The Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange Business Model
Significant components of ADX’s business model are presented by resources and activities. Nowadays, it has five different trading locations, and it allows the stock exchange to collaborate with clients across the United Arab Emirates. In terms of its labor resources, ADX presents a stock exchange that pays primary attention to employee happiness and, therefore, makes efforts to motivate its employees with the help of various initiatives, including “Tesla” (“Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) honors employees,” 2014).
ADX has more than sixty listed companies from which it earns money, and there are enough experienced specialists who analyze and supervise trading operations. The capital resources that ADX possesses are extensive, even though the stock exchange faced certain economic challenges ten years ago. The key costs are associated with research, taking on the role of a business agent, and maintaining the quality of IT services. Nowadays, the total market value of ADX exceeds one hundred billion dollars, which makes it one of the most attractive businesses in the United Arab Emirates (ADX, n.d.b).
When it comes to the value proposition of the given stock exchange, the key tasks that specialists from ADX aim to achieve include providing investment opportunities to benefit the economy of the United Arab Emirates and protecting investors by establishing necessary dealing procedures. More than that, ADX is committed to supervising securities transactions to provide investors with equal opportunities and, therefore, adhere to a principle of justice. An important feature making ADX more attractive for prospective clients is that it invests a lot of resources in research to increase investment awareness and ensure economic stability.
The key customer segments include brokers, pledge holders, registrars, and investors. ADX claims to collaborate with four key partners (government organizations in the region and abroad). It has a functional organizational structure. Its board of directors includes seven members, each of them is expected to complete three years in office. The key departments of ADX are responsible for problems related to human resources, financial affairs, risk management, legal support, collaboration with listed companies, and IT services.
In general, there are eight departments whose heads report to the CEO and the board of directors (ADX, n.d.a). In general, the well-developed organizational structure of ADX allows the management to make effective decisions and fulfill securities transactions with regard to its key values, such as integrity and customer-orientedness.
The Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange Business Operating Model
As it follows from the organizational structure of ADX, there is a range of interdependent units that fulfill various activities. The management of ADX uses the principles of customer segmentation to divide all prospective clients into four groups and provide each client segment with specific information and services. Importantly, it is clear from the nature of financial operations conducted in ADX that specialists from various business units are provided with access to shared data. The presence of the unified data register is a factor that helps to create a smooth workflow.
On the whole, the information presented in the ADX’s organizational structure diagram is indicative of the unification operational business model of the stock exchange. The use of this operating model is characterized by the presence of separate business units that fulfill their own activities and need to be aware of each other’s transactions and problems. The operating business model of ADX includes the following components.
Shared partners
As it follows from the official information reported by the management of ADX, the stock exchange is in close coordination with four top-level strategic partners. Among these legal organizations is the Government of Abu Dhabi (the emirate in which ADX is based), the Securities and Commodities Authority, the International Federation of Stock Exchanges that includes more than sixty members, and the Arab Federation of Exchanges (ADX, n.d.b.).
Shared clients
Specialists from ADX perform their referral tasks to meet the needs of four types of clients. Also, there are four groups of products and services. Thus, ADX provides services and information support to brokers, pledge holders, registrars, and investors.
Business units and data
There are seven primary business units in the organizational structure of ADX. The business units include IT; listed companies support, central security depository services/registry services, market transactions, HR, management and pecuniary affairs, and marketing/PR department. Data and business processes are highly standardized due to the requirements of SCA and other reviewing authorities that regulate the activity of ADX.
The Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange Digital Capabilities and Leadership Capabilities
Based on the level of digital readiness, all companies can be divided into four groups: digital masters, fashionistas, conservatives, and beginners. The level of digital maturity of an organization includes contributions from its digital and leadership capabilities. In general, the information on ADX, its operations, and opportunities for job applicants and prospective clients speaks in favor of its well-developed digital capabilities. However, its leadership capabilities may need to be improved to create a more integrated digital system to be used by clients. On the whole, ADX can be listed among fashionistas as it provides a lot of digital opportunities to its clients that are not always perfectly coordinated.
The stock exchange provides a great number of digital features in silos. To begin with, the official website of ADX actively uses real-time market data widgets and graphs to keep the visitors informed about the current market situation. More than that, it is clear that specialists from ADX greatly value the role of social media presence in the effectiveness of business strategies. With that in mind, they provide links to various social media accounts of ADX on the generic webpage of the stock exchange.
In particular, ADX has accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, which allows it to share the news with subscribers. However, the content of these social media accounts should become more diverse. It is significant that ADX makes efforts to align its digital strategy with its key values, such as customer-orientedness.
To ensure customer convenience and meet the needs of individuals who value innovation and the accessibility of information, ADX provides a mobile application. The application allows keeping track of security stocks, indices, and analytical reports. Also, the application provides the most recent news regarding ADX and its work. In spite of these features, the role of modern technology is not reflected in the overarching vision of ADX. The digital features used by the stock exchange do not always reflect all relevant information, and some components (such as its Facebook page) may need to be improved to create a stronger digital culture.
Components of a “Playbook” for the senior management to become a Digital Master
The degree to which an organization uses modern technology in order to achieve digital success and attract more customers remains an important measure that defines a company’s place in the market. To become a digital master, the executive management of ADX is expected to review the following recommendations:
- Make social media content more diverse to keep customers interested. On the whole, specialists responsible for public relations perform a good job aimed at improving the social media presence of ADX. However, all social media accounts should reflect the key information available on the official website to make sure that customers do not need to check all accounts to be aware of the news.
- Improve the technical performance of the application. The mobile application offered by ADX remains unpopular, as it follows from the number of reviews. Users report an increased program to fetch time and connection problems that need to be fixed in a timely manner (“ADX Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange,” n.d.).
- Meet the needs of customers who do not speak Arabic fluently. The language barrier can become an important problem for customers who prefer to communicate in English or other popular languages, and ADX should take it into account when generating new social media content. Many social media accounts of the stock exchange contain videos or texts without translation, and it may contribute to customer attrition.
References
Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) honors employees. (2014). Web.
ADX Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. (n.d.). Web.
ADX. (n.d.a) Organizational chart. Web.
ADX. (n.d.b). Overview. Web.