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This DBA research investigates why Organisation A (Org. A), a specialised consultancy service provider of business processes and strategic Information Technology (IT), had experienced revenue losses from June 2014 onwards and continuously during 2015 and 2016. In 2008, Org. A commenced its operations in Bahrain when oil prices were fluctuating between US$110–140. During this time, it secured two large government projects which ensured work for five to seven years. While the outlook for Org. A was positive, a drop in oil prices hit Bahrain’s economy in June 2014, which contributed to a long-term 75% profit loss. The revenue losses coincided when oil prices dropped to less than US$40 in June 2014, creating severe economic hardships on Bahrain’s small- and medium-sized organisations (macro-economic conditions). The drop in oil prices drove the government to stall large and new infrastructure projects worth over US$350–400 million (assess outer-world influences). An additional cost-cutting step was to withdraw government-sponsored utility subsidies to the community. This environment compelled Org. A to presume that the drop in oil prices and the economic crisis (outside causes) were the reasons behind its revenue losses. Org. A also presumed that the government would favour locally owned organisations over foreign-owned organisations, and this perception hindered Org. A from seeking advice and financial help from the primary government funding organisation (meso-economic conditions). To explore the reasons behind Org. A’s revenue losses, this DBA research applied an Action Research (AR) strategy with a four-step AR cycle (constructing, planning action, taking action, and evaluating action). In addition to the core, underlying AR strategies, three other qualitative research strategies were employed to collect data. These efforts included the action research set with seven comparable, independent and diversified small and medium organisations and Org. A. At the beginning of this DBA research, a prevailing presumption within Org. A had been that ‘outside causes’ associated with the drop in oil prices and the economic crisis were the primary causes of its revenue losses. However, as this DBA research discovered, such focus on the ‘outside causes’ was a barrier for Org. A to detect the ‘inside causes’ within the organisation that had been primarily responsible for its revenue losses. Findings suggest that ‘outside causes’ were conditions that imposed challenges to any of the investigated seven comparable, independent and diversified organisations and Org. A. Similarly, the findings do not show that Org. A’s revenue losses had been caused by the government’s discriminatory practices over foreign-owned organisations. The findings showed that, unlike the other seven comparable organisations, Org. A had experienced a lack of organisational knowledge, competencies, and self-efficacies, leaving it incapable of responding to the economic crisis. This understanding developed through this DBA research allowed taking jointly built strategies within Org. A to resolve the situation together with whom the problem relates to within Org. A, as shown through: (Table 43), (Table 44), (Table 45), (Table 46), (Table 47) and (Table 48) to respond to similar future economic crises. |
