Recognized as a Guru and International Expert in the field of Total Quality and Excellence Management. Professor Zairi has influenced Quality Management Thinking for over 35 years. He was one of the pioneers of the Benchmarking concept, has published 5 books in this field including the first case study book on benchmarking applications in the World. He is the founder of the Benchmarking International Journal which is now in its 27^th volume and the founder of Business Process Management Journal now in its 26^th year . He was appointed as the first Professor in Best Practice Management globally. He is the only Academician who has written extensively about the role of Quality in all the 4 Industrial Revolutions. His latest focus is on quality in the digital era, and is one of the originators of the concept of Quality 4.0. His most recent books (7 of them) are all related to  Quality 4.0 thinking. His prolific scientific publishing efforts has earned him the second highest Google Citation Index (H-Index) in the field of Quality in the World.

Professor Zairi has published over 70 books and  400 scientific papers. He has been recognized international for his unique contributions. He was the recipient of the Lancaster Medal, the Grant Medal from the American Society of Quality (ASQ), the Ishikawa – Harrington Medal from the Asia Pacific Quality Organization (APQO), the Yoshio Kondo Medal from the International Academy of Quality (IAQ), Lifetime Achievements Medal from the Australian Quality Organization (AQO) and several other international recognitions and awards.

Professor Zairi supported the Quality Movement all over the World. He played the role of catalyst through for example, being the Founder of Excellence Yorkshire and now North of England Excellence and acting as a Board Member for many years;  acting as a Member of the UK Working Group for the Creation of EFQM; acting as a Member of the Group for the Creation of the British Quality Foundation and as a Founder and Chairman of the European Best Practice Benchmarking Award.

Currently Professor Zairi is acting as a Senior Advisor at the Prime Minister’s Office (UAE Government). He is the chairman of the Jury of Abu Dhabi Government Excellence Program, Dubai Government Excellence Program and Sheikh Khalifa Government Excellence Program. He has played a significant role in growing the quality movement in the MENA Region over the last 25 years. He is the originator and co-founder of the Middle East Quality Association, the co-founder of the first eLearning University in the region (Hamdan Bin Mohammad Smart University) and the founder of 19 awards and medals.

His various contributions within the UAE started in 1994 and included amongst others:

• Supporting Dubai Quality Award (DQA) and in particular Dubai Service Excellence Scheme;
• The introduction of Excellence Self-Assessment in the Oil and Gas Industry (ADNOC);
• Supporting the Development of Dubai Government Excellence Program, training assessors and chairing the jury over many cycles;
• Supporting the development of Sheikh Khalifa Government Excellence Program from its inception and chairing the jury duties;
• Supporting the development of Abu Dhabi Award for Excellence Performance since its inception, training assessors, mentoring the coordinating team and chairing the jury;
• Contributed in the development and launch of Ajman Government Excellence Award
• Led the development of Her Highness Sheikha Fatma Bint M’Barek Award for Global Arab Youth and acted as a Member of its Jury
• Supported the Development of and acted as a Member of the Supreme Committee for Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart Government Program