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Many studies have been carried out on how Information Technology (IT) has transformed ways of doing business, but little is known about IT in the retail food industry in Saudi Arabia. The study reported here is the first to shed light on the usage of IT in the Saudi supermarket industry and to report outcomes which will set the scene for further investigation. This study was conducted to investigate the use of IT in Saudi supermarkets, the barriers to usage and the benefits gained in their business. The methods selected for this study were personal interviews and questionnaires with the MIS managers of the 21 supermarkets listed in the 1995‐1996 Saudi Business trade directory published by Kompass.

This research seeks to evaluate the impact of applying lean construction principles on the performance of reinforcement operations using a discrete-event simulation (DES) approach.

Process mapping of reinforcements operations was first established through field observation and interviews with construction managers involved in the selected project. Subsequently, quantitative data were gathered and then used to identify the best probabilistic density functions for each activity duration based on the fit-quality tests. Upon testing the validity of the real-world model, a lean simulation model was developed, using ARENA software, to investigate the impact of lean construction principles on the performance of such processes.

Lean principles are effective in enhancing the performance of the selected construction process. Output performance measurements for real-world model and lean model revealed that lean construction principles led to 41% improvement in process productivity, 14% enhancement in process efficiency and 17% reduction in cycle time.

The statistical findings only represent the process under study (reinforcement process) and cannot be generalized to other construction activities. In order to draw generalizable conclusions, future works are needed to extend this study to different project sizes and more complex construction processes (e.g. bricklaying process and concrete pouring operations). Moreover, there are other factors such as labor skills, rework and uncertainty, site conditions that require further analyses for leaner construction projects.

The methodology and the techniques presented in this work can be used for decision making by analyzing various lean construction scenarios and evaluating their impacts on performance outcomes of any construction process prior to real-world implementation.

Offsite is one of the main innovative techniques employed in the contemporary UK construction sector. Building maintenance accounts for over 5 percent of the UK's gross domestic product of which bathrooms are regarded as a critical area, with potential high risks and defects. However, the importance of its maintenance has been largely underestimated and research into this area appears to be limited. This paper aims to address this knowledge gap by investigating the maintenance performance of offsite and in situ bathrooms for student accommodation.

The paper examines 732 maintenance records over three years of 216 precast concrete modules, 84 Glass Reinforced Polyester (GRP) modules and 96 traditionally‐built in situ bathrooms.

The research found that offsite modules outperformed in situ bathrooms in terms of maintenance. GRP modules created the least maintenance problems, compared to precast modules and in situ bathrooms. The maintenance of in situ bathrooms was more complex than offsite modules, and involved more diverse problematic areas. The main causes of the problems included inappropriate design; poor build workmanship, lack of quality of component materials and improper usage by occupants. This supports a parallel study that found that the costs associated with maintenance were significantly higher for in situ bathrooms than for the equivalent offsite solutions.

The paper contributes to understanding the problems of offsite bathroom modules requiring maintenance in comparison with in situ bathrooms and their possible causes. Key aspects of offsite bathrooms including drainage, toilets, vents and sinks should be improved. Quality of component materials used for in situ bathrooms should be ensured. These improvements can only be achieved through better design for maintenance with clients' aspiration embodied. The findings should assist in design decision making of selecting bathrooms for residential buildings. However, a balanced approach, taking into account other factors for such selection, is open for future investigation.

The framework of strategies developed should improve the innovative design of bathrooms manufactured offsite and help maintain them for better lifecycle performance.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the impacts of implementing different combinations of various organizational changes on the economics of rebar supply chains in the special conditions of a project environment, where on‐site fabrication of rebar is considered to be more economical than off‐site fabrication practice.

A range of recently published works (2005‐2006) seem to confirm that on‐site fabrication of rebar results in less cost to the contractor compared with off‐site fabrication in a special project environment. However, those analyses did not take into account two main cost components (i.e. storage cost and waiting cost) owing to the lack of such information, and they were based on a number of assumptions regarding current managerial capabilities, which may likely be enhanced through implementing various organizational changes. This study overcame these shortcomings of the recent studies through restoring the formerly developed simulation model to mimic the materials management system actually used by a contractor, and running this system by plugging in realistic input values associated with both those cost components and organizational changes.

The paper reveals that while fabricating rebar off site is more economical than fabricating it on site when the storage and waiting costs were taken into account in the current state of the construction industry, and the lowest total cost of rebar can be achieved by implementing organizational changes in the on‐site fabrication practice.

This paper is a very useful source of information for practitioners and researchers because it indicates that off‐site fabrication practice is only beneficial to builders if they have the ability to exploit it, and if the cultural and business environment enables that exploitation.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an analytical decision-support model and a procedure that will help project management team to measure project scope definition, for completeness. The procedure is different from previous studies because the measurement of scope definition completeness accounts for differences in stakeholders’ interest and importance on project.

Data collection and analysis was based on semi-structured interviews in three steps with a total of 46 respondents. The first step identified stakeholders with an interest in public building projects while the second step identified the scope elements that serve as input to defining the project scope as well as elements that each stakeholder should be involved when measuring project scope definition, for completeness. In the third step, AHP was used to identify and prioritise the contributions required from various stakeholders when measuring scope definition completeness for 42 scope elements.

An evaluation framework to measure project scope definition completeness for public building projects in Saudi Arabia based on the input of stakeholders in accordance to their importance weights.

The prioritised weights of stakeholders’ importance in each element can be used by project managers and decision makers to reduce inefficiency and waste of time in the project scope definition process when evaluating scope definition for completeness.

Business Process Management (BPM) has become increasingly common among organizations in different industries. There is very limited research on the application of BPM in the MENA region and particularly in Saudi Arabia. The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical maturity assessment for selected Saudi Arabian organizations from broad range of industries. Findings showed that there is notable variability of BPM perception within the functional groups of the sample organizations. Organizations with holistic business strategy and resilient change management procedures showed more adherence to BPM practices than those with functionally driven or ad-hoc BPM initiatives.

In this empirical study, structured interviews were undertaken with selected business functions owners from ten Saudi organizations. All selected organizations resides in the city of Riyadh with most of them having local and regional branches. The selection of the organization followed non-probability sampling technique whereby the selected organizations were those seemed easy to access and showed willingness to participate in the research. The sample organizations included different types of businesses in different industries. Even though the purpose of the study is not applicable to a particular industry type or sector, variety of business domains and variability in organizations size were considered in the selection process. Table 1 shows an overview of the organization business sector.

This research investigates the current status of BPM implementation among Saudi Arabian organizations. Although there is positive favour towards BPM concepts among Saudi organizations, it seems that the practical understanding of BPM is yet to be matured. One of the noticed findings from the survey is the apparent sharp disjoint between information technology (IT) and business strategy. This segregation, from a BPM perspective, created two variants of BPM understanding; a business variant related to designing and managing business operations, and the IT one which focusses on configuring and installing BPM systems. There is a lack of a holistic view of business processes and its associated activities within an organization. Most surveyed organizations have either no clear business strategy or it is too complicated the thing that make it difficult to integrate it with BPM initiatives. Some organizations have no defined process owners for their main core business processes neither there are measurable goals for their performance. Their main BPM endeavour is mainly focused on the process activities rather than the process output and performance.

This is the first research paper that provides empirical research on the status of BPM in the MENA region and particularly in Saudi Arabia.

This paper aims to compare and analyse the aspects of Shariah screening methodologies within the selected Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as well as comparing the methodologies with the USA, and to examine how Shariah screening methodologies affect financing and investing activities of a firm.

Shariah screening methodologies within the selected GCC countries and between the GCC countries and the USA are compared on the basis of the data collected from secondary sources.

Design, qualification and Shariah governance set the Shariah screening methodologies within the GCC countries apart. Feasibility, duration, economic viability and funds required differentiate these Shariah screening methodologies between the GCC countries and the USA. Shariah screening methodologies implied in the USA is more stringent than in the GCC countries.

The suggestions in this study include using a longer research timeline, examining many more number of countries’ Shariah screening methodologies and exploring other types of Shariah screening methodologies.

The possibility of generalising the implementation of strict and uniform Shariah screening methodologies across all the country-specific Shariah indices amongst Muslim nations, globally, is likely to benefit all the Muslim countries, by strengthening the understanding, interaction and economic co-operation amongst these countries.

People’s needs can be tended to if Maqasid Al-Shariah (objectives of Shariah) is achieved through flexibility, dynamism and creativity within the social policy.

Aspects of Shariah screening methodologies are compared and contrasted within the selected GCC countries as well as between the GCC countries and the United States and the role of Shariah screening methodologies is examined in order to determine the extent of what is Shariah-Compliant and what is Non-Shariah Compliant for a firm.