This thesis explores in depth the factors influencing growth in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from a supply chain perspective and examines how entrepreneurship affects them in Omani SMEs. The study is undertaken in order to complement the scarce literature on SMEs related to supply chains and improve the understanding of what factors are crucial in determining growth in them. The research is focused on the role of entrepreneurial qualities and behaviours for the growth of SMEs in developing countries, as their economies are more dependent on smaller companies. The context of this research is within Oman, which represents a typical developing economy containing a large number of active SMEs. The main factors for SMEs growth are identified through a literature review of past and contemporary research studies on supply chain networks, SMEs, growth and entrepreneurship. The factors are divided into areas related to the positions of the company (market position of the firm, negotiating power, Supply chain relationships and firm's image), and to SMEs' value-adding capabilities (cost optimisation, and innovations). The review also reveals that the critical entrepreneurial traits are: managers' culture and motivations, strategic thinking, sense for opportunities, risk-taking, continuous learning, their leadership abilities and networking skills. Based on the literature review findings a conceptual framework is proposed. This research is exploratory and explanatory in nature and relies on a qualitative approach to find out how entrepreneurship relates to growth in SMEs. Primary data is collected from in-depth semi-structured interviews with managers in 25 Omani SMEs from various industrial and service sectors 10 representing different supply chain positions. The data is processed through content analysis using the factors identified from the literature review as initial themes. The findings affirm the importance of SMEs' supply chain positions and their value adding capabilities for growth. Furthermore, all elements of entrepreneurship are found to affect growth factors. Results show positive attitude and growth aspirations lead to more proactive market behaviour, while strategic thinking helps managers choose more sustainable market positions. Results indicate leadership improves company costs by increasing employees' motivation and productivity and also facilitates the implementation of innovations. Learning orientation is stated to be crucial for exploring new ideas for innovations, while a good sense for opportunity helps managers evaluate them and choose the right ones. Finally, risk-taking propensity emerges as instrumental in the actual undertaking of innovation projects as it is needed for initiating them.

Over the last three decades, Oman has emerged as a center of political and economic stability in the Arab world, a stability which is an essential ingredient for any country to develop and flourish. Whereas democracy and public freedoms are at the core of stability in other parts of the world, the case in Oman is different. It is not a democratic state and it did not adopt the modern concepts of human rights and public freedoms into its legal-political system until 1996 when the Basic Statute of the State was promulgated. The purpose of this study is to provide a general view of the current status of Human Rights under the Omani Basic Statute of the State with a specific focus on some civil and political rights. It illustrates the situation of human rights by assessing the implementation of the constitutional and legal safeguards into practice and finding out what hinders them. It aims to evaluate the importance of the constitution in Oman, and the extent to which it has succeeded in incorporating international human rights’ standards while walking the tightrope of reconciling this with core traditional social customs and Islamic values. It analyses the compatibility of constitutional and national laws and practice with international human rights standards and assesses current trends and policies. Three case studies for different rights and freedoms are conducted to explore the guarantees and weaknesses of different rights in practice. These are the areas of nationality 'as individual right' which is very important under the Oman system as it is the direct link to enjoyment of other rights and freedoms. The Shura is the second case study as a political right or a collective right which represents public participation in Oman. Finally, the Freedom of Association, as an example for the freedom of expression and opinion, which represents individual and group rights together. This research evaluation analyses in detail the developments since the promulgation of the Basic Statute in December 1996 but stretches to encompass developments till the developments to the end of July 2011.

The Sultanate of Oman is a rapidly modernizing country with a significant length of its coastline slated for development. Much of the coastline is still in its natural state and basic studies describing the sedimentary systems need to be conducted in order to plan effectively for their sustainable development and to monitor changes in them with time. For such purposes, sediment samples (surface and sub-surface), elevation data, and serial sediment cores were collected at Sur Lagoon during three field seasons. The research objectives, procedures, results, and analyses for Sur lagoon are presented in three chapters. The first chapter compares textural facies, identified on the basis of particle-size distribution (PSD) of surface sediments from Sur Lagoon and evaluated using multi-variate cluster analysis, for their value in recognizing modem sedimentary environments. Clustering the full PSD size spectrum (0.0375- 1888 μm) shows that facies identification is possible is closely tied to surface elevation, particle-size decreasing with increasing elevation above mean sea level. This analytical technique should be tested under different conditions to assess further its utility. The second chapter discusses the taphonomically distinct and laterally extensive (> 1 km2) bivalve shell bed deposited by a tsunami on November 28th, 1945. Taphonomic characteristics of this unit are compared to those of the shell-rich tsunamite from Caesarea, Israel, and resulted in the identification of three generic, tsunamigenic-specific traits in shell beds: 1) thickly bedded and laterally extensive shell deposit, 2) presence of allochthonous articulated bivalves not in life position, and 3) extensive angular fragmentation. When these three traits are found together, a tsunamigenic origin should be considered for the shell bed. The third chapter analyzes the PSD of the tsunamite in eight sediment cores for digested and undigested samples. Cluster analysis of the PSD extended the upper or lower tsunamite contacts in four cores, but in general, the tsunamite thickness is consistent with the previously identified shell beds (Chapter 3). The tsunamigenic processes that resulted in the deposition of the shell bed were complex, and deposition occurred during run-up, flooding, and backwash stages of the tsunami, incorporating marine, lagoonal, and terrestrial (wadi) sediment into the tsunamite. The results of this study provide baseline sedimentological data for an understudied region of the world. New applications of cluster analysis of PSD and taphonomic analysis have the potential to identify previously unknown tsunamites in the geological record, and lithological facies using textural analysis. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The purpose and aim of this study is to offer a hitherto lacking perspective on the Sulu Archipelago’s history during the early years of American colonial rule – that of the native Sulu Sultan. Existing research, albeit new, tends to favour a U.S centred view. With concurrences as a theoretical framework and a theoretical understanding of the social and political power dynamics in the Sultanate, this study aims to challenge that perspective by examining the last Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram II’s agency and room for manoeuvre in relation to the bilateral Kiram-Bates treaty between the Sultanate of Sulu in the southern Philippines and the United States, represented by Colonel John C. Bates. Through a qualitative analysis of letters, official documents and a memoire originating from, or regarding, the time period, this study indicates that the Sultan’s agency and room for manoeuvre in relation to the Kiram-Bates treaty has been overlooked by scholars, and his position somewhat poorly understood. The Sultan did not simply sign the treaty according to American wishes. He negotiated terms, and influenced the outcome of above all the signing, and he at least reacted to and navigated the abrogation of the agreement in a way that has not been sufficiently described before. These findings prompt further research from a concurrences perspective to more thoroughly understand the history, and perhaps even the contemporary state, of the Sulu Archipelago and the Sulu Sultanate.

La prospérité économique de plusieurs pays dépend essentiellement des revenus tirés des ressources pétrolières et dérivés. Étant donné que ce type de ressources est épuisable, le problème posé pour tous ces pays est comment mettre son économie à l'abri des fluctuations du prix du pétrole ? Et comment assurer la prospérité de l'économie locale en la basant sur des ressources durables ? Le Sultanat d'Oman s'est lancé le défi de la variation de ses sources de revenus et dans la diversification de son économie. Afin d'atteindre cet objectif, les autorités politiques du pays ont compris l'utilité du développement de leur capital humain et ont ainsi misé sur le principe d'instruction et d'éducation du peuple Omanais. Étant conscient que l'investissement en éducation est plus productif que dans tout autre secteur, notre but donc est d'étudier et d'analyser l'efficacité de la décision publique d'investir dans l'éducation ainsi que son impact sur la qualité du capital humain. À travers le modèle Omanais, nous chercherons à mesurer l'effet et la contribution de quarante années d'investissements massifs dans son système éducatif ainsi que sur le développement du capital humain du Sultanat. À travers notre recherche, Nous allons nous demander comment concilier entre l'utilité de l'éducation en tant que modèle de développement et l'efficacité de l'investissement dans le développement du système éducatif ? Et comment la décision publique d’investir dans le capital humain doit prendre en considération les aspects quantitatifs et qualitatifs du processus d’éducation. Les conséquences de tel modèle d'investissement vont être examinées à travers le cas Omanais. / The economic prosperity of many countries depends primarily on revenues of oil resources and derivatives. Since this type of resource is exhaustible, the question of protecting the economy of certain countries from the fluctuations of oil prices may raise. These countries need too, to ensure the prosperity of their local economy based on sustainable resources. The Sultanate of Oman has launched the challenges of the diversification of its economy. To achieve this, the political authorities have understood the usefulness of the development of human capital throughout the increase of the level of instruction and education of the population. Being aware that such investment in education is more productive than any other one, our goal consists to study and analyze the effectiveness of public decision to invest in education and its impact on the quality of human capital. Through the Omani model, we seek to measure the impact and contribution of forty years of massive investments in the education system and on the development of human capital of the Sultanate. Our research, aims to analyze how to balance between the utility of education as a development model and the effectiveness of investment in the education system? We will see how public decision to invest in human capital must take into account the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the educational process. The consequences of such investment model need to be examined through the Omani case.

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors influencing information and computing technology (ICT) adoption for Omani faculty members from a framework of Rogers' theory of diffusion of innovation. Three hundred Omani faculty members from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) participated in the study. The survey consisted of five parts: (a) an 18-item questionnaire on ICT uses and skills, (b) a 1-item questionnaire on adopter category, (c) a 44-item self-constructed questionnaire on perception of barriers to adopting ICT, (d) a 50-item questionnaire on ICT attributes adapted from Moore and Benbasat, and (e) a 15-item questionnaire on demographic and job-related variables. Descriptive statistics indicated that the faculty members overall used ICT at the "Sometimes" level and had ICT skills at the "Intermediate" level. The most frequently used and skillful ICT functional areas were Website browsing, Internet search engine, and word processing. One-way ANOVAs found significant group differences of ICT uses and skills, perception of barriers, and perception of ICT attributes in the category of adopter. Early adopters used ICT more, had higher ICT skills, perceived fewer barriers in the adopting process, and recognized higher values of ICT attributes than later adopters did. Multiple regression analysis showed the level of ICT uses could be predicted by ICT skills, adopter category, perception of barriers, ICT attributes, and the selected demographic and job-rated background variables, to a large magnitude with an adjusted R2 value of .70. The level of ICT skills was the most salient predictor. Perception of ICT attributes and the number of traditional classes taught appeared to be important as well. Results supported Rogers' theory at the macro level but not at the micro level.

The past years have seen a renewed interest in the study of Ottoman and African relations. Several works have been published in Turkish and partly in English; they cover the periods from the 16th century to World War I and geographically referred to the Ottoman provinces in North and North East Africa mostly Egypt, Tripoli, Tunisia, and Ethiopia (Habesh Province) by using the Ottoman archival sources. However, no comprehensive study has been undertaken on the relations between the Ottoman Empire and the rest of the continent except for a few works. This Ph.D. study had begun as an investigation into the Zanzibar Sultanate which was frequently referred to as Zengibar, the local Muslim sultanate in East Africa in the Ottoman archival sources of the late nineteenth century. After examining more than a hundred documents that were first transcribed from the original version of Ottoman Turkish and then translated into English with annotations, this study revealed the existence of the entangled world of East Africa where Europeans, Ottomans, and local African powers had been constantly in contact with each other at the global age of colonialism. In this sense, this work, first questioned how the Ottoman State, as the Caliph of the Muslim world, produced knowledge about Africa and perceived what was taking place in the region in the related period. Secondly, it deals with the Ottoman’s relationship with the European States in the context of the scramble for Africa. Thirdly, it questioned the nature of the mutual relations between the Zanzibar Sultanate and the Ottoman Empire which was fostered by imperial competition between European powers in the period of high colonialism.:CONTENTS...................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................ vii LIST OF DOCUMENTS ...................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………..xi INTRODUCTION………………………1 The Congo Conference and East Africa .......................................................... 1 East Africa in Ottoman Sources: An Imperial but Non-Colonial Perspective ...... 4 Aims, Sources, and Methodology ............................10 Structure of the Thesis .................................................................. 13 PART I: THE OTTOMAN PERCEPTION OF EARLY COLONIAL INITIATIVES IN EAST AFRICA (1885-1890) ............................................ 17 1.1 AFRIKA-YI OSMANI: OTTOMAN MAPPING OF AFRICA ................... 20 1.1.1 The Berlin Conference and its Reflection in Ottoman Mapping of Africa ... 24 1.1.2 The Sources ................................. 25 1.1.3 Annotated and Translated Documents with original maps ................... 27 1.2 THE OTTOMAN VIEW OF THE SCHUTZBRIEF IN 1885 ..................... 67 1.2.1 The Ottoman Perception of the Schutzbrief ..................................... 69 1.2.2 The Sources ................................................ 73 1.2.3 Annotated and Translated Documents ............................... 76 1.2.4 Original Documents .................................................... 90 1.3 “BRITISH PLOT” OR “FALLING PREY TO THE DESIRE OF HAVING A COLONY IN EAST AFRICA”? THE OTTOMAN PERCEPTION OF THE BLOCKADE OF THE COASTS OF THE ZANZIBAR SULTANATE, 1888-89 ......................... 101 1.3.1 The Sources ....................................... 104 1.3.2 Annotated and Translated Documents .................. 107 1.3.3 Original Documents ................................... 139 PART II: ALLIANCE OR COMPETITION? IMPERIAL ENCOUNTERS IN EAST AFRICA ...........150 2.1 RELUCTANT MIDDLEMAN BETWEEN GERMANY AND ZANZIBAR (1886-94) ........152 2.1.1 The Wissmanntruppe ................................................... 153 2.1.2 The Sources ........................................................... 156 2.1.3 Annotated and Translated Documents ............................ 158 2.1.4 Original Documents ................................................ 165 2.2 WHICH GOD FOR CONGO? A CONVERTED MUSLIM’S VOICE IN THE ANTWERP PRESS AND HIS NETWORKS IN ISTANBUL AND CONGO ........ 171 2.2.1 Muhammad Muhtar ............................................................. 172 2.2.2 The “Civilising Mission” of Muslim Missionaries ................... 174 2.2.3 The Sources ................................................................ 176 2.2.4 Annotated and Translated Documents ........................... 179 2.2.5 Original Documents ................................ 200 2.3 THE PRESS AND THE OTTOMAN ROLE IN AFRICA (1885-1892) ..... 208 2.3.1 The Sources ............................................................. 210 2.3.2 Annotated and Translated Documents ..................... 214 2.3.3 Original Documents ............................................ 236 PART III: BEING CONNECTED IN HARD TIMES: RELATIONS BETWEEN THE ZANZIBAR SULTANATE AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (1879-1908) ........... 255 3.1 “GOD SAVE THE QUEEN” VS “GOD SAVE OUR BRAVE SAYYID”: SULTAN BARGHASH’S DESIRE FOR A ZANZIBAR NATIONAL ANTHEM IN 1879.................... 259 3.1.1 Introduction ............................................ 259 3.1.2 The Magazine an-Nahlah (The Bee) and Barghash’s Desire for a National Anthem…………………………… .. 263 3.1.3 The Sultan’s Band .......................................... 265 3.1.4 The Age of Images: Ceremonies, Symbols, and Rites ..................... 267 3.1.5 The Sources .............................................................. 269 3.1.6 Annotated and Translated Documents ........................... 271 3.1.7 Original Documents .................................. 275 3.2 IT TOOK LONGER TO ARRIVE THAN TO STAY: AN OTTOMAN ENVOY’S VISIT TO ZANZIBAR IN 1888 ............................................. 281 3.2.1 The Sources .............................................................. 285 3.2.2 Annotated and Translated Documents ............................. 288 3.2.3 Original Documents .................................. 309 3.3 FROM ITALY TO ZANZIBAR: THE TRANSLOCAL NETWORK OF AN ANARCHIST IN 1905 ............................ 329 3.3.1 The Sources ........................................ 335 3.3.2 Annotated and Translated Documents ......................... 337 3.3.3 Original Documents ...................................... 349 3.4 THE ZANZIBAR SULTAN’S VISITS TO ISTANBUL IN 1907-1908 ......... 370 3.4.1 The Sources .......................................................... 373 3.4.2 Annotated and Translated Documents ................................. 375 3.4.3 Original Documents............................................................... 389 CONCLUDING REMARKS .............................................. 416 BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................428

這份研究將探討蘇祿蘇丹國是如何成為大馬來世界的一份子，以及菲律賓索回沙巴的主張. 菲律賓是蘇祿蘇丹政治主權的繼任者。本研究主要探討菲律賓索回沙巴州的歷史和法律依據。 歷史紀錄指出，這塊有爭議的土地曾屬於蘇祿蘇丹租借給一間英國特許公司的創辦者。之後由英國王室所保護的這塊土地後來成為英國兼併馬來西亞和殖民的基礎。最終，沙巴被納入馬來西亞聯邦。 / The recent incident where followers of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III landed in Lahad Datu Village in Sabah, Malaysia to assert the pending Philippine territorial claim has sparked one of the biggest security threats in the region. The dispute has disrupted the diplomatic relations between Malaysia and the Philippines, both being members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This study argues that the settlement to the dispute depends on whether the Philippines has a legal and valid claim according to the principles of international law. Similarly, the issue can also be resolved with recourse to a regional agency like ASEAN. Additionally, it is essential that an unbiased analysis of Malaysia’s argument be undertaken based on international law. Peaceful methods of settlement should be the goal for both states. Stability and security are a prerequisite for development; therefore, a peaceful environment will provide a proper setting for sustainable economic growth.