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The purpose of this paper is to discuss factors to support ISO 9001:2015 implementation. A framework for identification and prioritization of factors is applied in Brazilian power train suppliers (Tier 1). Brazil is the eighth largest vehicle manufacturer in the world.

The data analysis presented in this paper is grounded in an empirical study involving ISO 9001 certified Brazilian companies (47 plants) that supply auto parts to power train assembly plants. They represent almost 50 percent of the Tier 1 Brazilian power train suppliers. Data collection and analysis is performed with the participation of managers who are experts in quality management systems and ISO 9001. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) supports the mixed methods approach. The data analysis is broken down by electrical components, machining, sub-components and small parts manufacturers.

The factors assessed are top management commitment, team commitment, training, responsibilities and authorities defined, schedule for implementation, quality culture, resource availability, integration between departments, level of bureaucracy as well as level of awareness regarding the ISO 9001 significance. A new factor was identified, which was not cited in the literature, quality staff reliability.

The research is applied to suppliers of powertrain manufacturers and could reflect other sectors. It is important observe that the automotive sector represents a microcosm of the organization in general and many production models stem from there.

Understanding the critical factors is important to ensure that managers allocate resources appropriately during implementation and maintenance of ISO 9001:2015.

Organizations around the world have, until 2018, to upgrade their quality systems to ISO 9001:2015 and the results of this paper can support strategies and decision making about that.

This paper evidences the relative importance among factors and ranks item in order of importance for ISO 9001:2015 implementation. Prior studies indicate the need to develop a mixed methods study to examine the role of the critical factors to support the ISO 9001:2015 implementation as done in this paper.

Most prior literature on the GCC workforce nationalization has focused on a limited set of themes (e.g. nationalization challenges), initiatives (e.g. quota system) and methodology (e.g. qualitative) and none has captured the full range of content associated with its implementation phenomenon resulting in our current incomplete knowledge on it. As one of the first studies on this phenomenon, our study explores the factors influencing comprehensive implementation of workforce nationalization in Qatar. We postulate a research model based on the strategic human resource and strategic management works of literature which contain five exogenous variables under three perspectives: Qatarization, organizational and environmental.

The study model was tested by using structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze data collected from 300 managers in Qatar.

The results show that four variables –formal Qatarization planning, top management commitment, Qatarization experience and stakeholder pressures – positively influence the comprehensive implementation of Qatarization efforts.

Successfully implementing Qatarization objectives requires a robust synergy between dedicated planning and unwavering commitment from top management. Further, to effectively navigate the challenges of nationalization, collaboration with key stakeholders becomes pivotal. Our findings offer actionable insights for public organizations aiming to optimize their Qatarization efforts, emphasizing the integral role of holistic strategies and committed leadership.

We introduce a novel research model rooted in both strategic human resource and strategic management theories. Diverging from traditional qualitative approaches, our quantitative methodology provides empirical depth to our findings.

The purpose of this study is to integrate findings of empirical studies regarding the effect of total quality management (TQM) on competitive advantage. This purpose is to support building a theoretical model of TQM and its components. These components are: top management commitment/leadership, teams, culture, training/education, and process efficiency; they are grounded in the work of Deming and deduced from three other models offered by Dean and Bowen and Reed et al.

This study employed a meta‐analysis to synthesize results of a sample of 51 studies into, effectively, one database. The meta‐analysis approach is used to establish external validity for the theoretical model of TQM used in the paper. The sample includes studies that were conducted in different countries to provide a comprehensive investigation.

Each individual component of TQM was associated with competitive advantage, that these associations each explain roughly 60 percent of the variability in competitive advantage, and that a 1 point change in an average component score (1‐5 Likert scale) results in at least a 0.1 point change in competitive advantage.

The strong correlations between the five components, coupled with the limited sample size, made it impossible to fit a competitive advantage explanation model that included all five components with any statistical significance. Thus, it was not possible to determine the relative impacts of the five components on competitive advantage. Moreover, these limitations made the impact of leadership relative to other variables indeterminate, even in two independent variable models.

Despite the modest findings, this study provides a link between the theory and practice of TQM efforts and provides direction for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the deficiencies in Six Sigma project capability and empirically validating its impact on project success.

Deficiencies are identified from literature focusing on Six Sigma challenges or barriers. The study used a survey approach by circulating questionnaires to 400 Six Sigma professionals from 40 multinational organisations. The conceptual model is composed of 16 items measuring five constructs for hypothesis testing. Furthermore, structural equation modelling was used to identify the relationship between Six Sigma project capability deficiency and project success.

The findings of the study suggest that inadequate top management support, inadequate resources and change management and inadequate quality maturity form Six Sigma project capability deficiency and affect project success.

The study uses resource-based view to understand the deficiencies in Six Sigma project capability and their impact on project success. The study confirms that organisational capabilities in implementing Six Sigma affect the success of the projects.

The results of this study reveal that inadequate top management support, inadequate quality maturity of the organisation and inadequate resources and change management result into a deficiency in Six Sigma project capability. Quality managers in manufacturing and service organisations should attempt to improve these capabilities to achieve competitive advantage.

The study contributes to the literature by exploring the capability outlook of Six Sigma. The study attempts to fill the gap in Six Sigma literature by providing a structural model for understanding Six Sigma project capability deficiency and its impact on Six Sigma project success.

With social media usage growing rapidly in business sustainability in manufacturing sectors, the means through which manufacturing firms can incorporate it into the pursuit of environmental sustainability are largely under-researched by academics. Drawing upon the dynamic capability view, this study examines the indirect relationship between social media usage and sustainable innovation in manufacturing sectors.

The study was based on analyzing data collected through a questionnaire survey on Chinese manufacturing firms. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was applied to test the hypotheses.

The results show that social media usage has a positive effect on sustainable innovation in the manufacturing sectors. Firms' sustainable dynamic capability mediates the relationship between social media usage and sustainable innovation. In addition, the effects of social media usage on firms' sustainable dynamic capability are stronger when stakeholder pressure is stronger and top management team commitment is higher.

This study highlights social media application as an important, yet underexplored, factor in sustainable innovation of manufacturing firms. The findings also untangle the mechanism of sustainable dynamic capability by which social media usage improves sustainable innovation for manufacturing firms.

How to enter and expand in a newly emerged foreign market is less understood. Should multinational enterprises move fast or slowly? In this study, the authors take China as the context to investigate what factors will lead to a fast expansion strategy in a foreign market. The purpose of this paper is to understand whether fast expansion benefits firms’ performance in a rapidly emerging market.

Based on insights from field interviews, the authors developed a theoretical framework. Then, the authors collected data from surveys of managers of multinational enterprises from Western countries to test their hypothesis. This research context is based on the experience of multinational enterprises in China which opened up to foreign direct investment in 1979.

This study shows that internally, strategic long-term investment goals, top management team commitment and externally switching costs and the growth in the demand market which will push firms to expand fast in the newly emerged China market. Faster pace of expansion benefits the performance of multinational enterprises in a newly emerged market.

Based on the onsite interviews followed by the survey of top managers of multinational enterprises located in China, this study provides a fine-grained analysis of the importance of pace and its key antecedents. Thus, the results provide new insights to decision-makers of multinational enterprises when considering expanding in an emerging market at its early stages of growth.

Six Sigma has been one of main quality improvement approaches since Motorola first invented Six Sigma in 1987. Many scholars and consult experts have discussed the critical success factors of implementing Six Sigma management, but most of them are based on related theories or qualitative analyses. In the paper, we first review critical success factor of Six Sigma status quo based on literature. Then we design the questionnaire and survey China manufacturing enterprises that have introduced Six Sigma management. And finally, we analyze the critical success factors of China manufacturing industry implementing Six Sigma management by using structural equation model and find that leadership and Six Sigma strategy, focus on market and customer, evaluation and motivation, selecting, managing and implementing Six Sigma projects are four critical success factors of China manufacturing enterprises implementing Six Sigma management. At the same time, the paper also presents the relationships between the critical success factors. The results are of important role in China manufacturing industry locating resources, eliminating waste and improving Six Sigma performance.

We explore how leaders get real commitment for their visions. We propose that leaders need to pay significant attention to and get broad involvement in three stages of the vision creation and dissemination process. First, they need involvement in the creation of the vision and buy-in from the senior levels. Second, when cascading the vision further down the organization, they need to allow for real discussion and input. Third, leaders need to seriously track and assess the impact of the vision implementation.

Without sustainability TQM initiatives are usually doomed to fail. The essence of TQM is continuity over time and integration of quality management initiatives into daily organizational operations. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to define what are the key priority elements of TQM on which companies need to focus and to present an evaluation tool based on these key elements that can be used to assess the extent of progress of TQM. The tool encompasses ISO 9000 as well as TQM elements, bearing in mind that they should complement rather than conflict with each other. The research context is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a less developed country where the issue of sustainability is even more crucial than in fully industrialised countries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of soft total quality management (TQM) practices on employee work role performance in the manufacturing sector of United Arab Emirates. It also examined the indirect effect of innovative work behaviour and initiative climate.

The study is based on a conclusive research design and survey data was collected from 290 employees working in non-managerial positions across various manufacturing companies in UAE. The hypotheses of the empirical study are tested using structural equation modelling. The indirect effects created through moderated mediation are analysed using Hayes Process Macro.

The results show that soft TQM practices have a positive influence on work role performance. Employee innovative work behaviour acts as a partial mediator and initiative climate moderates the relationship.

The study adopted a cross-sectional analysis and single informants are used, so it is advised that the interpretation of the results is made with enough caution.

Practitioners must bear in mind that when the employees are adequately trained, empowered, involved and organized as team, it would result in employee innovative behaviour and improved work role performance. The top management should be persuaded to be more committed to the above-mentioned activities for more positive employee-level outcomes.

Very few studies have conducted an empirical validation at the intersection of human resource management (HRM) and TQM. This is one of the first studies to examine the relationship between soft TQM and employee work role performance.