This week, Mondelēz International appointed Ziad Abla as Managing Director of its Saudi Arabia operations.
On the surface, it’s an executive move.
In reality, it’s a CX strategy signal.
What Does a Market Leadership Appointment Reveal About CX Strategy in Saudi Arabia?
You walk into a Jeddah grocery store on a Thursday evening. Shelves are full. Promotions feel local, not imported. Delivery vans move fast. The brand experience feels… intentional.
That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when leadership, supply chains, data, and customer experience finally align.
On February 16, 2026, Mondelēz International announced the appointment of Ziad Abla as Managing Director of its Saudi Arabia operations. On paper, it looks like a senior leadership move. In practice, it’s a CX and EX strategy signal—and a timely one.
For CX, EX, and transformation leaders navigating fragmented journeys, siloed teams, and uneven AI maturity, this appointment offers a real-world blueprint.
Mondelēz International: Why Do Leadership Appointments Matter for Customer Experience?
Leadership shapes CX outcomes by deciding where investments, incentives, and accountability live.
Without aligned leadership, CX strategies stall at dashboards and pilots.
In high-growth markets like Saudi Arabia, leadership decisions determine whether CX becomes a growth engine—or a reporting function.
Mondelēz is reinforcing Saudi Arabia as a priority CX market, not just a sales territory.
What Makes Saudi Arabia a High-Stakes CX Market?
Saudi Arabia combines scale, speed, and rising expectations.
Consumers expect global quality with local relevance—delivered fast.
Three forces converge here:
- Rapid digital adoption across retail and commerce
- Government-backed transformation via Saudi Vision 2030
- A young, brand-aware population demanding consistency across channels
For CX leaders, this creates pressure on journey orchestration, supply agility, and localized experience design.
What Problem Is Mondelēz Solving With This Appointment?
Fragmentation between growth ambition and execution capability.
That gap kills CX at scale.
Mondelēz’s announcement highlights recurring enterprise challenges:
- Growth markets outpacing operating models
- CX and supply chain teams optimizing separately
- Digital commerce growing faster than governance
Ziad Abla’s mandate directly addresses these fault lines.
Who Is Ziad Abla—and Why Does His Background Matter?
He brings integrated commercial, digital, and supply chain leadership.
That combination is rare—and critical.
With over 25 years across emerging markets, Abla previously led Gulf & Developing Markets as a growth engine. His results included:
- Double-digit growth
- Market share gains
- Accelerated digital commerce
- Improved service levels across complex geographies
For CX leaders, this signals something important:
Experience scale requires operational fluency.
What CX Leaders Can Learn From Mondelēz’s Saudi Strategy
1. CX Starts With Organizational Design
Experience breaks when accountability fragments.
Abla’s role explicitly spans:
- Commercial strategy
- Supply chain performance
- Capability building
- Local empowerment
This mirrors a mature CX operating model where journeys cut across functions, not departments.
Key Insight:
If CX reports only to marketing, it will always underperform.
2. Supply Chain Is a CX Function
Customers experience reliability before they experience delight.
Mondelēz emphasizes:
- Agility
- Reliability
- End-to-end excellence
In emerging, fast-moving markets, availability is experience. Late deliveries, stockouts, or inconsistent quality erase brand equity fast.
CX leaders should ask:
Is supply chain measured on customer outcomes—or internal efficiency alone?
3. Local Empowerment Drives Emotional Loyalty
Global brands win locally when decision-making is local.
The announcement highlights:
- Saudi talent development
- Governance maturity
- Local capability building
This matters because emotionally resonant CX cannot be centrally scripted.
Local teams understand:
- Cultural rhythms
- Buying triggers
- Channel preferences
Empowered teams create relevance. Relevance builds trust.
What Framework Explains This Strategy Best?
The CX Growth Flywheel for Emerging Markets
Answer: Growth accelerates when leadership, operations, and experience reinforce each other.
The Flywheel:
- Vision clarity
Leadership defines growth through experience, not volume alone. - Integrated execution
Commercial, supply, and digital teams share outcomes. - Localized intelligence
Markets adapt journeys without waiting for HQ. - Operational excellence
Reliability becomes the baseline, not a differentiator. - Emotional resonance
Brands feel present, not imported.
Mondelēz’s Saudi move touches every stage of this flywheel.
Where CX Programs Usually Break—and How This Avoids It
Common Pitfalls CX Leaders Face
- CX teams own insights but not decisions
- AI tools deployed without process redesign
- Local markets constrained by global approvals
- Supply chain disconnected from experience metrics
Mondelēz’s approach counters these risks by embedding CX levers into the MD role itself.
That’s structural commitment—not performative CX.
How Does This Align With Digital and AI Maturity?
Digital commerce growth demands operational intelligence.
AI without governance creates chaos.
Abla’s prior focus on digital acceleration alongside execution discipline reflects a critical truth:
AI improves experience only when data, supply, and teams align.
For CX leaders struggling with AI pilots that don’t scale, this is the real lesson.
What This Means for CX Leaders in FMCG and Beyond
You don’t need to be in FMCG to apply this.
This strategy applies to:
- Retail
- Travel
- Banking
- Telecom
- Platforms expanding into emerging markets
The pattern holds:
CX scales when leadership owns the whole journey.
FAQ: CX Strategy, Leadership, and Emerging Markets
How does leadership impact customer experience outcomes?
Leadership defines priorities, incentives, and accountability. CX succeeds when leaders own cross-functional journeys.
Why is supply chain critical to CX in emerging markets?
Reliability and availability shape trust. Customers feel failures instantly in high-demand markets.
Can CX scale without local empowerment?
No. Centralized models struggle to create emotional relevance or adapt fast enough.
How does Vision 2030 influence CX strategies?
It raises expectations for localization, sustainability, talent development, and digital maturity.
What role does digital commerce play in CX growth?
Digital channels amplify both excellence and failure. They require tighter integration with operations.
Actionable Takeaways for CX & EX Leaders
- Redesign CX governance.
Ensure CX leaders influence supply, digital, and commercial decisions. - Tie experience metrics to operational KPIs.
Measure availability, speed, and reliability as CX outcomes. - Localize journey ownership.
Empower market teams to adapt without constant HQ approval. - Audit leadership mandates.
Check if CX accountability is symbolic or structural. - Integrate AI with execution.
Fix processes before scaling intelligence. - Build experience capability, not just tools.
Talent and culture drive consistency. - Anchor CX to national and cultural context.
Strategy must reflect local transformation agendas. - Treat leadership moves as CX signals.
Watch where companies place authority—it predicts experience maturity.
At CXQuest.com, we study CX where strategy meets execution.
Mondelēz’s Saudi leadership move isn’t just corporate news.
It’s a live case study in how experience-led growth actually scales.
