Wilfred Scawen Blunt and his Ideas on the Future of Islam

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, like many aristocratic Englishmen in the age of Empire in the late 19th century, took an interest in the Muslim populations of the colonies being governed by Britain. As a prolific writer and poet, his approach differs from his contemporaries in being, on the whole, genuinely sympathetic to Islam. In his book ‘The Future of Islam’ he shows how important the power of Islam in coming centuries is likely to be, and touches upon many important topics, such as the growing spread of Islam in the world and possible adjustments to the Caliphate. He would like to see the formation of a friendly association between Great Britain and the Muslims of the world in the political interests of Britain. Inevitably, many of his predictions and wishes did not materialize in the 20th century. Wilfred Scawen Blunt [1840-1922] was an English gentleman who followed the leisurely pursuits available to affluent members of Victorian society, i.e, travelling and poetry. His travels in the Middle East made a powerful impression on his intellectual and emotional sensibilities. As E.M. Forster wrote in his essay on Blunt, he ‘was drawn to Islam, and at one time thought of professing it.’1 He was, no doubt, in sympathy with the subjugated peoples of the Middle East and with the Indians of South Asia who were groaning under the colonial yoke. Further in the essay, Forster writes, ‘Egyptians found him too proTurkish and Indians too anti-British.’2 This attitude was unique for a stolid Englishman of the time of the ‘highnoon of Empire’. Blunt feared the advance of European powers in Oriental lands. Forster further writes: ‘His detachment is amazing. He dreaded a war because it must involve Asia and Africa, and complete the enslavement of the conservative Oriental nations, whom he loved and who loved him……

Suply Chain Management and Organizational Performance: Strategy and Innovation Aspects

Supply chain strategy is widely recognized as a crucial part of an organizational strategy. Supply chain strategy, organizational functions related to supply chain partners and performance are important issues in supply chain management research. However, the foundation of various aspects of supply chain strategy, such as quality focus and innovation focus, and their relationships with functions of supply chain partners is less known. Similarly, the structure encompassing the supply chain strategy, organizational objectives and functions, and various organizational performance measures requires a better understanding. This dissertation proposes a macro-structured framework to describe the relationships among organizational supply chain strategy, objectives, internal and external functions, as well as performance1. The dissertation limits the scope of empirical inquiry to three complementing theoretical themes that stem from the macro research framework. Firstly, the dissertation seeks to establish and validate a theoretical model linking a multi-aspect supply chain strategy construct, core operational functions (such as process management and product development), and organizational performance. Secondly, the dissertation attempts to establish a relationship extending from supply chain strategies (lean and responsive) to supplier functions (supplier quality, cost effectiveness, flexibility, and delivery reliability), which in turn impact buyer performance. Thirdly, the dissertation proposes a model that links innovation-focused supply chain strategy and performance. The third model argues for a positive impact of supply chain innovation strategy on innovative buyer-supplier relationship (covered by the constructs supplier focus, buyer-supplier innovation intent, and buyer-supplier innovation structure) leading to enhanced product innovation, which in turn has positive impact on business performance. 1 The Chapters 2, 3, and 4 of this dissertation are three stand‐alone research papers. iv Additionally, the dissertation seeks to explore the linkages between organizational demographics and product innovation. The dissertation collects empirical data using a literature-based research questionnaire from 191 related managers from Pakistan from various industrial sectors of the sampling frame to investigate the theoretical models. In addition, a data set from 105 companies from various industrial sectors of India boosts the sample size to 296. The dissertation also presents the results of the tests of the hypotheses on a collective sample of 296 companies (191 from Pakistan and 105 from India). The dissertation uses structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression on AMOS (Version 18) and SPSS (Version 19) respectively for the data analyses. The data validates the theoretical basis and usefulness of all the constructs. The empirical tests of hypothesized models show that various supply chain strategy dimensions have overall significant relationships with multiple performance areas through internal operations and supplier functions. Firstly, the results of the study find a strong positive impact of supply chain strategy on core internal operations, including product development, production technology, process management, customer focus, and use of information technology. Furthermore, the research finds an overall positive impact of supply chain strategy on performance through core operational functions. Secondly, the study finds strong positive impact of supply chain strategy on related supplier functions including supplier cost-effectiveness, supplier quality practices, supplier delivery, and supplier flexibility, which in turn have an overall positive impact on multiple performance areas of the buyer. Thirdly, the research establishes that supply chain innovation strategy encourages an innovative buyer-supplier relationship leading to enhanced product innovation and business performance. In addition, the hierarchical regression analysis seeks to find relationships of various organizational demographics, including foreign collaboration, age of company, export orientation, and number of employees with product innovation. The regression analyses run on Pakistani and Indian data sets separately find support for positive relationships of age of company and foreign collaboration with product innovation in both data sets. The Pakistani data set supports a positive relationship of export orientation with product innovation and the Indian data set supports a positive relationship of number of employees with product innovation. Fin ally, both data sets do not find a relationship between company revenue and product innovation. The dissertation discusses theoretical and managerial implications of the findings of each theoretical model. The dissertation improves theoretical understanding and removes managerial ambiguity as to what constitutes supply chain strategy and how it impacts organizational operations both in-house and at the supplier end, which in turn impact performance on multiple fronts. The findings suggest that an alignment of supply chain strategy with internal and supplier functions improves cost, quality, delivery, flexibility, and product innovation outcomes, leading to enhanced buyer performance. Hence, it makes good business sense for managers to align supply chain functions with supply chain strategy for performance improvement. Moreover, the relationship of demographic variables with product innovation provides insights into how the organizational context can nurture product innovation. This dissertation provides a platform for several future research endeavors. For example, the future research can extend the empirical investigation of the three theoretical models presented here in another empirical setting using quantitative or qualitative research approach. Moreover, the future research can empirically investigate the contingency effects of the demographic variables on the hypothesized models presented here. Finally, it would be interesting to proceed with an in-depth analysis of any significant differences between the Pakistani and Indian companies.