Saudi Arabia

Introduction

One of the biggest challenges of the modern business era is the retention of a talented and skilled workforce for business organizations. Business organizations are required to employ a dynamic strategy to respond to the needs and aspirations of their workforce. A smart, well designed employee development program can benefit a business organization to great extent in this regard. Prior research indicates that employee development program is linked to higher levels of performance and output. It can create a reservoir of knowledge which can enable business organizations to do better than their competitors.

The aim of the proposed dissertation would be to investigate employees’ development plan at ‘Saudi Aramco’ operating in the Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco is the state-owned oil company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is also a fully integrated, global petroleum and chemicals company. It is a world leader in exploration, production, refining, distribution, shipping and marketing petroleum products with operating in various parts of the world. The company manages the world’s largest proven conventional crude oil reserves of 259.7 billion barrels. Its average daily crude production in 2011 was 9.1 million barrels per day (bpd). It also has stewardship over the world’s fourth-largest natural gas reserves of 282.6 trillion standard cubic feet. The company’s headquarters is in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Its subsidiaries and offices p across the Kingdom. The company also maintains offices in North America, Europe and Asia. Like any major multinational firm, Saudi Aramco has a diverse workforce belonging to various nationalities. The company has more than 56,000 employees from 70 nations; around 7500 of those are expatriates (Saudi Aramco, 2012). The diverse workforce present in the organization needs to be managed in an efficient and effective manner.

The dissertation will try to identify the importance of ‘employees development plan’, investigate the current practices of the company’s employees development plan, evaluate its effectiveness, and identify common obstacles for employees development plan at the company. The dissertation will also propose some recommendations based on its findings for creating a viable employees development program. The dissertation will be divided into five chapters.

The first chapter will be comprised of the introduction, overview of the research, background, and research objectives. The second chapter will detail the research methodology. The third chapter will present a literature review and theoretical background of the research. Fourth chapter will present the findings and analyze the data. Finally, chapter five will present the results and conclusions of the research.

Research Objectives

1. Investigate to what extent does the company care for its employees through its employees development plan.
2. Identify the significance of employees development plan.
3. Investigate practices of employees development plan.
4. Evaluate the effectiveness of employees development.
5. Identify most common barriers for employees development plan.

Research Questions

1. What is the employees’ attitude towards the company regarding its employees’ development plan?
2. How employees’ development plan benefits the objectives and goals of the company?
3. What is the significance of employees’ development plan for both the company and its employees?
4. To what extent do the employees consider the employees’ development plan at the company efficient?
5. What are the common barriers associated with the employees’ development plan at the company?

Literature Review

Definition of employee development plan

Employee development plan has been defined as a set of planned efforts by an organization which facilitates the learning and acquaintance of knowledge, specific skills and behaviors for its employees; all of which are essential for them to be successful in their current jobs (Goldstein, 1993). Dotta (2009) defines it as a “sequence of concurrent activities, initiatives and programs that an organization is involved with to maintain, improve and enhance the skills, capabilities and performance levels of its workforce and other staff members”. Employee development plan encapsulates various individual development plans. According to Department of Defense of USA (2006), an individual employee development plan is “a tailored written plan developed by the supervisor and employee outlining the employee’s developmental objectives and the developmental activity for achieving these objectives. The purpose of an employee development plan is to increase the current proficiency, development, and progression of the employee through a systematic development plan”.

Based on aforementioned definitions, several important points can be stated:

1. Employees’ development plan is aimed at enhancing the capabilities and competencies of an organization’s workforce.
2. Employees’ development plan is designed according to training and development need analysis and employee-supervisor negotiation; both of which are governed by organizational goals and objectives.
3. Employees’ development plan is also crucial for the progression of a career path. Indeed employees development plan and career path complement each other. Although it is not necessary that an employee development plan is linked to specific positions; it is common for organizations to train and develop their employees to occupy critical positions in future.
4. Employees’ development plan first identifies the developmental objectives of an organization’s workforce.

These objectives form the basis of several developmental activities designed to achieve these objectives. It identifies why, what and how to enhance the capabilities and competencies of employees.

Significance of employee development plan

In today’s business environment, which is characterized as multi-faced, highly complex, extremely competitive, and dynamic, organizations are required to be very flexible and adaptable in order to survive and succeed. Employee development, a practice that seeks to assist organisations in meeting their business goals through continuous learning and development (Harisson, 2009) is a critical element for achieving that flexibility and adaptability. So much that often human resource development personnel are qualified as ‘agents of change’ (Harisson, 2009). It is only through continuous, effective learning and development of employees that modern day organizations can acquire the essential competencies to adapt to a new conjuncture.

Best Practices in Employee Development Plan

Numerous studies have recommended several successful approaches towards employee development programs. There is a general consensus among researchers regarding the foremost need for an organization to conduct an analysis of its existing needs and requirements (Jacobs and Jones, 1995; Clegg et al, 2005). According to Jacobs, (1995) an employee development can be rendered meaningless if it does not respond to the organizational needs. Existing needs and requirements can be identified through an effective market analysis, analysis of existing and future labor trends. (Clegg et al, 2005).

Apart from the needs’ assessment, several best practices have been identified by human resource practitioners and researchers. A survey of best practices of 71 companies practicing employee development activities identified three underlying factors important for an effective employee development plan. These are: (1) individual development plans should be developed for key and high potential employees (2) the individual development plans and practices should be strictly aligned with organizational strategies and goals, and (3) the entire workforce should be facilitated for its progression through the developmental process (Reynolds, 2005). Another study prepared by LSA Global (2008) reveals that an effective employee development plan should share the following characteristics:

1. Strategy driven: employee development plans should be linked with business strategy
2. Positive cost/benefit ratio: return on investment of employee development plan should be ensured
3. Employee development plan should be supported by key strategies, systems, structures, policies, and practices.
4.  It should be driven through various channels apart from formal training.
5. Employees’ abilities should be maximized through shared ownership of development plans
6. Learning by doing: “real” tasks and on-the-job projects within training environment should be offered
7. Knowledge and skills acquired should be transferred back to the job:
8. Development plan should be linked to other people-related programs (for instance they should be conducted by line managers).
9. Continuous learning process

Rationale for the Current Research

Although there is a large array of literature on human resource development, practitioners often come under criticism for doing very little to evaluate the learning and development solutions that have been designed to deliver whereby significant and often scarce resources are allocated blindly in development plans that are considered to be effective (Harisson, 2005). When undergoing financial stress, organizations often downsize human resource development budgets. Human resource development personnel undergo tight scrutiny in justifying their expenditures and are required to prove the effectiveness of their employee development plans. Thus evaluation of employee development plan is a viable solution.

The importance of evaluation in further signified as the learning and development theory and practices in the modern day is undergoing a considerable change in order to keep up with new circumstantial requirements. In fact, one of the major changes occurring nowadays and in the upcoming years is the organizational changes driven by ‘higher integration between coaching, organisational development (OD) and performance management’ (CIPD survey, 2010: pg.6). Similarly, Sloman (2007) made several important propositions regarding the ongoing change in the employee development practices and approaches (see appendix 1). The shift in the learning and development approach and employee development practices signifies the importance of evaluating the current practices of an organization to see whether they are abreast with the prevailing best practices.

Additionally, employee development approaches and practices of the oil and gas rich Middle Eastern countries and the Gulf Nations is an under-researched area in HRM literature. Moreover, the available literature regarding employee development practices generalizes the Middle East and the Arab World rather than addressing individual countries or companies (Harry, 2007). The existing gap in the literature pays way for the current proposed study to evaluate the employee development plan at Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia.

Research Methods and Approach

Research Philosophy

Identifying a research philosophy is imperative for designing a viable research method as it determines the manner in which information regarding a research problem/question is collected, evaluated and applied. Researcher have identified mainly three research philosophies namely positivist and interpretivist and realist (Galliers, 1991).

A positivist research philosophy perceives reality as a constant phenomenon; something that can be perceived objectively (Levin, 1988). It is a stance of a natural scientist. According to Hirschheim (1985 p.33), “positivism has a long and rich historical tradition. It is so embedded in our society that knowledge claims not grounded in positivist thoughts are simply dismissed as ascientific and therefore invalid”. Interpretivism, on the other hand, seeks to understand reality from a subjective perception in order to make sense of motives, actions and intentions of those that they study. They emphasize the social construct of the reality (Husserl, 1965). Interpretivists contend that reality and its perceptions can be better understood by placing people in their social contexts (Hussey and Hussey, 1997). Realists believe that the existence of reality is independent of human thoughts, emotions and beliefs.

The research philosophy underpinning the proposed research is interpretivism. The research aims to evaluate the employee development plan of Maersk Oil through the perceptions, attitudes and beliefs of its employees, managers, and executives; thus it aims to gain subjective insights for evaluation.

Research Approach and Strategy

A research approach can be either deductive or inductive. The premise of a deductive approach is to test a hypothesis, explain casual relationships and enable generalization of a theory. On the other hand, inductive approach focuses upon building a theory by understanding a phenomenon or seeking an answer for a question. The approach adopted for the proposed research is inductive, as this study will look to identify the weaknesses or strengths or the current employee development plan at Saudi Aramco, and answer several proposed questions pertaining to its evaluation.

The research strategy for this study will be exploratory as it will aim at providing insights and understanding of the nature of the phenomenon under study in new light. Within the exploratory approach, this study will utilize both qualitative and quantitative data. On one hand, statistical analysis will carried out for the survey responses which will be distributed among the employees of a company, whilst interviews will be conducted with some senior officials and employees in order to gain insights regarding the evaluation of the employee development program. It will complement the understanding gained through the data analysis results.

Data Collection

According to Yin (1994), there are five ways of collecting data; these are “experimental, surveys, archival analysis, history, and case studies”. This research will utilize a survey strategy. According to Kelley et. al, (2003) “the survey strategy refers to the selection of a relatively large sample of people from a pre-determined population, followed by the collection of data from those individuals. The researcher therefore uses information from a sample of individuals to make some inference about the wider population”. For the purpose of evaluating the employee development plan, a questionnaire will be prepared, reviewed, and distributed to a random sample of Saudi Aramco employees. Survey strategy will allow the researcher to collect a large amount of data within in short time with minimum costs and efforts (Naresh et.al, 2003). Interviews, the qualitative form of collecting data within survey method, will be used concurrently. Semi-structured interviews will be designed and conducted of several senior officials at the company.

References

1. CIPD (2010), ‘Annual Survey Report : Learning and Talent Development’, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, {online}
   http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/BC060DD1-EEA7-4929-9142-1AD7333F95E7/0/5215_Learning_talent_development_survey_report.pdf (cited on 13th September, 2012)
2. Clegg ,S. et all, 2005: Managing Organizations: An introduction to Theory and Practice. Sage
3. Cohen N., 2002?Pressure on AP Moller to Be Open,” Australasian Business Intelligence, April 23,
4. Department of Defense of USA (2006) The individual development. {online} http://www.usuhs.mil/chr/idp.pdf (cited on 13th September, 2012)
5. Dotta, P.(2009) ‘What Is an Employee Development Plan?’ {online}: http://www.ehow.com/about_5161579_employee-development-plan.html (cited on 13th September, 2012)
6. Goldstein I. L., 1993 “Training in Organizations” (3rd Ed.) Pacific Grove, California: Books Cole
7. Harrison, R. (2005) Learning and development. 4th ed. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
8. Harrison, R. (2009) Learning and development. 5th ed. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
9. Harry. W (2007) Employment Creation and Localization. The crucial human resource issue for GCC. Int Journal of Human Resource Management. Vol. 18, no.1, pp 132-146.
10. Husserl, E. (1965), Phenomenology and the crisis of philosophy, New York: Harper Torchbooks.
11. Hussey, J. & Hussey, R. (1997), Business Research: A practical guide for undergraduate and post-graduate students, London: MacMillan Press Ltd
12. Jacob, R L and Jones, M J. (1995) Structures on Job Training- Unleashing Expertise in the Work
13. Place. San Francisco. Berrett Koehler.
14. Kelley, K., Clark, B., Brown, V., and Sitzia, J (2003) Good practice in the conduct and reporting of survey research. Int. Journal for Quality in Health Care. Volume 15, Issue 3 Pp. 261-266.
15. Levin, D. M. (1988). The opening of vision: Nihilism and the postmodern situation.
16. London: Routledge.
17. LSA Global (2008) ‘Top 10 training best practices for effective learning and development programs’. {online} http://jobfunctions.bnet.com/abstract.aspx?docid=375846 (cited on 13th September, 2012)
18. Naresh,M. et.al.,(2003) Methodological issues in cross-cultural marketing research. International Marketing Review. 13 (5) 7-43
19. Reynolds, S.(2005) Training and development managers share best practices and courseware through LearnShare. Toledo Business Journal. 5(2) 155-163.
20. Saudi Aramco (2012) ‘About Us’ {online} http://www.saudiaramco.com/en/home.html (cited on 17th September, 2012).
21. Sloman, M. (2007) ‘The changing world of the trainer: emerging good practice’, Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.
22. Yin, R. K. (1994) Case Study Research. Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.

Marketing and sales strategy

There are very good prospects for Foreign companies who want to export their products to the Saudi Arabian market. However, there are certain marketing procedures and sales techniques which have to be observed in order to develop and sustain business relationships over a long period of time.

The Saudi market should be constantly reviewed for product adaptation and change. Exporters should ensure regular supplies as per specifications, at the specified time and place already agreed upon and at the stipulated prices.

• Any subsequent and sudden price changes, even pertaining to after-sales services, should be avoided
• Exporters’ contacts with importers in Saudi Arabia should be direct and regular.

Complete product lines, rather than single products, should be introduced into the Saudi market whenever possible in order to benefit from greater demand stimulation and cost reductions. Exporters are required to check with Saudi importers or directly with the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization, on the precise implementation of Saudi Arabian Standards pertaining to their exported products to the Kingdom. Saudi Standards can be purchased from SASO or the American National Standards Institute, ANSI (11 West 42nd Street, New York City, NY 10036, telephone number (212)642-4900 or fax number (212)302-1286).

• Exporters to Saudi Arabia should display their products regularly in the major commercial urban centers of the Kingdom.
• Necessary permission is obtained by writing or contacting directly the Director, Exhibitions Department, Ministry of Commerce.
• Efforts should be made to improve the appearance of exported commodities by means of attractive packaging.
• Products to be exported should be properly branded and labeled both in English and Arabic.

In the case of machinery and equipment; after-sales service, including warranties, maintenance and the provision of spare parts, should be prompt and efficient.

Unemployment, and challenges in Saudi Arabia Is it not strange to hear of the unemployment problem from the largest oil exporter in the world? The problem of unemployment in Saudi Arabia began to appear at the beginning of the last century. In 1975, “Saudization” was launched as a way of replacing expatriate with Saudi workers for localization jobs, but after 37 years of unemployment is still one of the important topics of concern to citizen. The causes of the problem are education system, labor system, companies and foreign workers. The first cause of the unemployment problem in Saudi Arabia is education system.

In fact, the education system is failing to equip young Saudis with the right skills and young Saudis are not studying the subjects the society needs. For example, about 80% of our college students graduate in history, geography, Arabic literature and Islamic studies and the remainder is for graduating in science, engineering or from the medical schools, which is not covered by labor market needs of these disciplines required. Indeed, there is mismatch between the number of graduates from public and higher education institutions and the needs of the labor market. That is one major reason for unemployment, but it is not the only one.

The second cause is labor system; it is very old and needs to be modified to cope with modern developments. It also has many gaps and it is very easy to exploit. For example, one of Saudization program tools, is to increase the proportion of Saudis workers by 5% per year, but after more than 37 in the program, some companies still have rates less than 10%. In addition, some companies recorded Saudis worker names as a placebo to increase the percentage of Saudization. In short, labor systems contributed significantly to the worsening unemployment problem in Saudi Arabia, which has become the most important causes.

The third cause is foreign workers. The foreign workers are cheaper and more qualified than Saudis worker, because of that many local companies and foreign investors do not want to hire Saudis. For example, many companies prefer foreign workers because of its low cost, work longer hours, and do not to ask some of the rights labor. In addition, the percentage of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia was about 31% of the total population of 27 million in 2010, and $ 29 billion were sent outside of Saudi Arabia that same year.

Therefore, Saudi Arabia is dependent on foreign workers as a labor force because they will work cheaper and do work Saudis do not want to do much like the Mexican in the U. S. In conclusion, unemployment of Saudi youth is increasing. Many companies and foreign investors do not want to hire Saudis. Local companies and government departments can cater to only so many. Foreign workers convert billions of dollars annually. The causes of the problem are education system, labor system, and foreign workers. Lastly, in Saudi Arabia we are faced with issues of foreign workers that seem never ending.

Introduction

According to the World Trade Organisation, Saudi Arabia is a developing country and is part of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Due to increased tourism, religious trips, foreign workers, recent food scares, and a high reliance on imported food, the need has arisen for the establishment of a common market and common approach to food control throughout the region.

Food Control Management

The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (2006) defines food control management as “the continuous process of planning, organising, monitoring, coordinating, and communicating, in an integrated way, a broad range of risk-based decisions and actions to ensure the safety and quality of domestically produced, imported and exported food for national consumers and export markets as appropriate. Food control management covers the various policy and operational responsibilities of competent government authorities responsible for food control.”

The main food control management board within Saudi Arabia is the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA). According to the SFDA, their purpose is to regulate, administer, and control all imported and local foods. The SFDA is managed by a Board of Directors that includes ministers from Health, Interior, Rural Affairs, and Agriculture, just to name a few. The Authority is also responsible for all food safety licensing procedures and grants. The SFDA has proposed a two-phased approach to food control management within Saudi Arabia, of which the first phase is set to take place over a five-year period (SFDA, 2011).

Whilst the SFDA seems to have a clear plan on how to address food control management within Saudi Arabia, is seems the actual establishment and fulfilment of food control management policies and procedures lies with the Saudi Arabia Standards Organisation (SASO) and can p across many committees, agencies, and administrators, at both federal and local levels (FAO, 2005). This often results in duplication and overlapping of duties, lack of coordination, and information stagnation across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Food Legislation

As Saudi Arabia is a member of both the World Trade Organisation and Codex Alimentarius, it has the responsibility of abiding by Codex standards. Whilst some implementation of these standards has taken place within Saudi Arabia, there still exists a disparity of food control procedures within the region. This can largely be attributed to the reasons mentioned above: lack of coordination and information, etc.

In recent years Saudi Arabia has worked hard to ratify new food safety laws that cover all foods. There has also been much effort to integrate and coordinate between different agencies both nationally and internationally. For instance, because Saudi Arabia imports a large amount of food products from the United States, in recent years the two countries have worked closely together to establish strict import guidelines and procedures. These guidelines and procedures cover anything from dairy products, eggs, fruits and vegetables, processed foods, to forest products and plants (GAIN, 2009).

Recently, SASO has also helped to establish food-labelling requirements for all food and food products sold in Saudi Arabia. Typically food and food products require the following before they can be sold in the Kingdom: certificate of origin, bill of lading, or steamship certificate, insurance certificate and packing list, food manufacturer’s ingredients certificate, consumer protection certificate, and a price list, just to name a few. There are also certain additional requirements for items such as meat, seeds, grains, fruits and vegetables, and livestock (Saudi Network, 2011).

Food Inspection and Audit

Food inspection and audit is defined as “the examination of domestically produced or imported food to ensure that it is handled, stored, manufactured, processed, transported, prepared, served and sold in accordance with the requirements of national laws and regulations, thus protecting the health and well-being of consumers” (FAO, 2006).

Within Saudi Arabia, food inspection consists mainly of laboratory examination and actual physical investigation of the end product, which is carried out by various authorities. Although the Department of Environmental Foods and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) standards of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) have been introduced within Saudi Arabia, the implementation of such standards is slow. Hygiene requisites are conducted on a random basis through visual inspection of domestic products. More often than not, food inspection officials can be pacified with the presentation of health certificates and facility licenses (Al-Kandari and Jukes, 2009).

As mentioned above, Saudi Arabia and the entire GCC region is highly reliant on imported foods. This reliance has brought about the need for increased control and inspection of such foods; however, there has been little increase in the workforce available for such inspections. This results in a large amount of imports going uninspected. Within Saudi Arabia there is also a lack of concise standards around food sampling procedures. This means that food inspection officials are unclear on when to take samples, how many samples to take, and exactly what types of foods need to be sampled. Each of these issues has led to inadequate food inspection and audit systems within Saudi Arabia.

Official Food Control Laboratories

Official food control laboratories have the responsibility of identifying food contaminants and their sources, whether human or food. These laboratories also provide support for law enforcement, food safety and quality policies and standards (FAO, 2006).

Whilst food control laboratories in Saudi Arabia are well equipped and supplied, there exist three main issues concerning such laboratories: inadequately trained analysts, inadequate quality assurance systems, and an overall lack of international laboratory accreditation bodies (Schillhorn van Veen, 2005). The country has done much to address the issue of laboratory analyst training. It has embarked upon a rigorous training program for analysts focusing on imported foods. This will help to improve the knowledge and skills of analysts working in laboratories within Saudi Arabia.

Whilst inadequate quality assurance systems and lack of accreditation continues to be a problem in Saudi Arabia, the county is trying to learn from its UAE neighbours. The UAE has already received ISO accreditation for three of its food control laboratories and continues to implement quality assurance systems across the whole of the country. Saudi Arabia is looking to follow the UAE’s lead in this area and is seeking ISO accreditation of its own.

In an effort to improve its laboratory food control systems and standards, Saudi Arabia, along with five other countries located in the Middle East and Northern Africa, formed an alliance with the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) with the intention of improving food and drug laboratory standards and testing systems (Ammari, 2010). Through this alliance the SFDA has agreed to work closely with the USP in improving its food control laboratories. This agreement means that laboratories located in Saudi Arabia will send test results and details to the USP in order to receive feedback and recommendations for improvement.

Food Safety and Quality Information

As the general economic landscape of Saudi Arabia is changing, so is its food culture. An increase in gross income per capita means that more Saudis are eating out. This has led to an increase in the consumption of processed foods, which in turn leads to an increase in illness due to contaminated foods. As mentioned above, over 30% of food workers in the GCC region are of foreign decent (Al-Kandari and Jukes, 2009). Many of these workers neither read nor speak Arabic or English. This has caused a major problem regarding food handling and preparation. Therefore, there exists a great need for information, education, and communication regarding food safety and quality. To this end, the SFDA has created a website to help educate and provide information to Saudis concerning food safety and quality. The website provides up-to-date, reliable information that is easily accessible to all of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia Food Control Diagram

Conclusion

Saudi Arabia is a quickly developing nation, however, with this development has also come problems. The food control systems within the Kingdom can be described as substandard and inadequate. Whilst many improvements have been made, Saudi Arabia still has a long way to go in this particular area. The Kingdom’s recent efforts to implement and improve food safety and quality standards, unify all involved parties, and form alliances with other more successful countries is commendable. These efforts need to continue and increase within the Kingdom in order for it to receive accreditation for its food control systems and to ensure the safety of its citizens.

References:

(2005) National Food Safety Systems in the Near East – A Situational Analysis [online] Available at: ftp://ftp.fao.org/es/esn/food/meetings/NE_wp3_en.pdf [Accessed 04 February 2011]

(2009) Department of Environmental Foods and Rural Affairs [online] Available at: www.defra.gov.uk [Accessed 03 February 2011]

(2009) GAIN Report [online] Available at: www.chilealimentos.com/medios/Servicios/Normas_internacionales/Norma_otros_paises/Normativa_Arabia_SAudita/Food_and_Agricultural_Import_Regulations_and_Standards_Certification_Arabia_saudita_USDA.pdf [Accessed 04 February 2011]

(2011) Food and Agricultural Organisation [online] Available at: www.fao.org [Accessed 03 February 2011]

(2011) Saudi Arabia Standards Organization [online] Available at: www.saso.org.sa [Accessed 04 February 2011]

(2011) Saudi Food and Drug Authority [online] Available at: www.sfda.gov.sa/En/Home/ [Accessed 03 February 2011]

(2011) The Saudi Network [online] Available at: www.The-Saudi.Net [Accessed 04 February 2011]

Al-Kandari, D., and Jukes, D.J. (2009) “A situation analysis of the food control systems in Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.” Food Control 20,12 1112-1118.

Ammari, S. (2010) “Government drug control laboratories in Middle East and North Africa join USP to launch quality improvement network.’ AME Info, October 2010.

Schillhorn van Veen, T. (2005) “International trade and food safety in developing countries.” Food Control 16,6 491-496.