To organize and manage an enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk, women entrepreneurs need to undertake various challenges. This paper identifies and discusses the characteristics, motivations, and obstacles of women entrepreneurs in starting their own businesses, focusing on the Al-Dhahira region of Oman. Data were collected through a structured survey questionnaire. The study identified the major characteristics of women entrepreneurs that inspired them to start their businesses. An urge to balance the work and family life, a search for stable work, and an intention to take advantage of a discovered market niche were identified as main motivators. The major difficulties faced by these entrepreneurs were insufficient financial resources and access to external financing. The findings help explain regional imbalances in entrepreneurial activities locally and globally.

Purpose – Universities and other higher educational institutions play an increasingly important role in providing entrepreneurship education, training, and technical assistance to existing and potential entrepreneurs. The purpose of this paper is to investigate students’ perceptions of entrepreneurship and the role of universities in developing enterprise education in Oman, focusing on the case of Sohar University. Design/methodology/approach – The research used a questionnaire based survey to collect primary data. From the total population of 3,633 students registered across different faculties during the academic year 2012-2013, a sample size of 200 was drawn using convenience sampling and the proportional allocation method. Findings – The research outcomes revealed that the majority of the university students were optimistic and interested in starting their own business, but lacked knowledge about how to start a business. The students’ willingness to run a business and their sociable, go-getter attitude, confidence, and effective connections with established entrepreneurs were observed as enablers. Fear of failure and unwillingness to take risks were the major obstacles facing university students in treading an entrepreneurial path. Practical implications – Overall, the study indicated a need for enterprise education, at programme and course levels, to nurture entrepreneurship among students in Oman. Social implications – Currently, Omani society is affected by a high level of unemployment. The research outcomes will help policy makers in assessing the potential of enterprise education. The promotion of entrepreneurship among women will enable more women to work shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts in building Oman’s economy. In a region where even today large numbers of women would never remove the face veil in front of male non-family members, these developments are very significant. Originality/value – Very few studies have examined university students’ attitude to entrepreneurship and enterprise education in Oman. This study helps in bridging that gap.

Purpose The participation and productivity of women in Oman’s labor force are very low and heavily skewed toward the government sector. There are few women in the private sector and the reasons for this are not well-known. The challenges that women workers face specifically in the Arab World are worth understanding from a participation and policy perspective. The purpose of this paper is to explore employers’ perceptions of women workers and the major challenges they face in Oman in the context of government efforts to develop the female workforce in this Middle East region. Design/methodology/approach Data collected by interviewing the top executives (employers) from 28 organizations in two major cities in Oman were analyzed qualitatively, grouped into emerging themes, triangulated, and discussed. Findings The results indicated that employers, in general, are impressed by women workers in Oman. However, they identify a number of challenges women face. This study synthesized and grouped employers’ perceptions of these challenges in the following categories: women’s natural and physiological composition, their attitude at work, post-marital challenges, socio-cultural barriers, nature and place of work, organizational preparedness and governance, biases or prejudices of employers, and work-life balance (WLB) issues facing them. Practical implications This study suggests that since female participation in the government sector in Oman is substantial, women can also be attracted to work in the private sector if policies are formulated to safeguard their interests. Originality/value There is an absolute dearth of studies about female participation in the Omani workforce; this study is one of the pioneering efforts. Whereas the extant literature on WLB issues represents mostly the western perspective, this study highlights the major WLB issues in Oman and fills some important gaps between the West and the Middle East by focusing on women, WLB, and policies triangle.

PurposeProject-Based Learning (PBL) is an innovative approach to learning that employs a multitude of strategies critical for success in the twenty-first century. It exposes students to the real world, opens an extended inquiry process, and boosts their communication skills and interdisciplinary learning. However, the extant literature on PBL places more emphasis on learning through internal rather than external projects. Industrial collaboration projects build partnerships and provide opportunities to work on real problems, often seeking multidisciplinary approaches. This study explores and suggests the benefits that students derived from their participation in an external research and consultancy project at a University in Oman.Design/methodology/approachThe study follows a qualitative analysis approach founded on an exploratory research design. In-depth interviews were conducted with ten research assistants, two research coordinators, and two project leaders involved in the project. The data from the interview were subjected to the thematic inductive qualitative analysis using Atlas.ti 8 software.FindingsThe results of the study revealed that students derived some direct academic benefits, mainly in the area of conducting research. The major learning happened mostly in non-academic areas, for they learned many things necessary for success in real-life work situations. The students benefited largely on behavioural skills and abilities such as communication, self-confidence, English language skills, planning, thinking, and time management skills. Altogether, project-based learning offered them a different skillset beyond what they usually acquire in the conventional teaching and learning environment.Practical implicationsThe outcomes of this research support the development of curriculum design and instructional pedagogy in higher education in a specific context, concluding that PBL has much to do with the practical aspects of learning and employability. The finding suggests that by engaging in PBL, students can develop certain skills that cannot be acquired in a conventional teaching environment. PBL enables self-learning and prepares students to deal with different situations and challenges on the ground while inculcating professionalism to act in real-life situations. This study advocates the introduction of some PBL based courses in the curriculum to nurture a balanced set of skills and abilities among business students.Social implicationsThe research outcomes support Oman’s Vision 2040 and one of its strategies for capacity building that aims to adopt innovative methods for individual/collective development of students, as well as for their life-long learning.Originality/valueProject-based learning described in this study provides a pedagogical way to connect university education to a real-life situation. These results offer promising prospects for infusing outdoor multidisciplinary projects in the course curriculum. This work bears significant value for educators in designing curriculum and facilitating projects, particularly in environments where students exhibit weaknesses or inhibitions to receive the knowledge, appropriately, from the conventional mode of teaching.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors affecting store image and customers’ choice of hypermarkets in Oman and compares two big hypermarkets in Sohar– the prominent industrial city of Oman. Design/methodology/approach A detailed review of literature was conducted initially to identify the attributes affecting store image and choice of hypermarkets in Oman and a questionnaire was developed later using the key attributes, vetted by a panel of professionals and consumers. Data were collected using convenience sampling from the targeted customers with due care to reduce possible biases. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), using SPSS, was then performed to arrive at the key factors affecting store image and choice of hypermarkets in Oman. Two most popular and leading hypermarkets of Sohar – Lulu and Al Safeer were selected to study consumers’ preferences for store choice and comparisons. The Mann-Whitney U-test in association with the Wilcoxon W-test was applied, using Minitab, for further comparison of the two hypermarkets. Findings Retailing industry in Oman is changing. The focus of consumers is shifting from traditional markets to modern retail formats. The presence of hypermarkets has attracted customers away from traditional souqs. Customers are attracted to hypermarkets for various reasons, including the local and socio-cultural ones. The factor analysis produced four components, namely, “purchase experience”, “visit experience”, “augmented experience”, and “repeat-purchase experience” affecting customers’ choice of hypermarkets and store image in Oman. A comparative analysis of two leading hypermarkets revealed that Lulu hypermarket acquired, overall, a better store image over Al Safeer on all the components. Purchase experience and visit experience, in Omani hypermarkets, were forerunners in satisfying customers than the augmented and repeat-purchase experience. Research limitations/implications The study contributes to the narrow base of extant literature on consumer preferences of hypermarkets and their choice of related retail formats in the Islamic world. Although the use of EFA has been quite informative in revealing the findings, the limitation mainly arises due to the lack of confirmatory techniques, which were not intended at this stage of research. Whist the study opens room for researchers to contribute further in this regard, it brings forth certain implications for the managers, academics, and professionals working in the retail sector. Practical implications Analysis and discussions reveal that hypermarkets, particularly in Oman, need to take into account the factors, as identified in this study, and the differences in context of local conditions and religion. The study emphasizes that managers of retail formats in Oman need to give due importance to consumer experience to secure better store image and consumer patronage. Originality/value The study makes a pioneering attempt to analyse consumer preferences for retail stores, especially hypermarkets in Oman. It recognizes that the consumer expectations and business requirements of Oman, in particular, or Gulf countries in general are somehow different than the rest of the world. A heed to the identified factors and underlying variables would help the retail sector in serving consumers better as well as in increasing the store image and consumer patronage.