Creativity and innovation in Saudi Arabia: An overview

Abstract

The concepts of creativity and innovation are often used interchangeably in the literature. However, some authors may discriminate between the two concepts. Such authors usually consider creativity as an internal and rational process of creating new ideas, while innovation refers to the implementation of such ideas. As the global forces become increasingly inevitable, many business experts are predicting that workforce creativity and innovation will be the most important factors in establishing and maintaining a competitive advantage. Because of its theoretical and practical significance, how to foster innovation in organizations has become a fast-growing research area in the field of management. According to the global innovation index Saudi Arabia was ranked at 41 ahead of Italy, PolaneZ Turkey and China. However, its innovation output index was low at ‘98’ place. The purpose of this conceptual-paper is to examine the current efforts towards organizational creativity and innovation particularly in the context of Arab world especially Saudi industry. This theoretical paper also aims to ident6 and comprehend the barriers towards creativity and innovation in terms of organizational effectiveness. This paper has found that Saudi Arabia is doing well in attracting and retaining innovation factors (such as human skills, government support and investment in R&D, and increasingly knowledge through education-industry linkages). Still, there is a need for combination of right policies and good human capital to improve ‘creative outcomes’

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