Supply chain performance: how lean practices efficiently drive improvements

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper aims at investigating which lean supply chain management (LSCM) practices efficiently improve the supply chain performance. Design/methodology/approach To achieve that, a cross-sectional survey was carried out with 113 manufacturing companies undergoing a lean implementation. The proposed method combines complementary methods of multivariate data analysis in order to determine which bundles of LSCM practices more efficiently entail improvements on supply chain performance. Findings The findings justify why some LSCM initiatives may find larger barriers than others, compromising their success due to misguided implementation efforts according to the desired performance improvement. Originality/value The empirical examination on the efficiency of LSCM practices with regards to a certain set of performance indicators provides guidelines with respect to LSCM implementation depending on which performance indicators are envisioned for improvement.