Cement & material sector is instrumental in infrastructural development of any economy. The same holds about Saudi cement sector which has contributed substantially to the economic and construc-tion boom in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The cement sector of KSA holds the highest place among other GCC countries. Though, during the last couple of years, the sector seems to be grap-pled with capacity and weighted down due to certain reasons. Nevertheless, almost all of the cement companies in KSA are underplaying their actual capacities. Still, plenty of untapped growth oppor-tunities for cement sector are available in KSA and other GCC countries. Henceforth, considering the growth potential and taking cue from the current scenario of KSA cement sector, the current study endeavors to measure the efficiency of listed cement companies in KSA. The study endeavors to be engrossed in identifying a set of companies which plays on efficiency frontier. Therefore, the technical efficiency performance of fourteen listed cement companies in KSA was measured using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology. Two basic models of DEA methodology (i.e. CRS & VRS) were used to estimate the pure and technical efficiency of identified DMUs over a pe-riod of four years from 2016 to 2019. The study reveals that over a period of four years and on an average efficiency scale, only 23% of the firms were purely technically efficient on a CRS scale, while 46% of the firms were technically efficient. Only 23% of the firms were scale and technically efficient. Though, companies in the sector have a vast potential to outperform on efficiency front. Yet, the overall efficiency level among Saudi cement companies are remained depressing. Moreo-ver, the study has noticed that the companies which are inefficient did not have a considerable dis-tance from the efficiency frontier. The study also provided significant insights on the input factors causing inefficiency and suggestion to achieve the total technical efficiency. Furthermore, the effi-ciency analysis also provided benchmarking firms, which are efficient under several criteria for oth-ers to imitate their best practices for becoming a significant player on efficiency frontier.

In this competitive environment for the survival of the organization, it is essential to retain competent workforce, and keep them well aligned with organizational objectives. Turnover of employees creates panic situation and unnecessary burden of high recruitment cost. The present study identifies the relationship between job embeddedness and turnover intention. The survey of 119 employees was conducted in Saudi Arabia. The study found no significant relationship between job embeddedness and turnover intention. Negative correlation was found between turnover intention with respect to age and experience of employees. It clearly states that as the employees gain experience, their turnover intent decreases. Age is also an important factor of turnover intention. It was found that older employees showed less turnover intent in comparison to younger employees. The results will provide insights to organization for making effective strategies to keep employees embedded with their jobs and help in reducing turnover intent and actual turnover.

Online grocery shopping has emerged as a prominent choice, significantly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study delves into the factors impacting customer satisfaction in the realm of online grocery shopping, focusing on the mediating influence of perceived risk. The research, conducted with a sample size of 462, employed a convenience sampling technique for data collection. The data analysis was performed using Excel, SPSS, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) through AMOS. The findings reveal that perceived product quality plays a pivotal role in positively and significantly influencing customer satisfaction within the online grocery shopping sphere. Conversely, perceived convenience, while positively correlated, exhibits insignificance in impacting customer satisfaction. Furthermore, this study highlights the existence of full mediation between perceived convenience and customer satisfaction, mediated by a variable, as evidenced by the non-zero values in the range of .040 to .105. This research underscores the importance for businesses engaged in online grocery retail to prioritize convenience as an essential element to enhance customer satisfaction.

A vibrant banking sector remains instrumental to the stability of every economy. Islamic banks are now considered as iris spuria of the banking industry. Countries such as Saudi Arabia have been hailed as the Islamic banking basin. Nevertheless, how well is this sector growing and performing in Saudi Arabia itself? This motivates us to carry out this study. The current study's key objective was to measure Sharia-compliant banks' efficiency on the CAMEL Framework, a commonly accepted framework for banks' financial health. CAMEL is fundamentally an acronym for which the first letter from the five primary segments of a bank operation is jumbled, i.e. “|C|apital adequacy, |A|sset quality, |M|anagement quality, |E|arnings ability and |L|iquidity”. The system is popularly being used for determining the financial soundness and stability of banks. The current study employs this framework to judge the financial performance of four fully Sharia compliant banks or Islamic banks in Saudi Arabia. The publicly accessible audited data of these banks over ten years was taken for analysis. From the final results of the analysis, it is found that all the banks performed stupendously well on the CAMEL framework. AlRajhi Bank was rated number one of all four Sharia-compliant banks. However other three banks namely Alinma Bank, AlBilad Bank, and Aljazeera bank have also done well and overachieved all the criterion of CAMEL's ranking. However, the study proposes a comparison of Sharia-compliant banks with conventional commercial banks. Moreover, it recommended that more banks should engage in offerings of Sharia based products.

This paper endeavors to investigate whether the Islamic financial system can tackle the issue of financial exclusion in India or not. The present study has made an earnest attempt to explore the discriminating factors behind choosing of the institutes (conventional or Islamic), in decreasing order of their importance. Data for the study are collected from 635 respondents, who are customers of Islamic and traditional financial institutes. The area selected for the survey is the state of Kerala, which is considered as the Islamic finance hub in India. The data collected are analyzed by employing the discriminant analysis along with drawing inferences from descriptive statistics. The study finds various factors in descending order of their importance. The factors are type of employment, religion (Muslim/Non-Muslim), income and gender. These are discriminating factors for choosing particular institutes (conventional or Islamic). The study shows that Islamic finance system was chosen by those, particularly Muslims, who did not have good employment and sufficient income. Hence, it is recommended that extensive formal beginning of Islamic finance in India, will lead to higher financial inclusion, since generally the financially excluded individuals belong to the said segments of the society, furthermore, Islamic finance is highly fascinated by the mentioned groups, the planners should think accordingly. The study is novel in its’ approach as it evidently illustrates that Islamic financial system is chosen by those, who do not have good employment, Muslims and those who earn less. Thus, there should be extensive formal commencement of Islamic finance in India to kick off higher financial inclusion.

This study aims to investigate the factors that influence consumer satisfaction with e-grocery shopping. Moreover, it also delves into factors that motivate shoppers to buy groceries from online retailers rather than conventional stores. A primary survey was administered to collect data. Initially, 500 questionnaires were circulated to respondents. People who have ordered groceries from online sites were the expected respondents. In this study, convenience sampling was used, and data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings affirmed the relationship between consumer satisfaction and perceived convenience, risk factors, perceived product quality, and time value. However, perceived value and value for the time have a little significant effect on consumer satisfaction. There have been relatively few academic studies that look at the variables that influence customer satisfaction when shopping for groceries online. Most of the studies look at the variables that influence consumer satisfaction in the life insurance and financial services industries. By analyzing the data from Delhi and the Nation Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi, this research aims to bridge this gap available in the literature.