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

Country-related future research agenda of Lean Manufacturing–A systematic literature review

Purpose

Many future research proposals of Lean Manufacturing (LM) are presented in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to determine these future research proposals of LM which are country-related and classify them.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review (SLR) of peer-reviewed journal articles in LM was conducted. A total of 145 articles published in 34 journals during 2010–2020 were collected from four major management science publishers namely, Emerald Online, Elsevier/Science Direct, Springer Link and Taylor and Francis. The country-related future research proposals of LM identified in the literature were classified according to, firstly, the continent of the country of reference, and secondly, some form of natural affinity of these proposals creating meaningful themes. The quality tool “affinity diagram” was applied to classify the country-related future research proposals of LM.

Findings

The country-related future research proposals of LM, which are increasing in the literature over time, refer mostly to studies to be conducted in several continents/countries and to multinational studies. Conducting studies specifically in Asia, Europe, South and North America, Africa and Australia–New Zealand is also suggested. The plethora of the country-related future research proposals of LM were classified, based on the affinity of their content, into 18 meaningful themes. These themes were also classified based on their affinity into two broad categories, namely “themes concerning the LM approach itself” and “themes concerning factors outside the LM approach”.

Research limitations/implications

The restricted number of the databases searched and the subjectivity of classifying the large number of the country-related future research proposals into themes are the main limitations of the present SLR. Based on these limitations, future literature review studies can be carried out.

Practical implications

Useful proposals are provided to researchers of several countries for conducting original and country-specific research studies which can enrich the knowledge of the implementation of LM under the specific circumstances of a country for the benefit of practitioners.

Originality/value

This study goes beyond previous literature review studies on LM by focusing exclusively on the LM future research agenda which is country related. The analytical presentation of the country-related future research proposals as well as the formulation of clusters of these proposals make the present SLR study substantially different from those carried out worldwide so far.

Understanding alignment between lean and agile strategies using Triple-A model

Purpose

Integrating the lean (LSTs) and agile (ASTs) strategies to effectively create the competitiveness of the firm is always challenging for the strategy makers. This research aims to comprehend the behavior of these core strategies by using the Triple-A framework.

Design/methodology/approach

Data are gathered from the supply chain (SC) professionals serving in manufacturing firms through a structured questionnaire. Structured equation modeling (SEM) is performed to test the hypotheses on 257 valid responses.

Findings

The result of this study reveals a few key attributes about LST and AST while attempting to align and gain maximum benefit. One of the key findings is that an LST finds it difficult to create adaptability (ADP). But better alignment (ALN) among the market priorities and operational capabilities may improve the firm's competitive capabilities (FCCs).

Practical implications

This study posits various important insights for strategy decision makers, just for instance, it is advised to the operations managers that lean resources are usually never capable to adapt change but can be aligned with the market changes to create a competitive capability for the firm.

Originality/value

This is original research that has various useful insights for SC and operations strategy makers and also for the academic researchers as it reveals empirical evidence of the past key concepts.