SACM - United Kingdom
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://drepo.sdl.edu.sa/handle/20.500.14154/9667
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Item Restricted Green and Sustainable Logistics Strategies in the Saudi FMCG Sector: A Post-Vision 2030 Desk-Based Analysis(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Alshalawi, Maha; Adaba, GodfriedAbstract This study investigates the implementation of green and sustainable logistics practices within Saudi Arabia’s Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector and evaluates their alignment with Vision 2030 sustainability priorities. Using a qualitative, desk-based research design supported by Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA), the study examined 13 corporate sustainability reports, national policy documents, and independent industry publications. The findings reveal partial but uneven adoption of sustainable logistics practices. Digital transformation is progressing but limited by capability gaps, while operational efficiency initiatives are widely reported but rarely supported by measurable performance indicators. Circular economy practices remain in early stages due to infrastructural and behavioural constraints, and transport sustainability is hindered by reliance on diesel fleets and insufficient low-carbon infrastructure. By integrating the Triple Bottom Line (TBL), Circular Economy (CE), and Resource-Based View (RBV), the study highlights the interaction between external pressures, operational mechanisms, and internal capabilities. The research contributes theoretically by contextualising sustainability frameworks in the Saudi FMCG sector and offers practical recommendations for firms and policymakers to accelerate progress toward Vision 2030 objectives.13 0Item Restricted Assessing the Economic Political Drivers of Inflation in Saudi Arabia(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Alnoufal, Raghad; Gupta, AbhimanyuThis study examines the economic and political drivers of inflation in Saudi Arabia, with a particular focus on the period from 2016 to 2024. Inflation plays a crucial role in shaping economic stability, living standards, and policy decisions. Given Saudi Arabia’s heavy reliance on oil revenues and its ongoing structural transformation under Vision 2030, understanding the factors influencing inflation is essential for effective economic management. The research explores how government policies, oil price fluctuations, monetary and fiscal policies, and external economic conditions influence inflation dynamics in the Kingdom. The study adopts a qualitative and descriptive research approach based on secondary data, including academic literature, official reports from the Saudi Central Bank and the General Authority for Statistics, and international institutions. It also includes a comparative perspective by examining inflation drivers in another oil-dependent economy, Nigeria, in order to highlight similarities and structural differences in inflation dynamics. The findings reveal that inflation in Saudi Arabia is driven by a combination of domestic reforms, oil market volatility, and global economic shocks. Major policy measures, such as the introduction of value-added tax (VAT), subsidy reforms, and fiscal consolidation under Vision 2030, have caused temporary increases in inflation but have also contributed to long-term economic sustainability. The fixed exchange rate between the Saudi riyal and the US dollar has helped maintain price stability but limits monetary policy flexibility. The study also shows that inflation disproportionately affects low- and fixed-income households despite government support programs. Overall, the research concludes that Saudi Arabia’s inflation is relatively moderate compared to many economies, largely due to strong institutional capacity and coordinated fiscal and monetary policies. However, continued economic diversification, improved inflation monitoring, stronger social protection systems, and effective policy coordination will be essential to maintain price stability and support sustainable economic growth in the future.2 0Item Restricted Strategic Partnerships Between Saudi Arabia and International Technology Companies amid Vision 2030: Drivers and Outcomes(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) ALSHAHRANI, NIDAA SAEED G; Dan, ColeThis study examines how Saudi Arabia is using international technology partnerships to support its Vision 2030 agenda, which aims to reduce dependence on oil and build a knowledge-based economy. Partnerships with multinational enterprises (MNEs) such as Google Cloud, Oracle, and NVIDIA are especially important because they bring advanced capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and semiconductors: sectors viewed as central to digital transformation agenda of Saudi Arabia under Vision 2030. The aim of the study is to investigate how such partnerships promote Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation under Vision 2030. The literature review employed three main theories: Transaction Cost Economics (TCE), which examines governance and risks; the Resource- Based View (RBV) and Dynamic Capabilities, which focus on ownership and renewal of resources; and the Triple Helix (TH), which focuses on collaboration between government, industry and academia. The research adopted a pragmatist philosophy and abductive approach, applying a case study design with purposive sampling of secondary data, including policy documents, corporate press releases, consultancy reports, and legal analyses. Thematic analysis was used to generate codes and themes across four research questions. The findings show Saudi Arabia engages in partnerships to achieve five key goals: signalling international credibility, accelerating infrastructure growth, ensuring data sovereignty, creating economic multipliers, and using cost advantages. Governance is characterised by hybrid contracts, centralised convening bodies, jurisdictional innovation, and links between infrastructure and energy policy. Domestic benefits are visible in localised learning systems, transfer of knowledge, workforce development, and spillovers to suppliers and small firms. However, challenges include dependency on foreign hardware, high energy use, legal complexities, skills shortages, and risks of passive learning. The study concludes that although partnerships have accelerated digital transformation, their long-term success depends on strengthening domestic capabilities and embedding sustainable governance models.10 0Item Restricted Analysing Operational Efficiency in Saudi Industrial Factories Using Labor-to-Production Ratios and Interpretable Machine Learning Technique.(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Alwalan, Abdulaziz; Sotiris, MoschoyiannisThis dissertation investigates plant-level efficiency of individual factories in Saudi factories, highlighting significant voids in the literature at the factory level that have attracted limited scholarly work. The labor-to-production ratio provides a measure of plant-level(factory-level) efficiency, which is a simple and practical measure that is of particular utility in settings where machine-level data are limited. The paper attempts to understand efficiency variations with respect to types of products and plant sizes, among other variables, while also trying to estimate interpretable models that have easily understandable classification boundaries of efficiency. The data set was collected from the Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources and covered five years of monthly data. After applying stringent inclusion criteria and preprocessing, a stratified sampling of 50 factories was randomly drawn from three size classes and five main product categories. The framework of methodology comprised descriptive statistics, inferential hypothesis tests, and interpretable machine learning approaches. Descriptive analysis assessed distributional properties and pointed out the occurrence of asymmetry in the efficiency measures. Inferential analysis utilized Shapiro–Wilk and Levene’s tests, followed by Two-way ANOVA, Kruskal–Wallis, and Tukey HSD tests, with the objective of detecting group distinctions. In addition, Decision Tree models were considered based on two approaches: Fixed Parameters Evaluation (Entropy and Gini experiments) and Per-Fold Parameter Optimisation. Results revealed that the type of product was the main efficiency predictor, with plastic bag production factories always performing best relative to the production of concrete. Conversely, the factory size failed to show significant explanation power, with the medium factory size sometimes showing excellent performance but inconsistently so. The statistical tests confirmed that the product type variances were large, while the effects of factory size and factory size-product type interaction were non-significant. In addition, Decision Tree experiments emphasized the balance between accuracy and stability, and it was determined that the entropy-based configuration was the most viable alternative. Overall, this research provides significant theoretical and practical contributions through the provision of empirical evidence on factory-level efficiency in Saudi Arabia. The findings provide significant implications for policymakers and managers interested in optimizing resource use and meeting the target of Vision 2030, while also demonstrating the methodological strength of combining statistical inference with interpretable machine learning models.10 0Item Unknown The Role of Soft Power and Mega-Events in advancing Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 – A systematic review(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Almutawa, Abdullah; Lynsey, MelhuishSaudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 represents an ambitious national transformation programme aimed at reducing dependence on oil, diversifying the economy, and strengthening the Kingdom’s global influence. In order to achieving these goals strategic use of soft power and mega-events to reshape international perceptions, attract investment, and stimulate growth in tourism, culture, entertainment, and sport is being done. This systematic review critically examines how these instruments contribute to Vision 2030 by analysing peer-reviewed studies, comparative case literature, government publications, and grey literature from 2015 to 2024. The findings show that mega-events and soft power initiatives play a significant role in expanding tourism revenues, accelerating infrastructure development, enhancing global positioning, and supporting social transformation. They also reveal ongoing challenges, including criticisms of sportswashing, questions around sustainability, and the difficulty of assessing long-term outcomes. Based on this evidence, the study offers recommendations centred on improving transparency, strengthening legacy planning, investing in local capacity, and enhancing the integration of cultural and sporting initiatives within broader development strategies. While the review provides a comprehensive synthesis, it is limited by the relatively recent nature of Vision 2030, the scarcity of long-term observed studies, and reliance on grey literature where peer reviewed sources are still emerging. These limitations highlight the need for future research that tracks long-term impacts of Saudi Arabia’s soft power and mega-events over time and examines their effectiveness through primary data.26 0Item Unknown Assessing how Social Media Influences Tourist Decision-Marketing Concerns in Saudi Arabia Related to Vision 2030(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Albalawi، Ashuq Mohammed; Conyard, EmilyThe context of the research is the novelty of both social media and tourism in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and although “electronic word of mouth (e-WoM)” via social media has an impact in marketing around the world (Bushara et al., 2023), and directly on tourism in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Alsheikh, Aziz and Alsheikh, 2021), the extent of that impact is not known. Studies on the role of social media applications (Al-Hazmi, 2021) and marketing (Bahurmuz and Al-Kubaisy, 2022) on tourism in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, have been completed because it is a growth area (Statista, 2023), but other factors of tourism, such as culture, have been more deeply studied in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Madkhali, 2020; Sudigdo and Khalifa, 2020).12 0Item Unknown IPO Governance in Saudi Arabia's Energy Sector: Legal Structures, Compliance, and Reform under Vision 2030(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Aljohani, Mohammed; Nigro, CasimiroThis thesis examines the legal and institutional dimensions of initial public offerings (IPOs) in Saudi Arabia’s energy sector, with a focus on how corporate governance, compliance, and ESG mechanisms are formalized within state-owned enterprises (SOEs) undergoing partial market exposure. IPOs in this context are not solely financial transactions but are also instruments of institutional transformation—tools that enable alignment with international standards while accommodating sovereign policy priorities. Employing a doctrinal legal methodology supported by a case study of Saudi Aramco, the research investigates how statutory provisions, Capital Market Authority regulations, and corporate governance codes shape the IPO process, particularly in relation to board independence, disclosure obligations, and sustainability oversight. The findings reveal that although the Saudi regulatory framework demonstrates formal convergence with global governance norms, its implementation reflects selective adaptation, shaped by the continued presence of state ownership through entities such as the Public Investment Fund. The thesis further explores how IPO governance structures are designed to advance transparency, investor confidence, and ESG integration, while retaining flexibility for national development strategies under Vision 2030. In doing so, it contributes to corporate governance literature by offering a nuanced understanding of hybrid regulatory models, where public-sector priorities and market-facing reforms coexist. Ultimately, the study argues that IPOs in Saudi Arabia’s energy sector function as calibrated mechanisms of governance modernization, balancing legal compliance, institutional credibility, and sovereign interests, rather than serving as vehicles of full privatization or market liberalization.14 0Item Unknown Environmental Impact Assessment of Solid Waste Management in Saudi Arabia: Challenges and Opportunities(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Almutairi, Mohammed; Barker, Adam; Lauwerijssen, RachelThis study examines the environmental impacts of solid waste management in Saudi Arabia, focusing on the country’s continued dependence on landfilling, limited recycling, and the slow adoption of waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies. These challenges contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, environmental pollution, and inefficient resource use. The research evaluates the performance of current waste-management strategies, identifies operational, policy, and technological gaps, and proposes solutions aligned with international best practices. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining document analysis with survey data collected from practitioners, policymakers, and academics. Descriptive statistics were used to assess operational effectiveness and policy performance, while thematic analysis provided deeper qualitative insights. Findings show that Saudi Arabia generates more than 15 million tons of municipal solid waste annually, exceeding global per-capita averages. While waste collection is perceived as moderately efficient, source segregation remains low, and recycling systems are still in early development. Barriers to implementing WtE include high costs, infrastructure limitations, and low public awareness. The study concludes that improving policy coordination, strengthening enforcement, and investing in technological innovation are essential to achieving Vision 2030 goals. It recommends expanding recycling infrastructure, increasing WtE initiatives, and enhancing public awareness to support a circular and sustainable waste-management system in Saudi Arabia.10 0Item Unknown The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Supply Chain Optimization in Saudi Arabia(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) AlQahtani, Abdullah Saeed; Khobzi, HamidThis dissertation examines the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on supply chain optimization in Saudi Arabia, with particular emphasis on its alignment with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 objectives. AI technologies such as machine learning, predictive analytics, robotic process automation, and the Internet of Things are increasingly recognized for their potential to enhance efficiency, resilience, and sustainability within supply chain operations. However, despite growing national interest, empirical research focusing on AI adoption in the Saudi supply chain context remains limited. The study adopts a qualitative, interpretivist approach based on multiple secondary case studies drawn from peer-reviewed literature published between 2020 and 2025. The analysis is guided by the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework, supported by the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model, to examine both adoption drivers and process-level applications across key sectors, including telecommunications, healthcare, manufacturing, and national mega-projects. Findings indicate that AI adoption in Saudi supply chains is most advanced in planning, forecasting, and logistics delivery, while challenges persist in system integration, data quality, workforce readiness, and organizational resistance to change. Environmental factors such as Vision 2030 initiatives and government support act as strong enablers, although adoption remains concentrated among large organizations and flagship projects. The study concludes that while AI has significant potential to transform Saudi supply chains, its full benefits depend on improved digital integration, skills development, and supportive policy frameworks.46 0Item Unknown An Evaluation of the Transformation of the Public Libraries in Saudi Arabia – Focusing on their Services, Staff, and Patrons.(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Alshehri, Danea; Aarti, SehgalBackground. Saudi Vision 2030 prioritizes rethinking public libraries as vibrant cultural, learning, and digital engagement centers from passive repository spaces. While flagship centers such as Ithra Library and King Fahad National Library are upgraded, there is minimal empirical work that explores how reforms are experienced by users and workers, particularly in community and regional centers. Aims. The research assesses the effect of Vision 2030 reforms on Saudi public libraries in terms of services, staff role, and user interaction, and measures alignment with cultural and educational goals. Methods. A mixed-methods approach combined a bilingual online user survey (n = 54) with a managerial survey of three senior library system leaders. Saudi public libraries were purposely selected to include flagship, regional, and community libraries. Quantitative data were analyzed with descriptive analysis, whereas qualitative responses were analyzed thematically using Institutional Change Theory and Public Sphere Theory. Results. User responses revealed high reliance on legacy services (book lending 20.83%), followed by study/group rooms (13.89%) and digital services (12.5%). Low attendance at cultural events was reported (43% fewer than three times yearly; 28% never). Positive individual and social impact was realized by 50% of the respondents; 83% of the respondents valued staff support. Managerial data corroborated core service stability, cultural programming increase, and high staff development, but commented on uneven innovation facilities and low digital literacy programs. Conclusions. Vision 2030 has broadened the social role of Saudi public libraries through hybrid service models. To maintain momentum, national coordination, investment in rural infrastructure, and further outreach—most critically for innovation and digital competencies—are necessary.25 0