Innovation and hybridization

On the application of Lean principles and practices to innovation management

Purpose

Increasingly, a firm’s innovation capability has become one of the key frontiers of competitive advantage. The Lean philosophy has a well-proven reputation for its focus on process efficiency and effectiveness, and therefore, is often applied in various areas of innovation. Such wide and ever-increasing applicability also has resulted in an incoherent corpus of literature on Lean innovation. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize an integrative view on Lean innovation management.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a systematic literature review, the key Lean principles and practices useful in the context of innovation management are identified and synthesized into an all-inclusive framework. By means of three illustrative cases (i.e. public hospital, electronics company and avionics manufacturer), this paper elaborates on how the proposed framework can be applied.

Findings

A total of 88 publications are analyzed, leading to 34 Lean principles and practices relevant to innovation management, which are further integrated into a comprehensive model, dubbed the “Leanovation” framework.

Originality/value

This study is the first attempt to advance the understanding of various interrelated and interdependent components of Lean innovation management in a holistic way.

Lean manufacturing and productivity changes: the moderating role of R&D

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the effect of lean manufacturing on productivity changes and to identify the root sources of productivity changes. Furthermore, the authors explore the moderating effects of research and development (R&D) to examine the relationship between lean manufacturing and productivity changes.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper employs the propensity score matching (PSM) model combined with the difference-in-difference (DID) estimation to overcome the selectivity bias. The Malmquist productivity index is used to capture productivity changes. By analyzing 671 Chinese manufacturing listed firms from 2009 to 2014, the moderating effects of R&D on the relationship between lean manufacturing and productivity changes are measured.

Findings

The results reveal that lean manufacturing implementation has non-significant effects on productivity changes in principle, while a detailed analysis indicates that lean manufacturing could improve scale efficiency significantly. While engaged in R&D could significantly improve the efficiency of technological changes for lean manufacturing implementation firms, there exist negative effects on pure technical efficiency.

Research limitations/implications

This research only covers manufacturing listed firms in China. Further studies should extend the generalizability of the findings.

Practical implications

This study helps managers to identify the important role of R&D on the relationship between lean manufacturing and productivity changes and provides insights into how to improve the lean manufacturing performance.

Originality/value

This paper appears to be one of the earliest studies on the relationship between lean manufacturing and productivity changes by applying the PSM combined with DID estimation in Chinese manufacturing environment.

The transfer process of lean practices in multi-plant companies

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to deal with the transfer of lean practices between different units in multi-plant organizations with different levels of adoption of lean practices. It investigates how certain influential contextual variables – i.e. lean standards development, lean transfer team composition, source characteristics, recipient national environment and corporate lean programme deployment – can influence stickiness in the different phases of lean transfer process.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper opted for the multiple-case study method and examines six lean transfer projects at a dyadic level, that is, between a source and a recipient unit. The authors focussed on companies with headquarters in Europe with an attested experience in lean and which had recently and successfully transferred lean to subsidiaries in the USA and China.

Findings

The paper provides empirical insights about how stickiness in lean transfer projects changes during the initiation, implementation/ramp-up and integration phases. It identifies three lean transfer approaches (local, global, global and shared) and provides a set of propositions that explains how sociocultural traits of recipient environment (China vs USA) and lean transfer approach affect stickiness in each phase.

Originality/value

Literature on stickiness in lean transfer is at an early stage and very fragmented. Unlike previous contributions in the field, this paper provides an interpretation of the dynamics of stickiness in lean transfer at a micro-level (i.e. for each single phase of the lean transfer process). In addition, it develops a fuller understanding of the influence of context on lean transfer by adopting a configurational view, i.e. studying the joint effect of contextual variables on stickiness, which is a novelty in the lean transfer literature.

Primary knowledge management practices applied in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) industries from 2001-2010

Purpose

This study aims to expose the main knowledge management (KM) practices applied in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) industries using scientific literature published in the Scopus database from 2001 to 2010.

Design/methodology/approach

A search was performed in papers selected from the Scopus database, which houses the KM practices of industries in BRIC countries.

Findings

The results show that Brazil, Russia and India have an easier way of converting tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge compared to China, where informal relationships of trust and friendship play a special role within organizations, as well as where the political structure (communism) is an intervening factor. Brazil, Russia and India practice similar KM mechanisms such as the use of technology, process standardization and electronic data management. They also model the positive experiences of western companies. In China, interpersonal relationships shape the tacit and explicit features of organizations.

Research limitations/implications

The methodological filter could potentially limit the volume of responses, as not every case study can demonstrate the usual practices of KM. Empirical studies are able to capture the nuances and even provide a holistic picture of these practices.

Practical Implications

The results have practical implication, in particular. They are expected to help managers and workers to better comprehend KM practices in BRIC countries or even suggest new KM practices in the business.

Originality/value

The main discussion of this paper brings together a large range of KM practices applied in BRIC, addressing similarities and differences between KM deployments.

Multi-plant improvement programmes: a literature review and research agenda

Purpose

– To advance the productivity of all plants in the network, multinational corporations develop and deploy multi-plant improvement programmes. In this paper, the authors systematically review and synthesise the emerging literature on multi-plant improvement programmes. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– Through a systematic manual search, the authors examine 15 top journals from operations management, general management and international business literature in the time span between 1998 and 2011.

Findings

– The authors found 30 papers that specifically deal with operational improvement programmes in a multi-plant international setting, of which only nine take a headquarter perspective. This low number contrasts sharply with the magnitude and importance of such programmes in industry. The authors discuss key dimensions that explain how multi-plant improvement programmes result in the adopting, adapting, acting or avoiding of programme practices in subsidiaries and propose a related research agenda.

Research limitations/implications

– The authors affirm that a new field is in the making, with IJOPM as the leading professional journal. Further empirical research is called for, but particular methodological caution must be paid to the phenomenon of acting in subsidiaries.

Originality/value

– No coherent stream of research has addressed multi-plant improvement programmes. This paper represents a focused review that supports the further development of the field.