Quality Management: Standards and Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

The current industrial landscape aims to achieve new goals in the forthcoming years. With the emergence of Industry 4.0, Industry 5.0, and related concepts, industrial companies seem to be adopting a new approach to produce fast, customized sustainable materials whilst simultaneously addressing the highest-quality standards. Furthermore, companies should be working to address the requirements from different stakeholders which increase the complexity of an ever-turbulent context. Hence, with the emergence of this new superb technological paradigm, a new management approach should be implemented too (or at least the traditional management approach should be dissected and updated). Simultaneously, sustainable development addresses humanity’s aspiration for a better life while observing the limitations imposed by nature. In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly approved the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the aim to foster the organizational operationalization and integration of sustainability and, therefore, to address the current and forthcoming stakeholder needs and ensure a better and sustainable future for all, balancing the economic, social, and environmental development.

This Special Issue aims to address the challenges and explore synergies of two related concepts: quality management and sustainability. Additionally, this Special Issue intends to promote the discussion on which strategies are the most suitable to cope with these new challenges in the scope of the ISO standards dissecting (as examples) the desirable profile (skills and competencies) of the Sustainability Management Leader of the 21st Century, the role of the integration phenomenon, knowledge management and sustainability, innovation and sustainability concepts, risk-based thinking, the standards diffusion and their relationship with supply chain management and sustainability.

Hence, this Special Issue asks for relevant research supported by the soundest research methods and review papers in topics that include but are not limited to the following:

• Sustainable standardized management systems
• Management systems and the SDGs
• Sustainable standardized integrated management systems
• Standardized management systems and sustainability
• Sustainability and management system performance
• Sustainable management systems and forthcoming challenges
• Sustainable risk-based thinking
• Sustainable management systems and supply chain management (SCM)
• Sustainable industry 4.0
• Sustainable industry 5.0
• Sustainability and integrated management systems (IMSs) 4.0
• Quality management 4.0
• The profile of the sustainability leader team in the 21st century
• Standardized management systems and social responsibility
• New tools and methods to improve sustainable IMSs’ effectiveness and efficiency

Thank you so much in advance for your submissions.

Dr. José Pedro Teixeira Domingues
Dr. Paulo Sampaio
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• standards
• management systems
• quality management
• integrated management
• sustainability
• sustainable management