A new study argues that small and medium enterprises in emerging markets can address grand challenges by leveraging strategic agility and gender diversity, with the latter significantly augmenting the effect of strategic agility on value creation.
Research conducted by the University of Surrey reveals that senior management teams comprising individuals from diverse gender backgrounds play a crucial role in fostering responsible and collaborative innovation. A study of small and medium-sized firms from emerging markets found that having a gender-diverse senior management team is associated with increased value and innovation that aligns with the United Nation’s Grand Challenges. This conclusion was based on an analysis of 228 survey responses from ESMEs in the United Arab Emirates.
Professor Taz Rajwani, co-author of the study and Head of the Department of Strategy and International Business at the, said: “We found that firms that valued gender diversity by employing women in some of their most senior roles were more able to respond to the ever-changing economic environment and made valuable contributions to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Reference: “Grand challenges and emerging market small and medium enterprises: The role of strategic agility and gender diversity” by Nadia Zahoor, Huda Khan, Francis Donbesuur, Zaheer Khan and Tazeeb Rajwani, 27 January 2023,“Grand Challenges” focus on the ways in which cross-disciplinary research can address the objectives laid out in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals .