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Acquainting organisations regarding the concepts of Total Quality Management (TQM) and its implementation is one measure that effectively improves their global position and performance. Kaizen is one of the concepts of TQM, which focuses on low-cost organisational transformational methods and often saves consuming significant resources (time, capital, etc.). Using Kaizen in organisational transformation sets efficient guidelines to improve processes agility and leanness and increase manufacturing productivity. Hence, this study aims to identify the key success factors in Kaizen projects and presents a score function that measures the readiness level of organisations to implement Kaizen projects.

A literature review first extracts the key success factors in Kaizen projects. Afterwards, the selected factors are screened via the fuzzy Delphi method using expert opinions from the manufacturing sector of an emerging economy. Subsequently, their importance is cross-examined by the Bayesian best–worst Method (BBWM). The BBWM is one of the most recent multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods that lead to stable, dynamic and robust pairwise comparisons. After analysing the weights of the key factors, a score function is designed so that organisations can understand how much they are ready to launch Kaizen projects.

According to the findings, “Training and education” and “Employee attitude” played an important role in the success of Kaizen projects. The literature extracted 22 success factors of Kaizen projects, and 10 factors were eliminated through the fuzzy Delphi method. Twelve success factors in Kaizen projects were evaluated and investigated through the BBWM. Matching to this method, “Training and education” and “Employee attitude” weighed 0.119 and 0.112, relatively. Furthermore, “Support from senior management” was the least important factor.

To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first research in which the success factors of Kaizen projects have been identified and analysed through an integrated multi-layer decision-making framework. Although some studies have investigated the key success factors of Kaizen projects and analysed them through statistical approaches, research that examines the success factors of Kaizen projects through MCDM methods is yet to be reported. Moreover, the score function that measures the level of readiness of each organisation for the successful implementation of Kaizen projects is a unique contribution to this research.

This study is focused on achieving operational resilience through the practices of kaizen across the operational structure. The research is based on a case study of a commercial livestock farm in Nigeria. The study views the practice of kaizen from the perspective of the commitment of the members of the case study organisation who are directly involved with the operations of the organisation.

The study applies a qualitative approach to explore the topic, engaging members of the case study organisation in the research to gather relevant data on the implementation of kaizen practices and the drive to attain resilience in the case study organisation. Semi-structured personal interviews and workshops were used for data collection. The study adopts systems theory to explore the topic, identifying and engaging relevant stakeholders.

Parts of the findings relating to kaizen are the issues with the livestock production process, aggressive leadership and the issue of livestock mortality in the case study organisation. These were discussed based on extant literature. The study affirms the importance of organisational members' commitment and adequate leadership support to achieve sustainable kaizen practices. The study highlights the need to align kaizen practices with relevant organisational practices, such as reward systems and contextual requirements for its implementation in an operational process. The study suggests that further study can focus on the dynamics of the legal system on the implementation of kaizen, especially from a developing economic background like Nigeria, where this study was conducted.

The study projects learning about the spatial factors that can affect the practices of kaizen in critical sectors like livestock management.

The primary objective of this research is to determine critical success factors (CSFs) that enable textile enterprises to effectively implement Kaizen, a Japanese concept of continuous development, particularly during disruptive situations. The study aims to provide insights into how Kaizen is specifically employed within the textile sector and to offer guidance for addressing future crises.

This study employs a structured approach to determine CSFs for successful Kaizen implementation in the textile industry. The Triple Helix Actors structure, comprising business, academia and government representatives, is utilized to uncover essential insights. Additionally, the Matriced Impacts Croises-Multiplication Applique and Classement (MICMAC) analysis and interpretative structural modeling (ISM) techniques are applied to evaluate the influence of CSFs.

The research identifies 17 CSFs for successful Kaizen implementation in the textile industry through a comprehensive literature review and expert input. These factors are organized into a hierarchical structure with 5 distinct levels. Additionally, the application of the MICMAC analysis reveals three clusters of CSFs: linkage, dependent and independent, highlighting their interdependencies and impact.

Major contribution of this study is understanding how Kaizen can be effectively utilized in the textile industry, especially during disruptive events. The combination of the Triple Helix Actors structure, MICMAC analysis and ISM provides a unique perspective on the essential factors driving successful Kaizen implementation. The identification of CSFs and their categorization into clusters offer valuable insights for practitioners, policymakers and academia seeking to enhance the resilience and sustainability of the textile industry.

The aim of this study is to investigate and clarify how the triple helix actors can effectively implement the concepts of Kaizen to navigate and overcome the complex obstacles brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Through broad literature reviews, nine common parameters under triple helix actor have been recognized. A regression analysis has been done to study how the triple helix actors’ common parameters impact Kaizen implementation in business operations.

The results of this study revealed insightful patterns in the relationships between the common parameters of triple helix actor and the dependent variables. Notably, the results also showed that leadership commitment (LC) emerges as a very significant component, having a big impact on employee engagement as well as organizational performance.

In addition to offering valuable insights, this study has limitations including the potential for response bias in survey data and the focus on a specific set of common parameters, which may not encompass the entirety of factors influencing Kaizen implementation within the triple helix framework during the pandemic.

The originality of this study lies in its comprehensive exploration of the interplay between triple helix actors and Kaizen principles in addressing COVID-19 challenges. By identifying and analyzing nine specific common parameters, the study provides a novel framework for understanding how triple helix actors collaboratively enhance organizational performance and employee engagement during challenging times.

World Health Organizations (WHO) (2023) states that governments and employers have a responsibility to uphold that right by providing work that simultaneously prevents workers from experiencing excessive stress and mental health risks. The business environment continues to produce a lot of stress on workers, which includes internal pressures to achieve results and employees suffer the consequences. Some companies have turned to mindfulness as a technique that helps mitigate these consequences and have joined Kaizen as a process improvement technique in the work environment. Therefore, this study has a research purpose: “to comprehend the possible linkage between Kaizen philosophy from an individual perspective, with Mindfulness ZEN Buddhism technique to understand the individual benefit (well-being) of each employee in organizations.” The answer to this represents the research gap in this article. The research questions governing this study are as follows: RQ1: Does Mindfulness is used as Kaizen technique of personal-individual improvement in 21st-century organizations? RQ2: What elements and characteristics of Kaizen and mindfulness can be found working together? And RQ3: Which qualitative impact of mindfulness and Kaizen in the workplace outcome (well-being, performance of the job (process)) and relationships with other employees)?

This research used a qualitative approach due to the recent phenomenon studied. In a certain way, it was used a mixed-method (combination of qualitative data – web search secondary data analysis and qualitative research-Convergence Model). First, it was done an intensive web search with the aim to identify companies' corporate mindfulness programs, along with companies which have applied mindfulness and Kaizen programs. It was identified a group of big companies with global and international presence (“famous” for their products and services) in diverse industrial and service sectors, country of origin and business locations; with the purpose of getting a holistic vision of all organizations which have practice Kaizen and mindfulness. Therefore, this study explored secondary data related to both practices, analyzing reports or briefings published in management magazines and official WEB pages and/or business magazines.

As a result of the triangulation of the data with its secondary data convergence model and qualitative research, a theoretical framework was reached that shows the benefits of the two combined twin techniques of Kaizen and mindfulness. The worker experiences a path that goes from concentrating on the execution of their processes, following their operating standards (Standardize, Do, Check, Act [SDCA] cycle), going through the evolution to continuous improvement or Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle, experiencing work with concentration-awareness and reducing your daily stress, maintaining high sensitivity to the work process and your environment and finally, discovering an essential life purpose. Finally, worker experiences benefit when there is wide application of both with the SDCA and PDCA cycles such as high motivation, constant learning from your mistakes, day-to-day learning and the Munen Musso (not using the mind).

The main limitation is the qualitative methodological bias and secondary data research. In addition, to have a theoretical sample. However, the richness of the data helps to overcome this limitation. On the other hand, the qualitative research interviews are for a certain geographical area, therefore, the results cannot be generalized.

The results of this research can shed light on operations managers in the use of techniques for continuous improvement and improvement of people's quality of life, such as mindfulness. In Mexico, they are beginning to be used jointly (twin techniques) to comply with Regulation 035 of psychosocial risk, the researchers are sure that in other countries it will be used in the same way to comply with regulations. However, the research findings show the benefits that can be provided to workers in organizations by applying Kaizen and Mindfulness together.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, according to the literature review, this is the first article that explores the relationship between Kaizen and Mindfulness as twin techniques that help improve the individual quality of life of employees in organizations.

The aim of this study reported in this paper was to explore the application of operational excellence methodologies in a global context.

A qualitative interview approach was used to understand the current state, benefits, challenges, success factors, tools and techniques of operational excellence methodology implementation with relevance to logistics companies worldwide. About 16 interviews were undertaken with practitioners working in leading companies and with leading academics in Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America and Australia.

The findings show that operational excellence methodologies including Lean, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma and Agile can apply in logistics firms to improve operations and productivity and save costs. Top management support and involvement play an important role in the success of operational excellence projects in the logistics service.

The findings will be of interest to top and middle managers and logistics practitioners, with a dual aim of improving logistics performance and saving costs.

The present study has been one of the first global study attempts to explore the implementation of operational excellence methodologies in the logistics sectors.

Digital lean implementation can solve the dual problem of stagnating quality and rising costs in healthcare. Although technology adoption in healthcare has increased in the post-COVID world, value unlocking using technology needs a well-thought-out approach to achieve success. This paper provides a prescriptive framework for successfully implementing digital lean in healthcare.

This study uses a mixed-method approach to achieve three research objectives. Whilst it uses a narrative review to identify the enablers, it uses qualitative thematic analysis techniques to categorise them into factors. The study utilises the delphi method for the thematic grouping of the enablers in the broader groups. The study used an advanced ordinal priority approach (OPA) to prioritise these factors. Finally, the study uses concordance analysis to assess the reliability of group decision-making.

The study found that 20 identified enablers are rooted in practice factors, followed by human resource management (HRM) factors, customer factors, leadership factors and technology factors. These results further counter the myth that technology holds the utmost significance in implementing digital lean in healthcare and found the equal importance of factors related to people, customers, leadership and best practices such as benchmarking, continuous improvement and change management.

The study is the first of its kind, providing the prescriptive framework for implementing digital lean in healthcare. The findings are useful for healthcare professionals and health policymakers.

Digital supply chains require nascent technologies like blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT). There is a need to develop a roadmap for the implementation of these technologies, as they require a huge amount of resources and infrastructure. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the challenges of implementing blockchain-IoT integrated architecture in the green supply chain and develop strategies for the same.

After a thorough literature survey of Scopus-indexed journals and books, 37 barriers were identified, which were then brought down to 15 barriers after confirming with industry and academic experts using the Delphi method. Using the total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) method and cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) analysis, the barriers were modeled, and finally, strategies were formulated using a concept map to handle the barriers in the blockchain-IoT integrated architecture for a green supply chain.

This paper presents the research on barriers that can be considered for incorporating blockchain and IoT in the green supply chain. It was found from the TISM model that environmental concerns are Level-1 barriers and need to be addressed by developing appropriate technology and allocating funds for the same. An integrated ecosystem with blockchain and IoT is developed.

The focus of this study was on the challenges of blockchain and IoT; hence, it is required to extend the research and find challenges for different industries and also analyze the criteria using other multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods. Further research is required for the integration of blockchain-IoT with supply chain functions.

The transformation of a traditional supply chain into a green supply chain is possible with the integration of technologies. This research work and the strategies developed are useful to managers and practitioners working on technology implementation. Planning resources and addressing key barriers is possible with the concept maps and architecture developed.

Green supply chain management (SCM) is gaining importance in industry as well as the academic sector due to government Policies and norms worldwide for reducing emissions and encouraging environment-friendly production systems. Incorporating blockchain and IoT in a green supply chain will further digitize and increase transparency in supply chains.

We have done a categorization of all barriers based on the expert survey by academicians and industry experts from industries in India. The concept map helps in identifying possible solutions for the challenges and initiatives to be taken for the smooth integration of technologies in the green supply chain.

Buoyed by the increasing demand for improved productivity and environmentally conscious manufacturing, research in the area of lean production and green manufacturing has experienced significant growth since Dües et al. (2013). Taking the latter as the point of reference, a review of recent developments in the complementary and conflicting areas between lean production and green manufacturing that has been missing is presented.

A systematic search was done to identify articles on lean production and green manufacturing from Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar. The population-intervention-outcome format was used to develop and answer the research questions. ATLAS.ti 22 was used to analyse 141 qualifying papers and identify the research themes.

Lean production and green manufacturing have strong synergy, and when integrated, they tend to deliver superior organisational performance than their individual implementations. This is consistent with the pre-2013 results, and other areas of synergy and divergence were also identified.

The study considers only papers published in the manufacturing sector after Dües et al. (2013). A review of lean production and green manufacturing in integrated product-service systems may also be relevant, especially due to the continuing trend since its introduction.

Any new adopter of lean production should consider implementing it simultaneously with green manufacturing.

This study establishes the persistence of the pre-2013 patterns of synergy and divergence between lean production and green manufacturing, and identifies new considerations for their joint implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and measure stakeholder engagement and interorganisational relationships involved in the project design process.

A mixed-methods design, which combined action study, focus group meetings and a survey with project stakeholders who were employees in this project to express their comments on current design processes in different sub-projects.

The transformation of the design process in the selected project can be categorised into three distinct areas: (1) people, (2) practices and (3) internal infrastructure. These three categories were a straightforward way to review, analyse and discuss this transformation. The findings revealed the major goals of the improvement process as summarised are reliability, efficiency and quality. Recommendations and future study directions were suggested by the end of the paper.

Although the project selected in this research was limited to Australia, the results could be interpreted on the design process in many other construction projects with similar size all over the world.

This research was very practical, with all data collected from the project in Australia. It summarised the difficulties met in the project and provided methods for stakeholders and industry practitioners to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the design process.

This research provided lessons learnt on the design process from a “Giga” project and provided sustainable methods to facilitate future projects into flexible and effective communication among stakeholders.