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The purpose of this study is to examine knowledge management (KM) infrastructure and processes on automobile manufacturing firm innovative performance through the mediating role of agile project management (APM) practice.

The data collection involved purposive and convenience sampling techniques to gather information from 692 employees employed in various public and private automobile manufacturing firms operating in Pakistan. To test the hypothesis, data analysis was conducted using Smart PLS software version 4, using the partial least squares and structural equation modeling technique.

The result revealed that knowledge management infrastructure and processes has a positive and significant effect on firm innovative performance. Moreover, agile project management practices positively and significantly mediate the relationship between knowledge management infrastructure and processes and firm innovative performance.

The performance of high-tech automobile manufacturing firms can be enhanced by implementing agile project management practices, especially when stimulated by external factors such as innovation. In an increasingly dynamic environment, innovation acts as a favorable factor that amplifies the positive impact of agile methodologies on firm performance.

Researchers can use these findings to identify knowledge gaps that need to be addressed in future studies and understand how strategies relate to processes within the KM-APM framework. This study provides practitioners with insights on applying KM practices in an APM context to enhance knowledge performance. Practitioners can use the framework to plan KM activities that support corporate strategy across all organizational layers, ensuring the appropriate knowledge is conveyed at each level.

Organizations' technological management capabilities (TMC) have emerged as a powerful tool to enable manufacturing firms to deal with environmental issues. This empirical investigation aims to introduce and validate a novel conceptual framework that seeks to uncover the latent relationships among the selected constructs of this study. Organizational TMC could enhance green production (GP) and reinforce the green competitive advantage (GCA) among manufacturing firms. Therefore, this research investigates the role of TMC of firms such as artificial intelligence capability (AIC), big data analytics capability (BDAC) and Internet of things capability (IOTC) in reshaping green innovation (RGI), employee development (ED), GP and GCA.

The Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling was proposed to test and validate this research’s conceptual model using 463 valid responses from manufacturing under the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) umbrella.

Our statistical findings confirmed that TMCs such as AIC, BDAC and IOTC supported the GP and CGA. ED and RGI positively correlated to GP. The hypotheses testing results also confirmed the mediating role of ED, RGI and GP and the moderating role of green firm innovativeness capability (GFIC) in the underdeveloped context of the manufacturing industry under the CPEC.

Moreover, the statistical findings of this study extend the existing literature by validating the possible direct, indirect/mediation and indirect/moderation relationship between TMC and GCA.

Organizations are continually improving their practices to improve operational performance. They already employ Lean Manufacturing techniques (LM) to reduce unnecessary waste. Industry 4.0 techniques enhance operational performance in association with LM. Despite the proven benefits of LM principles and the advancements offered by Industry 4.0 technologies, many organizations struggle to integrate these approaches effectively. This research paper explores how LM principles can be combined with Industry 4.0 technologies to provide valuable guidance for businesses looking to adopt lean automation strategies.

A systematic literature review on LM and Industry 4.0 was done to investigate the possible technical integration of both methods. Ninety-two articles are extracted systematically from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. This study states a systematic literature review, including quantitative analysis of bibliographic networks and cluster analysis, to identify emergent ideas and their further implementation.

The research findings highlight the positive impact of integrating lean production with Industry 4.0 techniques, benefiting organizations in achieving their goals. A lean automation integration framework is proposed based on the literature review and the findings.

This study provides industry administrators and practitioners valuable guidance for enhancing organizational productivity. These implications can provide businesses with competitive advantages, enhance customer satisfaction, and enable them to adapt to the dynamic demands of the contemporary business environment.

This literature review study has substantially contributed to the technological integration of lean and Industry 4.0. The work has also identified potential emerging areas that warrant further research.

In the current era, the focus on circular economy (CE) has gained substantial momentum among the research communities across the manufacturing world. It has become the need of the hour to act fast due to the alarming issues of unsustainability such as climate change, global warming, waste generation, environmental pollution, resource scarceness and ecological degradations. This research aims to investigate and model the CE enablers in the product development process related to the moderating effect of net zero.

The significant CE enablers are identified through literature review and expert brainstorming. The Pythagorean fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (PF-DEMATEL) technique has been used to investigate and evaluate the significant CE enablers in product development process. PF-DEMATEL determines the inter-relationship and casual dependency among the selected CE enablers. Indian automobile small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been considered as a case organization to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The findings reveal that “Top management support and clear vision towards CE adoption” is the most important enabler and “Artificial intelligence in product value chain” is recognized as the least vital enabler. This research aids the managers, decision-makers, policy planners and workforce to develop and formulating efficient blueprints for the effective adoption of CE in Indian SMEs.

This is the first kind of research that explores CE enablers in product development process for Indian SMEs.

This paper attempts to investigate the approaches used for implementing total quality management (TQM) practices and study its impact on ABC India Limited (Name changed), a tyre manufacturing industry for realizing leadership in the Indian market. The other objectives are to explore the key issues faced by the company before TQM and study the benefits achieved after TQM implementation.

A conceptual case study research methodology has been utilized in this paper. The industry was facing some major business challenges such as low productivity, financial issues and low market presence since 1996. To overcome these issues, the top management of the industry adopted TQM as a business improvement tool and started its implementation in 2008.

A good number of improvement initiatives under four TQM approaches such as management approach, development approach, improvement approach and involvement approach were performed systematically and strategically. As a result of the successful implementation of TQM initiatives, the industry received the most prestigious quality award namely Deming Prize in 2017.

With the implementation of the TQM philosophy in the industry, it gained the top market position, the customer satisfaction score increased from 75 to 81, market presence increased from 7.2% to 26.3% and the percentage participation of employees increased by 73.5% within a period from 2009 to 2016.

The novelty of this research is to consider a case-based approach that will be helpful in promoting the utilization of the TQM philosophy in other industries for gaining competitive advantages.

This study aims to investigate the influence of CEO attire formality on consumers’ perceptions of corporate image, drawing on first impression theory and spillover effect theory.

Four experimental studies were conducted to test the proposed effect, the underlying mechanism and the boundary condition.

The formality of CEO attire significantly influences consumers’ perceptions of corporate image. Specifically, formal CEO attire creates a stronger perception of corporate authority among consumers, mediated by perceived rule-following of the CEO. In contrast, informal CEO attire leads to a stronger perception of corporate friendliness, mediated by perceived psychological distance of the CEO. Moreover, a matching effect exists between the type of industry and CEO attire formality, where consumers perceive a greater match between authoritative industries and formally dressed CEOs, and between friendly industries and informally dressed CEOs. This alignment strengthens consumers’ corporate attitudes.

The findings offer valuable insights for CEOs aiming to foster a positive image through their attire, providing strategic guidance for aligning corporate image with industry characteristics.

This research extends the understanding of how consumers’ perceptions of CEO attire can spill over to affect the corporate image, offering a novel perspective on corporate image communication.

This study examines the mediating roles of the three dimensions of business intelligence (sensing capability, transforming capability and driving capability) in the relationship between the three dimensions of big data analytics capability (big data analytics management, technology and talent capabilities), and radical innovation among Chinese manufacturing enterprises.

A theoretical framework was developed using the resource-based view. The hypothesis was tested using empirical survey data from 326 Chinese manufacturing enterprises.

Empirical results show that, in the Chinese manufacturing context, business intelligence sensing capability, business intelligence transforming capability and business intelligence driving capability positively mediate the impact of big data analytics capability on radical innovation.

The results offer managerial guidance for leaders to properly use big data analytics capability, business intelligence and radical innovation as well as offering theoretical insight for future research in the manufacturing industry’s radical innovation.

This is among the first studies to examine three dimensions of big data analytics capability on the manufacturing industry’s radical innovation by considering the mediating role of three dimensions of business intelligence.

India liberalized its economy in 1991, which resulted in intense global competition, quality-conscious and demanding customers. Additionally, significant technological advancements lead to enhancements in products and processes. These forced Indian organizations to adopt innovative business strategies in the past 30 years. Meanwhile, the Lean Six Sigma methodology has significantly grown with vast applicability during the past 30 years. Thus, the purpose of this study is to develop the learning on Lean Six Sigma methodology in the Indian context through investigation of literature.

A three-stage systematic literature review approach was adopted to investigate the literature during the present study. In total, 187 articles published in 62 journals/conference proceedings from 2005 to 2022 (18 years) were shortlisted. The first part of the article summarizes the significant milestones towards the quality journey in the Indian context, along with the evolution of the Lean Six Sigma methodology. The second part examines the shortlisted papers on Lean Six Sigma frameworks, their applicability in industrial sectors, performance metrics, outcomes realized, publication trends, authorship patterns and leading researchers from the Indian perspective.

Lean Six Sigma has emerged as a highly acclaimed and structured business improvement strategy worldwide. The Indian economy has seen remarkable growth in the past decade and is one of the fastest-growing economies in the 21st century. Lean Six Sigma implementation in India has significantly increased from 2014 onward. The study revealed that researchers have proposed several different frameworks for Lean Six Sigma implementation, the majority of which are conceptual. Furthermore, the balanced applicability of Lean Six Sigma in manufacturing and service sectors was observed with the highest implementation in the health-care sector. Additionally, the widely adopted tools, techniques along with performance metrics exploring case studies were reported along with a summary of eminent and leading researchers in the Indian context.

This study is confined to reviewed papers as per the research criteria with a significant focus on the Indian context and might have missed some papers due to the adopted papers selection strategy.

The present study is one of the initial attempts to investigate the literature published on Lean Six Sigma in the Indian context, including perspective on the Indian quality movement. Therefore, the present study will provide an understanding of Lean Six Sigma methodology in the Indian context to graduating students in engineering and management and entry-level executives. The analysis and findings on Lean Six Sigma frameworks, research approach, publications details, etc., will be helpful to potential research scholars and academia. Additionally, analysis of case studies on Lean Six Sigma implementation by Indian industries will assist the managers and professionals in decision making.

The objective of this study is to investigate the barriers hindering the integration of lean manufacturing (LM) practices within the furniture industry of Bangladesh. The traditional operational paradigms in this sector have posed substantial challenges to the effective implementation of LM. In this study, the barriers of implementing LM in the furniture business are examined, aiming to provide a systematic understanding of the barriers that must be addressed for a successful transition.

The research reveals that “Fragmented Industry Structure,” “Resistance to Lean Practices” and “Inadequate Plant Layout and Maintenance”, emerged as the foremost barriers to LM implementation in the furniture industry. Additionally, “Insufficient Expert Management,” “Limited Technical Resources” and “Lack of Capital Investment” play significant roles.

The outcomes of this study provide valuable insights into the furniture industry, enabling the development of strategies for effective LM implementation. One notable challenge in lean implementation is the tendency to revert to established practices when confronted with barriers. Therefore, this transition necessitates informed guidance and leadership. In addition to addressing these internal challenges, the scope of lean implementation should be broadened.

This study represents one of the initial efforts to systematically identify and assess the barriers to LM implementation within the furniture industry of Bangladesh, contributing to the emerging body of knowledge in this area.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of rapid internationalization by emerging-market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) on their innovation performance. It also seeks to identify any potential moderating factors that could influence this relationship.

By analyzing data from listed Chinese MNEs from 2012 to 2022, this study applies a negative binomial regression model to test the research hypotheses.

This study uncovers an inverted U-shaped relationship between the internationalization speed of EMNEs and their innovation performance. It also suggests that strong absorptive, learning and managerial capacities could play positive moderating roles in the effect of internationalization speed on EMNEs’ innovation performance.

This study highlights rapid global expansion, promoting new knowledge acquisition for EMNEs. However, due to time-compression dilemmas with limited EMNE firm-specific advantages, overly accelerated internationalization hinders learning effectiveness. Additionally, this study reveals the critical importance of three firm-specific capacities in EMNEs – absorptive, learning and managerial capacities – in efficiently assimilating newly acquired knowledge from foreign markets and enhancing their innovation performance through rapid internationalization.