Building Strategic Competency for Six-Sigma Implementation: A Model for Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Ever since Saudi Arabia became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2002, Saudi companies had to take quality seriously because of increased international competition. In recent years six-sigma approach is being gradually adopted in some companies to improve quality and competitiveness. In this paper we develop a model that addresses the organizational and workforce competency of the six-sigma adopters in Saudi Arabia and provide a roadmap for its successful adoption. Our qualitative study reveals that leadership support for strategy and sustainable promotion of six-sigma implementation in Saudi Arabia is lacking, expatriate quality professionals have to convince management about any six-sigma project they want to initiate. From design perspective management needs to focus on SIPOC, training programs, reward system, internal marketing, and building the IT infrastructure for sixsigma. However, there are many positives in support six-sigma in Saudi Arabia, such as, Saudi government’s Vision 2030 for general economic development, availability of trained expatriate quality professionals, Saudi managements proclivity for immediate results which is a hallmark of six-sigma, strong national IT infrastructure, just to name a few. The paper concludes with a prescription on building competency for six-sigma in Saudi Arabia.