From Mobilization to Revolution

Published by Addison-Wesley under the same title.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50931/1/156.pd

The Influence of Entrepreneurship Orientation on Omani SMEs’ Performance

Entrepreneurial orientation is one of the most crucial and reliable means of achieving a sustained competitive advantage in organizations. This is done through an ongoing process of highlighting new opportunities that arise now and then in a typical business environment. This study examines the impact of organizational culture (group, hierarchical, rational, and development) on entrepreneurial orientation (EO). The study also explores the effect of EO on organizational learning, innovation and firm performance, and the mediating role of both organizational learning and innovation and performance in the relationship between EO and firm performance. It applies to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in an Omani context. The study employs quantitative method to gather information and data which are imperative for any typical study of a firm’s performance. A questionnaire was distributed to gather data from 418 managers of SMEs in Oman. Structure Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the collected data. The findings of the study indicated that organizational culture is a key determinant of EO in SMEs. Further, only hierarchical, rational and development culture bear direct correlation to EO whereas group culture has almost no effect. The results also depicted how EO contributes positively to the performance, organizational learning and innovation of a firm. Learning organization and innovation performance were also seen to deeply influence a firm’s overall output. Finally, the results concluded that organizational learning and innovation performance play a mediating role in the relationship between EO and firm performance. This study contributes to the current available theoretical knowledge pool and stresses the understanding and knowledge about the relationships that typically exist between the four different types of attributes, namely: organizational culture, EO, organizational learning, innovation performance and firm performance. The study also confirms the requirement of at least two mediators that further enhance the relationship between EO and firm performance, particularly in the context of small and medium enterprises in Oman. In practical terms, this study examines the role of organizational culture on supporting EO in the context of SMEs belonging to Oman. The research also investigates how organizational learning and innovation performance enhance the impact of EO on SME performance. Additionally, this study will help the Omani SMEs in enhancing their performance by encouraging correct EO behaviours that support organizational learning practices, thereby improving innovation and performance. Further, it will help SMEs to improve their performance through the support of an outstanding organizational culture, thus enhancing EO and, in the process, encouraging managers and employees to follow a continuous learning approach. Therefore, existing good organizational culture that enhances EO by supporting organizational learning and innovation performance will further motivate SME managers to take calculated risks in planning and expanding their enterprises in a competitive business setup in order to achieve supremacy in the marketplace against competitors and at the same time grow in a sustained manner

The development of new systems of political communication in Nigeria with particular reference to the 1983 general elections.

This study deals with the development of political communication in Nigeria, from the colonial, independence and post-colonial periods. Also background information is given on the political communication systems in the precolonial period. It is argued that the patterns of pre-colonial systems still persist, particulary in the rural areas of Nigeria. Hence, the thesis undertakes to examine in detail, the political communication relationships between 'two separate but relatively autonomous environments in Nigeria with particular reference to the 1983 general elections. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first is a historical theoretical and methodological - analysis of politics and communication in Nigeria and the second a specific study of the 1983 general elections. The first chapter analyses the classical conceptions of political development and the development of political communication. The classical models are discussed and defined in three main stages: traditional, transitional, and modern nation-state. Chapter Two examines the pclitical communication trends that have led to the assumption that modern communication systems are all powerful politically. This leads to my analysis, criticisms and rejeciton of the linear model of communication development. Following my rejection, of the linear model, I suggested a theoretical and methodological framework for this study. Chapter Three looks at the structure of political and communication systems in the precolonial Nigeria. Kinship and religion are established as the mechanisms of sociopolitical and economic relationships in the pre-colonial period. Chapter Four centres on the impact of colonial administration on the precolonial institutions and the development of party politics, Christian religion and western education. Chapters Five and Six analyse the development of mass media and their relationship to different groups. Chapter Seven critically evaluates the political role of mass media as factors that influence electorates' political opinion. Part two presents an empirical analysis of the 1983 general elections with particular reference to Imo State. Under it, Chapter Eight sets out the method of the research. Major problems encountered in the fieldwork and how they were solved are stated. Chapters Nine, Ten,, Eleven and Twelve establish the characteristics and attributes of five groups of participants, their membership of voluntary organisations, their political participation and relationship to channels of communication respectively. In Chapter Thirteen political issues are discussed in relation to voters' views. Ln Chapter Fourteens the relationship between the mass media, political personalities and issues are examined. Finally Chapter Fifteen attempts to assess the role and direction of political communication development in Nigeria today - Some suggestions are made as regards to the most useful approach to political communication in Nigeria

Bowdoin Orient v.115, no.1-27 (1985-1986)

https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinorient-1980s/1006/thumbnail.jp

Bowdoin Orient v.68, no.1-29 (1938-1939)

https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinorient-1930s/1009/thumbnail.jp

A comparative study of electoral behaviour in Australia and New Zealand

Studies which make explicit and substantial cross-national comparisons of electoral behaviour are rare. This thesis involves an intensive and extensive empirical analysis of electoral behaviour in Australia and New Zealand set in a wider cross-national framework. Relying principally but not wholly upon sample survey data, the study investigates trends in mass political attitudes and behaviour since the 1960s against a background of the electoral histories of Australia and New Zealand since the Second World War and also giving consideration to the initial development of their modern political party systems. The primary focus, however, is on the period at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s. The thesis considers a wide range of macro-level and micro-level influences on political choice, including such factors as electoral laws, federalism and regionalism, social structure, and parental partisanship as well as the more immediate determinants of voting behaviour such as party identification, attitudes to party leaders and local candidates. The comparison of two such similar nations allows the investigations to be pursued in greater depth in many instances than would be the case were the comparison of political behaviour in more disparate nations. Major conclusions are that, of the system-level constraints which cause cross-national variations in political behaviour, it is the political party elites and the political culture of a nation that have the most consistent and prominent influences. Social structure, the rules of the political system and geographical considerations are less influential. The system-level factors, by and large, alter the degree of influence of some micro variables on mass political behaviour but not the essential nature of political responses to various stimuli. Political behaviour, it is argued, displays a high degree of consistency in different national contexts