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The purpose of this study is to explore and model the strategies to overcome the barriers of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) implementation in Indian small manufacturing enterprises (SMEs).

In this research, 31 strategies of LSS implementation in SMEs have been identified through detailed literature review and out of them, 13 are finalized using statistical tools like CIMTC and Importance-Index analysis. Moreover, the consistency of finalized strategies was examined through reliability test using SPSS software version 22. The finalized strategies are modelled through interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and classified them using MICMAC based on their driving and dependency power.

The key findings of this techno-managerial study are identification and modelling of 13 strategies to overcome adoption challenges of LSS in context of Indian SMEs. The usage of ISM-MICMAC approach provides the guidance to industrialist consider the mutual interaction of strategies during planning and scheduling for LSS projects.

Due to human involvement and judgements, there may be chance of biasness and subjectivity during construction of self-interaction matrix. Also, the number of identified strategies to overcomes barriers of LSS adoption may vary by altering nature, scope and region of research.

Literature is full of studies regarding LSS barriers and its rankings. Also, few studies explored the solutions of LSS barriers and prioritized them. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, our study is very rare to witness which expose the strategies to overcome the barriers and frame the mutual interaction are per the driving and dependence power of strategies. The application of ISM-MICMAC approach suggests a roadmap for implementing LSS approach efficiently through considering developed ISM model of strategies in context of SMEs.