Over the past twenty years, service organizations have adopted total quality management to enhance their service quality, significantly impacting business performance, customer satisfaction, and profitability. This study delves into policy development of sustainable quality management theory, benefits, and various service components, while reviewing its implementation in services industries and policy innovation. The concept of Sustainable Quality Management 4.0 (SQM 4.0) integrates sustainable management, traditional quality management, and Quality 4.0 principles to optimize resources, reduce environmental impacts, and enhance decision-making through Industry 4.0, IoT, AI, and big data analytics. The findings offer valuable framework and policy insights for managers and practitioners on quality management and service systems, providing an implementation framework for Sustainable Quality Management in the service sector. The paper outlines comprehensive elements and strategies for implementation as a SQM framework for attaining sustainable quality management in the services industry.

Culture is a cohesive system of values, meanings, and behaviors. This study follows Hofstede’s framework of cultural dimensions, which is widely studied in different contexts. Although culture is a subject of extensive research, few recent studies evaluate culture between countries. This study analyzed the cultural dimensions identified in two Latin American countries: Colombia and Chile. In addition, it evaluated differences in both countries by sex. The study was conducted with 382 workers from Chile and 617 from Colombia. Significant differences were found between Colombia and Chile in power distance, paternalism, and masculinity-femininity. This exploratory study may contribute to discussing the role of culture and sex in organizations operating in different countries.

This study investigates the core competencies essential for product designers to excel in cross-cultural global markets, with particular emphasis on implications for human resource development and organizational leadership. As design practices increasingly transcend cultural and geographical boundaries, designers are required to integrate advanced technical proficiency, creative problem-solving, technological adaptability, and cultural intelligence to create inclusive, socially responsible, and market-relevant products. Employing a mixed-methods approach—including focus groups and surveys with design professionals, industry executives, and academic leaders—the research identifies key competencies such as flexibility, intercultural communication, ethical integrity, and systems thinking. The findings underscore the necessity of balancing technical expertise with emotional intelligence and transformational leadership capabilities to effectively lead diverse, cross-functional teams. These competencies contribute significantly to fostering innovation, enhancing employee well-being and job satisfaction, and strengthening organizational resilience, thereby supporting sustainable human resource strategies. Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of continuous professional development and lifelong learning in cultivating culturally competent and ethically driven design talent. The insights offer strategic guidance for human resource professionals, organizational leaders, and educational institutions aiming to develop adaptive, inclusive, and future-ready design capabilities aligned with evolving global demands.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region faces unique challenges and opportunities in integrating sustainability into sovereign credit assessments. This research study examines environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors embedded in the lending policies of jurisdictional institutions in MENA. By analyzing existing literature and case studies, we identify key drivers and barriers to ESG integration in sovereign lending. Our findings suggest a growing recognition of sustainability’s importance in financial stability and credit, driven by global climate guarantees and local socio-economic development. However, challenges such as data availability, regulatory frameworks, and market acceptance persist. This paper provides an overview of current practices, highlights best practices, and offers recommendations to enhance ESG integration in sovereign debt reviews in the MENA region. The study concludes that a robust ESG framework is necessary to accurately reflect the long-term risks and opportunities associated with sovereign debt, ultimately contributing to sustainable economic growth regionally.