International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically review some of the existing literature relevant to Saudi Arabia's quest for development in order to build the argument for the viability of entrepreneurship to Saudi Arabia's development process.

Design/methodology/approach – The method employed in this study is a combination of critical examination of existing literature and the authors' personal experience with the developmental and entrepreneurial process.

Findings – The successive five-year developmental plans failed to include an entrepreneurship sector, thus failing to address the most pressing unemployment problem facing the economy.

Research limitations/implications – The authors critically examined the issue of Saudi Arabia's economic development using secondary data coupled with field experience of the authors. This is a case study, so it did not employ any empirical analysis.

Practical implications – The findings of this paper will reinforce the importance of entrepreneurship as a diversification strategy among the policy-making bodies in Saudi Arabia. Although Saudi Arabia advocates the policy of development maintaining Islamic values, the paper makes a case that such Islamic values should be implemented fully to achieve socio-economic justice.

Originality/value – The paper comprises derived research based on country analysis coupled with the authors' practical experience with Saudi Arabia's economic development and entrepreneurial activities. It is original in the sense that the authors provide reasoned interpretations of Saudi Arabia's economic development and the role that an entrepreneurial sector can play in achieving balanced socio-economic justice.