Saudi Arabia is currently passing through a transformational phase. There is a huge demand on the Saudi healthcare system to provide better healthcare facilities to the rapidly increasing Saudi population, as well as the growing elderly population. Lack of trained healthcare professionals and heavy reliance on foreign workers are significant aspects for policymakers to consider and deal with. It is also important to re-examine the healthcare Human Resource Development (HRD) initiatives so as to provide a huge reserve of healthcare professionals with appropriate learning and competence. This paper is a critical review based on secondary data collected from various sources including databases, reports, articles, books, government documents and earlier research undertaken in this regard. The paper is an attempt to document and evaluate the various steps suggested and undertaken by the new strategic plan, Vision 2030, and consequently documented in the National Transformation Program (NTP) adopted in April 2016 in the healthcare HRD sphere in Saudi Arabia. It has been shown that appropriate HRD capacity building needs to be adopted along with the aggressive policy regulation. It is also important to ensure that future health sector investment meets the needs of local healthcare HRD. Saudization and the adoption of the ‘Nitaqat’ program have played an effective role in pushing the Saudization targets in the private sector, and there is a huge scope for the absorption of young trained Saudi boys and girls in the healthcare sector. Vision 2030 adopted in 2016 is a testimony to a revolutionary step undertaken by the government and that the healthcare sector is also passing through a major shift in its approach and execution. Vision 2030 has come out with a very clear sense of direction to the healthcare sector, and the projected shift from the existing one-third to two-third Saudi-to-foreigner workforce ratio by the year 2030 needs to be adopted carefully to turn the healthcare HRD challenges into opportunities.

Purpose: Few studies have explored the work challenges and career barriers faced by women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Drawing on Institutional Theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of employed Saudi women through in-depth interviews. Design/methodology/approach: The paper employs a phenomenological qualitative approach drawing on 12 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Saudi women. Findings: The findings reveal a significant number of prominent societal and organizational structural and attitudinal barriers to the advancement of Saudi women in paid employment. Among others, these barriers include a lack of mobility; the salience of gender stereotypes; gender discrimination in the workplace; limited opportunities for growth, development, and career advancement; excessive workload caused by a lack of family-work balance; and gender-based challenges related to dealing with pregnancy. Research limitations/implications: Despite the contributions of this study, it also has limitations, particularly the convenience sampling approach and the focus on the KSA. The small sample size means that the findings cannot be generalized to all women employed in Saudi Arabia and should be generalized within Saudi Arabia and other Arab societies only with caution. Originality/value: The paper contributes to the understanding of work challenges and barriers of Saudi women in the workforce. It provides fresh insights to the issues surrounding women in Saudi Arabia and the need to address them in order to provide support for their career advancement.

The purpose of this study is to understand how one of the most non-renewable countries is acting concerning the global challenge of energy supply vs. resources for energy generation. Saudi Arabia is registering the highest energy consumption per capita in the world with its fastest population growth and the rapid pace of industrialization. Its electricity consumption is expected to be more than doubled by 2025, and the carbon emission is supposed to be on the rise. In that backdrop, Saudi Arabia has taken many steps to shift its dependency from oil to solar, wind and nuclear sources of energy, and plans to secure half of the country’s electricity needs from the alternative sources of energy in coming 20 years. The government has announced an ambitious plan to install 41 Giga Watt of solar capacity and invest $108.9 billion by 2032. This exploratory study reviews the steps undertaken in this regard to promote the solar energy initiative as envisaged by the government. This paper discusses the issues and challenges in shifting from oil to solar energy in Saudi Arabia. It documents and discusses the drivers that push Saudi Arabia to adopt solar as an alternative source of energy that can be used to reduce oil dependency and to improve environmental sustainability. A multi-pronged approach involving all stakeholders is the key to success in making the solar project sustainable in Saudi Arabia.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to draw lessons for logistics management in humanitarian disasters, using the earthquake in Haiti as a case study. In Haiti, there were problems with the logistical response. This study investigates the humanitarian logistics challenges faced by various stakeholders in Haiti during the disaster-relief operations. Design/methodology/approach: In this exploratory case study, the central methodology used was data triangulation. Data triangulation involved interviews with respondents grouped into three categories, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the military establishment and the governmental agencies. Prominence is given to the common themes expressed by each group. These common themes are then compared to the themes of other groups to identify opportunities and problems for future disaster relief operations. Findings: The study indicates that there is a clear gap in terms of how the humanitarian efforts were coordinated between different actors. Lack of civil–military cooperation and coordination was one of the findings from the interviews, and many of the resources and initiatives were overlapping or redundant. Timeliness and efficiency need to be at the forefront of all planning and would result in more saved lives and reduced human suffering. The key goal of humanitarian logistics stipulates is to form connections and relationships, which was well illustrated through the informants' interviews. It was found that organizing different stakeholders/actors to work together by sharing processes and distribution channels demands a vision that goes beyond logistics management. Government agencies, the military establishment, NGOs, locals and victims need to collaborate to create a synergy in generating solutions that are tailored to the shock of the disaster in the first place. Research limitations/implications: The current study relies on a single case study approach as disaster scenarios are unique in terms of their impact, magnitude, timing and location. Despite these limitations, this study provides a detailed account of the logistical challenges in dealing with the disaster that took place in Haiti. The logistics-related lessons learned from this case study should be carefully applied in other settings, taken into consideration contextual differences. Practical implications: One important aspect of measuring efficiency for any commercial logistics system is key performance indicators (KPIs) that indicate how well the firm is doing in managing its inbound and outbound operations. From a practical standpoint, the Haiti case raised a challenging concern with regard to how to measure the performance of humanitarian disaster logistics. This is a starting point to understand the dynamics of disaster system efficiency and logistics interplay and offers a few lessons to improve the resource availability in the case of future emergencies. Originality/value: This study lays the groundwork for future researchers to explore and debrief on the topic once disaster relief draws to a close and time has allowed logisticians and relief workers to analyze the response mechanisms used in disasters.

This study examines the role of using algorithmic human resource management (HRM) to make strategic decisions concerning firms’ human resource (HR) activities. This study develops a scale to measure algorithmic HRM usage in its first phase. In the second phase, it is found that algorithmic HRM usage significantly impacts strategic HR decision-making, which helps and enables firms to create a competitive advantage. Utilizing the authors’ LinkedIn profiles, 234 participants were included in the fieldwork. Collected data were analyzed by applying partial least squares structure equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The mediating roles of HR strategic decision-making and HR digital maturity as moderators in enabling the impact of algorithmic HRM on the firm’s competitive advantage have been corroborated. This study finds a strong relationship between algorithmic HRM usage and competitive advantage, a significant relationship between algorithmic HRM usage and strategic HR decision-making, and a significant relationship between strategic HR decision-making and competitive advantage. The moderating role of HR digital maturity was insignificant in this research, paving the way for future research. This research, the model, and its findings contribute to the theory and implicate the practicality of algorithmic HRM. It is one of few papers addressing algorithmic HRM usage in a transitioning economy like Saudi Arabia.