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According to the United Nations Development Program, sustainable development goals are fundamental for attaining a better and more sustainable future for all of us, and are a primary concern today. New indicators, such as the Economic Complexity Index (i.e., ECI), can be used to predict human development index (i.e., HDI). To be defined as a complex economy, a country, through a vast network of individuals, should be able to interlink extensive quantities of relevant knowledge to create diversified products. Political, cultural, and environmental factors should also be included in this model to improve the measurement of human development. This paper aimed to study the relationship between the ECI and HDI and the mediating effects of income inequality among developing countries. Hierarchical linear modeling was used as a statistical tool to analyze 87 developing countries from 1990 to 2017, which also studied the country-level effects of gender inequality and energy consumption. Different year lags were used for more robustness. The results show that human development increased with higher economic complexity. This relationship was, however, partially mediated by income inequality. Country-level predictors, gender inequality, and energy consumption also impacted sustainable development. Finally, it is essential to note that this model cannot be applied to developed economies.

Drawing on the results from a questionnaire survey conducted in Taiwan, this paper discusses the experiences of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in ISO 9000 certification. The empirical results indicate that the pursuit of ISO helps Taiwanese SMEs gain benefits in internationalization, quality improvement, sales enhancement, and cost reduction. The effects of motivation and implementing the process on benefits from ISO are statistically significant. Implementing ISO with either passive or active motivations leads to more internationalization. Active motivation and documentation through auditing lead to quality improvement with the passage of time. Consulting private consultants in implementing ISO decreases quality improvement. Employees' active participation in implementing ISO leads to sales increases and cost reduction. A consensus regarding how to implement ISO leads to cost reduction. These empirical results show that implementing ISO with the TQM spirit of continuous improvement and company-wide employees participation could result in significant benefits for small and medium-sized enterprises.Valuable assistance was provided by Mr Chung-Jay Jeng and he is gratefully acknowledged.

Product service system (PSS) design has drawn much attention in the last decade and is expected to be affected by the fast-growing application of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. This study proposes a six-step design method by extending visual mapping design methods for the PSSs that plan to apply IoT technologies. A new concept of "pseudo actors" that highlights the role of the objects incorporating IoT technology is introduced in plotting actors and system maps and a useful table is recommended to help evaluate alternatives of IoT technology application. An example of a battery swapping system for electric scooters is illustrated for application potential. Actors and system maps with "pseudo actors" are presented and analyzed, while IoT technologies are applied in batteries, charging stations, cell phones, and scooters. Designers could use the proposed method to select appropriate application of IoT technologies with higher customer value in a product service system design.