• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• 제7권8호
• /
• pp.473-483
• /
• 2020

Internationalization of SMEs has gathered pace in recent times with falling trade barriers and rising world trade encouraging small firms to seek profits and growth in foreign markets. This has attracted the attention of researchers, and several studies have been conducted in Western nations on the factors influencing the process of SME internationalization. However, hardly any study has been done on SME internationalization in the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) region, thus leaving a gap in the literature. This study investigates the influence of four factors, namely, human capital, network competency, entrepreneurial orientation, and market volatility on the degree of internationalization of SMEs in Oman. The study employs survey data collected from 150 SME owners and managers using a structured questionnaire having 27 items, and has been analyzed using correlation and logistic regression, as the dependent variable is binary in nature. The results reveal the impact of the chosen variables on the degree of internationalization of SMEs. The findings of the study suggest that network competency has the highest impact on degree of internationalization of Omani SMEs, followed by human capital and entrepreneurial orientation, while market volatility, though insignificant, moderated the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and degree of internationalization of Omani SMEs.

• 국제지역연구
• /
• 제22권2호
• /
• pp.19-40
• /
• 2018

본 연구의 목적은 중력모형을 이용하여 걸프협력회의(GCC) 6개국 수출의 결정요인이무엇인가를 정량적으로 분석하는 것이다. 중력모형을 이용하여 GCC 회원국인 쿠웨이트, 사우디아라비아, 바레인, 카타르, 연합아랍에머리트 및 오만의 55개 주요 무역국과의 수출 결정요인을 분석하였다. 본 연구의 주요 분석 결과는 다음과 같다. 수출국의 GDP와 수입국의 GDP의 곱이 카타르를 제외한 GCC 5개국의 수출에 통계적으로 유의한 수준의 긍정적 영향을 준 것으로 분석되었다. 거리는 아랍에메리에트(UAE), 사우디아라이바 및 오만에 부정적인 영향을 준 것으로 분석된 반면에, 바레인과 카타르의 수출에는 긍정적인 영향을 준 것으로 분석되었다. 수출국의 1인당 GDP는 바레인, UAE와 오만의 수출에는 통계적으로 유의한 수준의 긍정적인 영향을 준 것으로 분석되었지만, 사우디아라비아의 수출에는 부정적인 영향을 준 것으로 분석되었다. 수출국의 인구는 GCC 6개국 모든 나라의 수출에 긍정적인 영향을 준 것으로 분석되었다. 이와 대조적으로 수입국의 인구는 쿠웨이트, 바레인과 카타르의 수출에는 긍정적인 영향을 주었지만 사우디아라비아의 수출에는 부정적인 영향을 준 것으로 분석되었다. 국경은 GCC 회원국 중 어느 나라의 수출에도 유의한 영향을 주지 못한 것으로 분석되었다. 공동언어의 경우 쿠웨이트, 사우디아라비아, 바레인 및 오만의 수출에 긍정적인 영향을 준 것으로 분석되었다. 자유무역협정(FTA)는 바레인의 수출에만 긍정적인 영향을 준 것으로 분석되었으며, 카타르와 오만의 수출에는 부정적인 영향을 준 것으로 분석되었다. GCC회원국자격은 쿠웨이트, 바레인 및 카타르의 수출에는 긍정적인 영향을 주었지만 사우디아라비아의 수출에는 부정적인 영향을 준 것으로 분석되었다.

• 해안과 해양
• /
• 제2권2호
• /
• pp.55-65
• /
• 2009

• 건축구조
• /
• 제18권5호
• /
• pp.44-52
• /
• 2011

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• 제10권1호
• /
• pp.67-77
• /
• 2023

This study investigates the impact of corporate governance (defined as companies' ownership structure and board of directors' characteristics) on cash holdings in the context of Oman. This study leverages a quantitative panel pooled regression on a dataset of Omani non-financial firms from 2009-2015. The findings of this study are generally in line with the predictions of Agency Theory and Mentoring and Busyness Hypotheses. The analysis demonstrates that a large stockholder size has a significant positive relationship with cash holding. Meanwhile, a positive (but insignificant) relationship was also found between institutional ownership and cash holding. Furthermore, state ownership was found to exhibit a significant negative relationship with cash holding. In terms of the board of directors' traits, this study's findings suggest that board sizes have a positive (but insignificant) relationship with cash holding. Furthermore, busy and independent boards were found to have a significant positive relationship with cash holding. The above findings suggest that boards with such traits are less effective in providing oversight on managers' actions, which would then increase Omani non-financial firms' cash holdings.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• 제17권11호
• /
• pp.4825-4830
• /
• 2016

Background: In developed countries, awareness of cervical cancer screening is well documented. In contrast, in Oman as a developing country, public responses regarding cervical screening are unclear. This study aimed to assess the level of awareness about cervical cancer and Papanicolau (Pap) smear testing and to establish any correlations between knowledge and demographic factors among Omani women. Methods: In this cross-sectional survey, participants were divided into three groups: patients who attended the Outpatient Gynecology Department in Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH), Oman, female staff from SQUH, College of Medicine and College of Nursing at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) and graduating female students at SQU. Data collection was through interview-based and online self-administered questionnaires. Cumulative scoring was used for data analysis. Results: There were 204 outpatients, 133 staff and 157 students. Outpatients (79.4%), staff (97.7%) and students (75.2%) had heard of cervical cancer. Nevertheless, their specific knowledge, regarding signs and symptoms, risk factors and Pap smear, was low at 38.7%, 35.3% and 7.6% among outpatients, staff and students, respectively. Some 39.9% of the married outpatients had adequate overall knowledge as compared to none of the single women. Educational level was found to be significantly associated with outpatient knowledge with the highest awareness levels among postgraduates and medical university graduates (61.5%). Conclusion: Specific knowledge of cervical cancer, its risk factors and cervical Pap smear is generally poor among Omani women. This lack of knowledge may be one of the contributing factors for the high incidence of cervical cancer in Oman relative to that in developed countries.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• 제17권4호
• /
• pp.2247-2254
• /
• 2016

Background: The incidence of breast cancer is rising in Oman, and the disease is diagnosed at late stages, when treatment success is limited. Omani women might benefit from better awareness, so that breast cancer can be detected early and treated. This study was conducted to assess Omani women's levels of breast cancer awareness and early detection practice, and explore factors which might influence these levels. Materials and Methods: A mixed methods study was conducted in 2014, including a quantitative survey of 1,372 and a qualitative assessment of 19 Omani women, aged ${\geq}20years$ from five Omani governorates using convenient sampling. Demographic information and scores for awareness levels were used in a multivariate regression model to investigate factors associated with awareness. Thematic analysis and interpretive description were used to analyse the qualitative data. Results: The overall means for early detection and general awareness scores were 0.58 (SD 0.24) and 0.46 (SD 0.21), respectively. General awareness was significantly associated with age, education, income and familiarity with cancer patients (p<0.05), while early detection was significantly associated with age, marital status and education. A majority of women (59.5%) agreed with a belief in 'evil eye' or envy as a risk factor for breast cancer. Women discussed various factors which may empower or inhibit awareness, including the cultural-religion-fatalistic system, personal-familial-environmental system, and healthcare-political-social system. Conclusions: The overall low scores for awareness and early detection, and the survey of local beliefs highlight a severe necessity for a contextually-tailored breast cancer awareness intervention programme in Oman.

• 한국어병학회지
• /
• 제34권1호
• /
• pp.55-61
• /
• 2021

One of the major problems in fish production is that parasite-induced episodes of disease can result in significant impacts to the health of stock, mortalities and, economical losses. Seabreams are economically important fish in both the capture fishery and aquaculture sectors in Oman and represent potential species for aquaculture. The current study set out to investigate infection of polyopisthocotylean monogeneans on the gills of wild goldlined seabream, Rhabdosargus sarba, caught from Musairah region in Oman. The prevalence, mean intensity and abundance of polyopisthocotyleans on 145 fish was found to be 52.41%, 5.65 and 3.04, respectively. Three species of microcotylid parasite were isolated, one being Atrispinum acarne while the remaining two species require further study to identify them. There was no significant difference in the infection rate between host sex, however, parasite burdens were higher on larger sized fish (p<0.05) and were found to favour the first gill arch (p< 0.05). The study found that the sample of Rhabdosargus sarba landed in the waters around Musairah are heavily infected, with a predominantly immature population of microcotylids. Further work is required to better understand the potential risk each species poses to the health of its host before a decision is made on the suitability of new candidate fish species for commercial aquaculture.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
• /
• 제25권2호
• /
• pp.121-128
• /
• 2022

Purpose: Abdominal migraine (AM) is a very common functional gastrointestinal disorder in children. This study reports the clinical features and response of AM to prophylactic treatment in children. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted between January 2010 and December 2019 at the Royal Hospital in the Sultanate of Oman. This study included children aged ≤ 13 years with a diagnosis of AM based on the Rome IV criteria for functional diagnoses. Clinical, demographic, and treatment data were collected. Results: Seventy-four children were identified, of which 43 were eligible for inclusion in this study. The median age at the onset of symptoms was 7 years (range, 2-12 years). The most frequent symptoms were headache (81.4%), nausea (79.1%), and vomiting (72.1%). Of the total cohort, 46.5%, 23.3%, and 6.9% received riboflavin, pizotifen, and propranolol monotherapy, respectively. Combination therapy was also used; 16.3% of children received pizotifen and propranolol, 4.7% received riboflavin and pizotifen, and 2.3% received riboflavin and propranolol. Patients treated with propranolol monotherapy showed 100% clinical improvement and those treated with riboflavin or pizotifen monotherapy showed 90% clinical improvement. Response to combination therapy with pizotifen and propranolol was 71.4%, and with riboflavin and pizotifen was 100%. In addition, treatment response was significantly associated with the presence of vomiting (p=0.039). Conclusion: We found a favorable response to various modalities and combination treatments with riboflavin, pizotifen, and propranolol in children with AM. In addition, the presence of vomiting may predict treatment response.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
• /
• 제23권11호
• /
• pp.128-132
• /
• 2023

Investment authorities are broad financial institutions that carefully manage investments on behalf of the national government using a long-term value development approach. To provide a stronger structure or framework for In-vestment Authorities to govern the distribution of funds to public and private markets, we've started research to create a blockchain-based prototype for managing and tracking numerous finances of such authorities. We have taken the case study of Oman Investment Authority (OIA) of Sultanate of Oman. Oman's wealth is held in OIA. It is an organization that oversees and utilizes the additional capital generated by oil and gas profits in public and private markets. Unlike other Omani funds, this one focus primarily on assets outside the Sultanate. The operation of the OIA entails a huge number of transactions, necessitating a high level of transparency and administration among the parties involved. Currently, OIA relies on various manuals to achieve its goals, such as the Authorities and Responsibilities manual, the In-vestment Manual, and the Code of Business Conduct, among others. In this paper, we propose a Blockchain based framework to manage the operations of OIA. Blockchain is a part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and it is re-shaping every industry. The main components of every blockchain are assets and participants. The funds are the major assets in the proposed study, and the participants are the various fund shareholders/recipients. The block-chain's transactions are all safe, secure, and immutable, and it's part of a trustless network. The transactions are simple to follow and verify. By replacing intermediary firms with smart contracts, blockchain-based solutions eliminate any middlemen in the fund allocation process.