Assignment

1. Why the chosen topic (SME in KSA) is important from an academic as well as from a business point of view?

2. Why the topic is of interest from KSA point of view? (I.e. SMEs are the backbone of KSA economic strength....etc).

3. What are the benefits to the academic as well as the business world?

Important Note:

1- Do not be too technical, the document shall be presented in a way to convince the investors to enter the KSA market, not purely scientific and not purely general. MAKE IT A STRAIGHTFORWAD (EASY TO UNDERSTAND BY INVESTORS), RELIABLE AND APPEALING.

2- Our instructor emphasized on prohibiting COPY/PASTE from the sources, please re-phrase as much as you can.

(II). The project includes the following:

1. Title of the project.
2. Brief description of the topic.
3. Explanation of the importance of the topic and a statement of the reason(s) for undertaking the specific project.
4. The definition of SMEs (This shall be one or two sentence in the Opening).
5. The current problem, goals, and high level risks in KSA point of view. (This shall be one or two sentences in the Opening)
6. Key economic indicators
7. The help from the Country, any funding/financing to SMEs? Is it difficult or easy in KSA?
8. Description of the methodology. For this particular project the methodology is restricted to read a bibliography and present the most important issues according to (I).

(III). Students should be aware that a project topic usually combines four interacting factors, namely:

• The research area,
• The business sector in which the project is positioned,
• The project Classification and
• The most common methodology/tools employed

Classification

• Literature-based survey: This is likely to be the methodology of selection and discussion of theoretical material and descriptive material, in context, and detailed comparison of theories in terms of their applicability. The focus is not on discovering something but on reaching a judgment about the value of key concepts or theories.

• Sectoral study: A review and assessment of the current condition and future prospects of a given sector of the economy. It may include a statistical analysis of the size, demographic, pricing, competition and other economic dimensions of a sector of the economy. The analysis can be conducted by industry or by customer designation.

Typically the tools that may be utilized are one or more of the following:

• Comparative analysis: The item-by-item comparison of two or more comparable alternatives, processes, products, qualifications, sets of data, systems, etc.

• Critical review of the literature: A critical and in-depth evaluation of previous research. It is a summary and synopsis of a particular area of research.

• Descriptive Statistics: The discipline of quantitatively describing the main features of a collection of data found in the relevant literature.

The layout:

• The opening/introduction (Half Page)
• Previous literature/articles (approx. One to one and half pages)
• The methodology/application (approx. One page)
• Discussion and further issues (approx.. One page)

The instructor did not specify double space or single, neither the paper format, and I don't really know what is the difference between APA, MLA ...etc. any idea what difference this would make?