Pagliari, RomanoRashid, HamadAlharthy, Abdullah H.2019-07-112019-07-112017-12http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/14329The expanding pace of economic turbulence and increasing complexity of managing large organisations present challenges for business leaders in both developed and developing countries’ economies. This is particularly so for those that have been significantly dependant on oil and gas such as Saudi Arabia (KSA) where there is now a pressing need to diversify due to price volatility and the increased adoption of renewable sources of energy. Given the need for oil-dependent economies to diversify, greater attention needs to be focused on the performance of their non-oil and gas sectors. Using KSA as a case study, this research aims to develop a framework to facilitate effective strategy implementation through an exploration of aspects that improve strategy execution in the non-oil and gas sector. After exploring the process of strategy implementation through use of the grounded theory method, data was collected from semi-structured interviews and focus groups with senior management. The result of strategy formulation and implementation analysis identified 26 factors that affect strategy implementation in the Saudi non-oil and gas industry. The most obvious factors are: effective leadership style, a unified view of benefits realisation management, prioritising work activities, employee involvement and ownership (especially talent), efficiency in the allocation of resources, transparency and traceability of monitoring and control, the Saudi macro and micro environment, and the degree of communicational formality and frequency. This research makes an important contribution through the creation of a new theoretical framework titled ‘SIMPLE’, which functions as a pre-strategy execution checklist tool to achieve implementation success. Implementation success has a greater chance of being achieved if organisations are considered holistically and that there is sufficient appreciation of the social and human aspects, the need for communication, the environmental and cultural setting, as well as the organisation’s readiness for strategy implementation.en© Cranfield University, 2015. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder.Strategy implementationstrategic factorssocial setting of strategy executionThesis