Special issue call for papers from International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management
Special issue call for papers from International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/ijqrm.htm
*Indexed in the Emerging Sources Citation Index and Scopus*
Guest Editor: Dr. Jitesh J. Thakkar
Submission deadline: July 1, 2019
Sustainability has become the most serious and important issue in achieving manufacturing and service competitiveness. Specifically, industry sectors in developing countries are less competitive in-terms of their productivity and quality of goods or services. The developing countries are experiencing unprecedented technological development in various fields like agriculture, industry, business or service sectors. However, these technological developments have caused some form of environmental degradation. It has also become imperative to evaluate the social impact of such technological advancements on various stake-holders like customers, employees, workers across the supply chain, and local communities.
The Standards Australia definition of quality is as follows (in quality management systems - Fundamentals and vocabulary SAI, 2000, p.8): quality (is the) degree to which a set of inherent characteristics (distinguishing features) fulfils requirements (need or expectation that is stated, generally implied or obligatory). The United Nations’ 1987 Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future noted that sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the well-being of future generations. There is an interesting link between these two definitions. The definition of quality is universal and hence it can be appropriately extended to improve the commitment and performance of the industries on sustainable practices.
During the last two decades, the industries have started integrating social and environmental issues in their business models and organisational processes (i.e. their strategy). There are well-defined measures to assess TBL (Triple Bottom Line) sustainability such as economic: operating cost, total sales, economic value retained, employee wages and benefits; environmental: reduction in energy consumption, reduction in resources consumption, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, certifications (International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO)/occupational health and safety management systems); social: child labour, disclosure of environmental initiatives to the public, employee well-being, training and education. The ongoing initiatives of the industries in terms of implementing ISO 14000 and stringent CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) norms has put the supply chain entities under serious pressure of achieving high productivity and high quality with the least damage to environmental and social aspects. This demands the industries and researchers to develop innovative methodologies and frameworks for achieving both quality and sustainability together. There is also a need to test the existing theories through empirical investigations for discovering new insights on product design, product quality, productivity, product life cycle and supply chain initiatives which can help industry to improve upon TBL sustainability. There is a necessity to evolve new guidelines for quality audits to reduce the consumption of natural resources and develop solutions leading to sustainability of energy use and protection of the global environment.
The ‘Zero defect, zero effect’ concept intends to lower the impact of manufacturing and service initiatives on environment and society.
This special issue invites detailed research exploring the impact of quality initiatives on sustainability issues from industry professionals and academic researchers both. The purpose of this special issue is to provide opportunities to the industry professionals and researchers to share their initiatives and investigations specifically for achieving sustainability through quality.
Purpose and prospective themes of the special issue
Industries are experiencing competitive pressures because of rapid changes in customer demand patterns and increased expectations from governments and international organizations like UN, WTO etc for adopting sustainable practices. The special issue intends to publish high quality data driven research exploring the relationships between quality initiatives and TBL sustainability challenges for both manufacturing and service industries in developing countries. It is expected that the research must justify its significant addition to the existing body of knowledge in quality and sustainability through a detailed investigation on implementation of quality practices for real life industry settings. The research should extend strong managerial implications for achieving sustainable competitive advantages for an organisation. The special issue welcomes contributions from practitioners and academic researchers with a specific emphasis on a) detailed empirical investigations extending the existing body of knowledge in quality with a special focus on sustainability; b) assessment of quality frameworks and audits for evaluating the implication of quality initiatives on sustainability; c) innovative methodologies with a strong practical relevance for industry and for improving TBL sustainability through quality management practices. The special issue aims to develop detailed insights and policy guidelines for practitioners, researchers and government agencies in developing countries.
Themes relevant to this special issue include, but are not limited to:
• Resource efficiency and quality initiatives
• Environmental impact assessments under quality initiatives
• Product Life cycle assessments and TBL sustainability
• Manufacturing and service quality and its implications on productivity and environmental degradation
• Integrated lean and green practices in the manufacturing and service industry
• Waste management in the manufacturing industry
• Quality audits for economic and environmental sustainability
• Product warranty management
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Quality Frameworks
• Performance management frameworks with integrated quality and TBL sustainability measures
The lists of themes are meant to define the broader context of the special issue. We welcome a diversity of research on the topic. However, it is expected that the articles must deliver extensive policy implications for the various stakeholders of the business.
The manuscript length requirements are flexible, but to a maximum of 10,000 words. A research contribution with too much theoretical, conceptual and mathematical orientation does not fit into the scope of this special issue.
Submission guidelines
In preparing manuscripts, authors are asked to follow the Author Guidelines available on the journal homepage at http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/ijqrm.htm.
To submit your paper online you must first create an author account at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ijqrm then follow the on-screen guidance which takes you through the submission process. If you have any queries about the submission process, please contact the journal’s Publisher, Jo Jones, at [email protected].
Submission deadline: July 1, 2019
References and useful reading
• Crowder, M. (2013) "Quality standards: integration within a bereavement environment", The TQM Journal, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp.18-28.
• Murphy, W.H. and Leonard, D. (2016) "Quality management (QM) leads to healthier small businesses", Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp.1104-1119.
• Zeng, J., Phan, C.A., and Matsui, Y. (2015) “The impact of hard and soft quality management on quality and innovation performance: An empirical study”, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 162 No. 4, pp. 216-226.
• O’Neill, P., Sohal, A. and Teng, C.W. (2016) “Quality management approaches and their impact on firms' financial performance – An Australian study”, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 171 No. 1, pp. 381-393.
• Wiengarten, F., Fan, D. Lo, C.K.Y., and Pagell, M. (2017) “The differing impacts of operational and financial slack on occupational safety in varying market conditions”, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 52 No. 1, pp. 30-45.
• Sua, H.C., Lindermanb, K., Schroeder, R.G. Van de Ven, A.H. (2014) “A comparative case study of sustaining quality as a competitive advantage”, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 32 No. 7/8, pp. 429-445.
• Frolova, I. and Lapina, I. (2015) "Integration of CSR principles in quality management", International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, Vol. 7 No. 2/3, pp. 260-273.