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The purpose of this paper is to quantify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis for the Indian coal mining industry using Fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory.

After obtaining 17 factors from literature and expert opinion, an interview questionnaire was designed and tested to assure the content validity of questionnaire. A group of 15 qualified experts consisting of 4 professors from academic institutions and 11 management professionals from mining sector with substantial experience were consulted.

The result from causal relationship implied that the decision makers should focus on improving the ability of exploitation and production using quality improvement initiative such as lean production, developing research and development units for clean coal technology and working with strong exporters. This study also finds that foreign investment in mining sector is also a main factor that highly influences other factors.

The study is based on personal judgments and the shortage of respondents limits the study to ensure the validity.

The stated strategies both for the government and industry through SWOT analysis could facilitate improved productivity of the Indian coal industry if adopted.

This paper demonstrates a process for quantitative SWOT analysis for the Indian coal mining industry that can be performed even when there is dependence among factors.

The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the key barriers to lean implementation in the construction industry using interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and Matrice d’ Impacts Croisés-Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement (MICMAC) analysis.

In this study, 13 barriers to lean construction (LC) have been identified through extensive review of literature and subsequently eliciting expert opinions. A proper hierarchy and contextual relationship of the barriers have been developed using ISM, and based on the driving and dependence power of the barriers, three groups of barriers have been found using MICMAC analysis.

Cultural differences are found to be the most important barrier to LC, whereas employees’ resistance to change and lack of performance measurement systems are the least significant barriers.

The work is limited to literature review and experts’ opinion, and the model may be tested using structural equation modeling to verify the relationship of the barriers.

This ISM-based model would help the decision-makers, researchers and practitioners to prioritize and manage these barriers by better utilizing their resources for eliminating or minimizing the barriers to lean implementation.

The study of barriers to LC through an ISM-based model and the classification of barriers is a new attempt in the field of construction.

Environmental pollution and corresponding adverse health impacts have now become a significant concern for the entire planet. In this regard, analysts and experts are continually formulating policies to reduce environmental pollution and improve natural ecological conditions. To aid in coping with the ecological predicament, a framework has been developed in the present study to inspect the adverse environmental impacts and related health issues of coal mining.

The parameters for this study have been identified through a review of the literature and finalized 23 critical parameters of air, water, land and soil, and noise related to coal mining by consultation with experts from industry and academia. Finally, the parameters have been categorized in accordance with the level of threat they pose to the environment by assigning weight using the Bradley–Terry model considering attitudinal data acquired by a questionnaire survey.

It is found that coal mining has a relatively higher impact on four attributes of “air pollution” (suspended particulate matter [SPM], respiratory particulate matter [RPM], sulfur dioxide [SO₂] and oxides of nitrogen [NO_x]), followed by “land and soil pollution” (deforestation and surface structure diversion), “noise pollution” (vehicle movement) and “water pollution” (water hardness, total solids (TSS/TDS) and iron content). It is also found that raising the air concentration of SPM and RPM results in increased respiratory and cardiopulmonary mortality. Therefore, reducing dust concentrations into the air generated during coal mining is recommended to reduce air pollution caused by coal mining, which will reduce contamination of water and land and soil.

The model built in this study is a hypothesized model that relied on the experts' opinions considering the parameters of coal production only. However, the parameters related to the usage of coal and its consequences have been excluded. Further, only industrial and academic experts were considered for this study; however, they excluded local people, coal mining personnel, policy authorities, etc. Therefore, the study findings might differ in real circumstances. The research can further be reproduced by considering the parameters related to the use of coal and its consequences, considering the opinions of the local people, coal mining personnel and policy authorities.

Categorizing the parameters according to the threat they pose to the environment due to coal mining can help the decision-maker develop an effective policy to reduce environmental pollution due to coal mining by considering the parameters on a priority basis. In addition, the results further help the decision-makers to assess the environmental impact of coal mining and take necessary action.

The study has developed a framework using the Bradley–Terry model to categorize the environmental parameters of coal mining to develop effective environmental policies, which are original and unique in nature.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a model for key barriers to lean implementation in the Indian coal mining industry.

Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) has been used to develop a proper hierarchy and contextual relationship of key barriers to lean implementation in the Indian coal mining industry through literature review and expert opinion which is followed by the classification of barriers using Matrice d’ Impacts Croisés-Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement (MICMAC) and questionnaire-based survey to validate the ISM model using structural equation modeling (SEM).

In this study, 14 key barriers to lean implementation in the Indian coal mining industry have been identified, modeled and analyzed. The lack of top management commitment, financial constraints and lack of inter-departments co-ordination are found to be the most important barriers to lean implementation in the mining industry. The ISM-based model is validated using the SEM.

The analysis of data represents that relatively more participants were from the mines located in eastern India and the maximum participants were managers and executives holding different levels (lower, middle or upper), although key participants in different mines were encouraged to distribute the survey to other employees also.

This model on lean barriers would help the decision makers, researchers and practitioners to anticipate potential barriers to lean implementation and support the existing academic research on lean. Accordingly, the focus on the lean barriers can be prioritized for the better utilization of the available resources for eliminating or minimizing the barriers.

This paper is an original contribution of analysis of the lean barriers in Indian mining industry using the integrated ISM–MICMAC and SEM approach.

The purpose of this research is to identify and study the contextual relationships of the significant lean enablers in the Indian coal mining industry using the application of interpretive structural modeling (ISM), matrice d' impacts croisés-multiplication appliquée á un classement (MICMAC) and structural equation modeling (SEM).

In this study, a conceptual model based on ISM was developed forming a hierarchy and contextual relationships of significant enablers for lean implementation in the Indian coal mining industry using a literature review and eliciting expert opinion, which is followed by MICMAC for grouping of enablers and questionnaire survey to validate the ISM based conceptual model using SEM.

The study modeled and analyzed ten significant enablers of lean implementation in the Indian coal mining industry. The findings suggest that the most important lean enablers in the Indian coal mining industry are employee empowerment, employee motivation and commitment, consistent financial performance measurement and management support.

Judgmental sampling was used for selecting the respondents for conducting the questionnaire survey in this research work as there are a few numbers of coal mines implementing lean principles in India. Although the study was not restricted to a particular part of India with the sample representing the heterogeneous population, the study represents more data from the coal mines in eastern India.

The model on lean enablers would help the researchers, decision-makers and practitioners to anticipate potential lean enablers in the Indian coal mines and rank the enablers for improved and efficient usage of the available resources creating value to customers with lean and to sustenance academic research on lean.

Studies on lean enablers in the mining sector are scarce in the literature, and this study is a novel contribution of exploring lean enablers in the Indian coal mining industry using an integrated approach of ISM–MICMAC and SEM.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the degree of lean awareness and implementation and to identify the perception on tools, enablers, barriers and potential benefits of lean in the Indian coal mining industry.

A systematic review of lean literature and expert opinion was used to design the survey instrument. Data were collected through electronic survey and traditional pencil and paper approach. In order to test the research hypotheses, independent sample t-tests were done.

The study reveals that there is a certain degree of lean awareness although the level of lean implementation is still at a nascent stage in the Indian coal mining sector. The main applicable tools, barriers, enablers and benefits have also been identified based on 54 respondents out of 109 suitable respondents.

In this study, relatively the maximum participants were from the mines located in Eastern India. Thus, a certain level of bias can be anticipated. The findings would help the decision makers, researchers and practitioners to better utilize the available resources for lean implementation and support the existing academic research on lean.

The concept of lean in mining industry is relatively a new paradigm and there is a lack of empirical study that explores applicable tools, barriers, enablers and benefits of lean in Indian mining industry. The study addresses this gap in the lean literature.

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview and evaluation of performance measurement systems and also present a framework for the selection of an appropriate performance measurement system for healthcare processes.

The paper provides a brief review of the existing performance measurement frameworks. On the basis of review, performance measurement system criteria are identified and accordingly a framework has been proposed for measuring performance in healthcare processes.

The measurement of performance of a healthcare organization is still an unresolved issue. A performance measurement system should be sensitive to changes in the external and internal environment of an organization. The proposed framework measures performance from a multi and interrelated perspective, namely efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility.

The study will help the healthcare organization to know how they are performing; it will also help in benchmarking the organization so that customers know the value of the money they pay for the service.

The framework presented provides a performance measurement system for healthcare processes that is sensitive to change in the external and internal environment of an organization.

The purpose of this paper is to present a policy comparison tool for Indian Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) so that they can choose the best policy for implementation. It provides for turnaround of a troubled MFI by analyzing the performance of different policies.

The paper has done a web survey to identify the need of a strategic tool for MFI. It has built a Decision Support System (DSS) using system dynamics. A corporate model of MFI has been constructed using iThink 10.0.2 software. A quantitative validity test has been done to find the robustness of the model. Finally four policies are tested and the performance indicators have been used to suggest the best policy. Apart from this DSS is used to test the implementation range of a policy.

“Integration of Microfinance with country’s mainstream financial system along with provisioning 1 percent of outstanding loans” is recommended for the MFI as this will increase the financial performance.

In its present form the corporate model developed for MFI is not applicable for judging social performance. Therefore MFIs might be sceptic toward it. However, incorporation of certain performance indicators such as financial-self-sufficiency ratio might help in overcoming this reluctance.

“Integration of Microfinance with country’s mainstream financial system along with restricting provision” will generate better performance for the MFI. Therefore this policy should be implemented by the MFI. There are other considerations which need to be taken into account while implementing this policy. The integration may require outsourcing of certain operations to banks, utilization of bank branches to disseminate knowledge related to the conduct of transactions, usage of customized bank software to handle the day-to-day business, development of new softwares for mobile messaging to help poor customers avail of schemes run by the banks, fill loan application forms online, send reminders for loan recovery; provide incentives such as upgradation of poor customers to become regular customers of banks.

By improving the health of the MFI a bigger goal to reach the poor will be achieved in the long run. The MFI has around five million clients at present and if the company becomes insolvent then the future of these clients is going to be impacted. The organization has interacted closely with these clients and therefore knows how to upgrade their financial state.

The tool is first of its kind in the microfinance industry. So far the microfinance technology providers have dealt with Management Information System and Information and Communication Technology. The tool has been built to present a quantitative model for overall operations of the MFI. The simulation of this model helps in predicting future scenarios.