Innovation in the Arab World Context

'How is innovation in the Arab world countries brought to fruition without the enabling institutions that the innovation and the National System of Innovation literature consider to be essential?' In attempting to answer the above research question, a broad view of innovation is adopted that encompasses the majority of innovations. Often referred to as ¿hidden innovation¿, these include low- and medium-technology innovations in manufacturing and organizational, social and service innovations. An exploratory, retrospective and longitudinal qualitative study of five innovation mini cases within the challenging Arab world context results in inductively building a theory of Arab world National System of Innovation. This new theory identifies four Arab-specific constructs; weak, missing and hostile institutions, culture of empowerment, dynamic capabilities building and social capital. It also highlights the critical role that an organizational culture of empowerment plays in dynamically building organizational capabilities that are essential for substituting missing macro-level institutions, supporting weak ones, overcoming those that are hostile and even creating new ones altogether.