A strategic analysis of the construction industry in the United Arab Emirates

The construction industry is one of the most booming industries in the world. In particular, in the United Arab Emirates this industry has experienced a constant growth over the course of the last few years. Driven by the UAE’s oil wealth, the country has witnessed an unmatched development and transformation. Oil revenues have lead to a driving construction boom and completely change the face of the state. The construction industry is still one of the engines of economic growth in the UAE. One of the highest concentrations of cranes in the world speaks volumes about the incredible pace of construction taking place, particularly in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but also in the other emirates. The fact that about 30,000, or 24 percent of the world's 125,000 construction cranes are currently operating in the region speaks for itself. The UAE’s construction projects stands out clearly from building projects in other parts of the world, due to the fact that there is no constraint on constructional imagination and there is no place in the world where construction moves as fast as in the UAE. With some of the most innovative mega projects such as „Burj Khalifa“ (the tallest building in the world), or „The Palm Jumeirah“, „The Palm Jebel Ali“ and „The Palm Deira“ (the world’s largest man-made islands) with epithets of world’s biggest, best, and tallest the UAE construction industry remains unbeaten. The construction industry is a complex environment in which each organization is faced with numerous opportunities and threats. This book provides an in-depth analysis of the fast growing construction industry in the UAE, while scanning the construction business for opportunities and threats. This book implements the PESTEL analysis that will be used to analyze the UAE’s construction industry. The main objective of the research reported in this book is to identify the factors in the macro-environment that might affect an organization. Having the PESTEL context, this output is used to execute a SWOT analysis. The PESTEL factors combined with external micro-environmental factors are classified as opportunities and threats in a SWOT analysis. Thus, this research also aims to identify the opportunities and threats in the construction business. This study does not assess company’s internal strengths and weaknesses. Through strategic analysis of the UAE’s construction business this book creates an adequate framework that helps participants of the construction business to take advantage of opportunities while protecting them from threats.