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The business environment in which Owner Managed Businesses (OMBs) operate within continues to evolve with the emergence of new technology, innovation, changes in financial management, client needs and increased regulation.

The GCC region is well positioned to exploit the lucrative opportunities that e-commerce offers, given the generational demographic shift that we are witnessing and which will inevitably have a seismic impact on businesses for the future

Hisham Farouk, Managing Partner of Grant Thornton, a leading global advisor to family-owned businesses talks about the importance of innovation and how it brings about change.

This report draws on insight from our International Business Report, plus data and interviews from Grant Thornton teams around the world. It explores what skills the boards of 2025 will need, and what needs to happen between now and then to get there. Businesses should not view these changes we have identified as additional extras.e

The gender diversity issue has been on the business agenda for many years now, yet a third of businesses still have no women at a senior management level. We know that significant performance benefits come with having a diverse leadership team and there are certainly a large number of women capable of joining such teams.

There is no debating the vast level of change which an organisation will need to go through in order to prepare for its growth journey. To guide you through the process we outline the key considerations which you will need to take, alongside providing you with a comprehensive solution of services which Grant Thornton are well-versed in offering. To discuss how Grant Thornton can work with you during this phase, please contact us.

Following the announcement earlier this year, confirming that the UAE will implement VAT at a rate of 5% from 1 January 2018, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) have released additional details on the impending introduction. Our recent alert provides a highlight of the updates which have been announced which suggests what businesses can be doing now to prepare and provides further insight on the intended reporting plan.

Hotels have largely been dismissive of any threats to their core business model over the past five years. But by 2020, the exponential growth of various online platforms will have forced them to change and innovate. The good news is that traditional hotels have numerous options at their disposal: rethinking the experience they offer, unbundling pricing, setting up new partnerships and more.

In 2017, leadership teams are grappling with new conditions of global risk. With few predicting the happenings of recent years, businesses around the world are striving to prepare for the further possibility of inconceivable events.

This alert follows on from the update in December 2015 and is intended to provide a brief synopsis of impending Value Added Tax (VAT) which has been confirmed at 5 per cent from 1 Jan 2018.

The future of the insurance landscape is changing and the impact of strategy on mid-market companies is increasing. The Insurance sector in the UAE has recently shown signs of being impacted by the challenging economic environment and lowering oil prices. With new regulation being introduced in January 2015 by the UAE Insurance Authority, insurance companies are still going through the challenge of adapting to the new regulation whilst aiming to remain resilient to economic conditions.

Drawing on data and insight from the Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, this report considers the outlook for the global economy in 2016 and explores UAE trends for 2016.

Almost 20 years since the dot-com era, the Nasdaq is reaching levels last seen during the previous boom. At the same time, we are witnessing business model changes driven by architectural transformations which could disrupt the global technology and media industry.

This alert follows on from the update in September 2015 and is intended to provide a brief synopsis of the impending Corporate Tax and Value Added Tax (VAT). To discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact us.

As consumers use online intermediaries to find the most economical rooms in a convenient location for their trip, hotels face a future in which the strength of their brand has dwindling influence over customer choice. But the hotels that can get branding right in a digital era face a clear opportunity to grow market share.

To succeed in the B2B sharing economy, businesses need to understand what drives customers who are willing to use crowdsourced and automated services LiquidSpace specialises in renting out spare office space in existing businesses by the hour, the month or longer. Users can hire space via the company’s app and be sitting in a business’s boardroom within minutes. They can add their own office space to the inventory too.