. Based on the benefits derived from the social media, the SMEs that have subscribed to the top social media have increased their customer base by twofold. (Miller, & Washington, 2013). Thus, social media sites have the platforms that assist companies reaching people at a faster rate, building relationships and connecting potential customers.

Despite the market benefits that the SMEs in the advanced countries derive from the social media platforms, many small businesses in the Gulf Countries (GCC) have not yet taken the advantages of social media. The study develops the research objectives to enhance a greater understanding of how the small business and entrepreneurs in the gulf countries foster social media to achieve the competitive market advantages.

Research Objective

This study explores the motive and benefits that the small businesses and entrepreneurs in the Gulf Countries derive from the adoption of social media. The sub-research objectives are as follows:

1. Identifying, and discussing the status of social media tools among small businesses and entrepreneurs in the Gulf Countries.

2. Identifying and discussing the market benefits that small businesses and entrepreneurs in the GCC can achieve from the adoption of social media, and

3. Identifying and discussing social media tools and motivated factors that influence small business and entrepreneurs in GCC in adopting social media.

Research Questions

The gap in the literature with reference to the extent the entrepreneurs and small business in GCC states adopt social media lead to the following research questions:

1. How does adoption of social media provide benefits to small business and entrepreneur in the Gulf countries?

2. What are motivated factors that make small business and entrepreneurs in GCC adopting social media?

3. Are small business and entrepreneurs taking the advantages of the benefits of social media to expand the market shares?

4. Are small business and entrepreneurs taking the advantages of the benefits of social media adoption to increase sales?

5. Are small business and entrepreneurs taking the advantages of social media adoption to enhance communication with the customer?

6. Are small business and entrepreneurs taking the advantages of social media adoption to decrease cost?

Problems of Study

The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council)...

(Indrupati, & Henari, 2012, GICWED, 2013). Similar to the SMEs in the advanced countries, many small businesses and entrepreneurs in the GCC regions have altered their corporate landscapes by signifying their brands at the top social media in Facebook, Twitter and Google+.(Al Jenaibi, 2013). Typically, Facebook is the most widely adopted social media in the Gulf region with approximately 72% usage, Twitter, 27%, and YouTube 1%. While the literature have provided the extensive research on the extent the small businesses and entrepreneurs have adopted the social media in the western countries; nevertheless, there is still a paucity of academic research that investigates the relationships between social media and small business in the Golf countries.
Peltier et al. (2012) investigate the relationships between the SMEs and social media; however, their research only focuses on the method the SMEs adopt social media in the advanced countries. Moreover, Razak, et al. (2012) explore how SMEs adopt the Facebook to generate market values, however, their research is only based on the SMEs in the Asian and western countries. The authors did not mention the extent the SMEs in the gulf countries adopt the social media to generate market values. The limited research that investigates the relationship between the small business in the Gulf countries and social media generate the research problems, which this study attempts to address. This project fills the gap in the literature and provides the empirical research on how the small business and entrepreneurs foster social media in the Gulf countries.

Importance of Study

The research provides several contributions. First, the study has been able to fill the gap in the literature thereby enriching the knowledge of the academic communities on the method the small business and entrepreneurs foster social media in the Gulf countries. Several extensive types of research have already been covered on small business adoption of social media in the advanced countries; however, many small businesses and entrepreneurs in the Gulf countries have not yet taken the advantages of the social media for their business objectives. Thus, the research findings enhance a greater understanding of the business communities in the gulf countries and the benefits of social media in enhancing the cost advantages, increasing marketing advantages, establishing effective customers relationships, and product expansions. Finally, the thesis enhances the knowledge of the public about the business contributions of social media to small businesses in the gulf countries.

Literature Review

The paradigm shift in the technology advancement has not only transformed the strategy people access, store and diffuse information, the shift in the technology has also given rise to the new studies on the impact of social media on the development of new marketing strategies. (Zarrella, 2009 and Safko, 2010). However, social media as the tool for the marketing strategies still need to be proved before gaining a credibility. Two opposing groups have emerged. Those who believe that social media serve as the marketing strategies and the opposing group who still cling to the traditional method of marketing. Dutta (2010) is famous about his position based on his support for social media by believing that the YouTube is an effective marketing tool for the SMEs. The author believes that the YouTube can assist the SMEs to promote their businesses. On the other hand, Dunn, (2010) is still in doubt about the effectiveness of social media for the marketing tools by considering social media as a non-serious marketing tool for organizations.

By looking at the conceptual marketing theoretical framework, Romano and Ratnatunga (1995) classify marketing into the three categories. First, the organizational culture plays a central role in the marketing techniques. Moreover, marketing techniques such as targeting, positioning, and segmentation serve as the strategy for the competitive market advantages. Additionally, marketing tactics through 4Ps mix marketing have a positive impact on the marketing outcomes. Given the outcome of the theoretical framework, it is revealed there is still a gap between SMEs marketing practice and marketing theoretical practice.

Overview of GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council)

In the GCC countries, a small business consists of an organization between 5 and 50 employees. However, the textile firm with up to 150 employees is considered a small enterprise since the textiles sector is generally labor-intensive. (Ministry of Commerce & Industry, 2013).The small business and entrepreneurs are very critical to the development, and economic growth of the GCC states. Apart from providing the employment opportunities for the GCC resident, the small businesses generate revenue for the government. In the GCC states, the small businesses consist of more 95% of the active enterprises,…