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The purpose of this paper is to develop a measurement framework to evaluate the lean readiness level (LRL) and lean systems (LS) within Kuwaiti small and medium‐sized manufacturing industries (K‐SMMIs). A measurement framework which encompasses the quality practices related to LS (processes; planning and control; human resources; top management and leadership; customer relations; and supplier relations) is used to assess the quality practices in K‐SMMIs and determine whether they have the foundation to implement LS.

The authors conducted a comprehensive literature review, semi‐structured interviews with 27 senior managers, and a quantitative survey administered to 50 K‐SMMIs. The responses were entered into SPSS software to conduct a reliability test and independent sample t‐test.

The results indicate that current quality practices within K‐SMMIs are not very supportive towards LS. Many factors are revealed to affect K‐SMMIs with respect to LS, including language barriers, and deficiencies in aspects including quality workers in terms of education and skills; technology; government attention; know‐how regarding LS; market competitiveness; and urgency for adopting LS.

Very limited information is available on LS and QI in Kuwait. The LRL framework should be tested in small and medium‐sized manufacturing industries (SMMIs) that successfully use LS, in order to provide a benchmark. The study's findings can be used as an internal checklist prior to and during lean implementation.

This LS and LRL measurement framework relating to K‐SMMIs represents a unique effort in the area of lean management.

The purpose of this paper is to report and discuss the manufacturing competitive priorities (cost, delivery, quality, flexibility, and innovativeness) practiced by Kuwaiti manufacturers. It also investigates the possible impact of plant size and type of industry on the level of focus at different priorities. In addition, the level of association between different pairs of competitive priorities was investigated. This allowed testing the traditional competitive priorities trade‐off model which was frequently argued by early operations strategy researchers.

The data collection method used in this study is that of the questionnaire that was administrated in 62 Kuwaiti plants working in two different industries, food processing and refractors. Level of focus (on a five‐point Likert scale) at each of the five competitive priorities, type of industry and number of employees were the main research variables. Since ordinal scales are used in the current study to measure the plant focus on the five competitive priorities, Mann‐Whitney test for two independent samples was used to test for the effect of type of industry and Kruska‐Wallis test was utilized to investigate the relationship between plant size and the level of focus on each competitive priority. In addition, testing the level of associations between degrees of emphasis on different pairs of competitive priorities was through the Goodman and Kruskal's γ coefficients.

Empirical evidence is provided that plant size is a useful indicator of the emphasis on some competitive priorities. It shows that small and medium plants place significantly more emphasis on on‐time delivery while medium and large plants are distinguished by their strong emphasis on flexibility. However, difference size groups indicate the same level of focus on quality improvement, cost reduction and innovativeness. Noticeably, the two industrial sectors do not differ significantly in their level of focus on each of the five competitive priorities. The two industries focused on on‐time delivery and quality improvement strategies as the two main competitive priorities. Both flexibility and innovativeness were the least emphasized priorities in both sectors. The preliminary findings do not seem to support the main argument of the competitive priorities trade‐off model.

Owing to the limitation of data, only employment was the only indicator of plant size. Total revenue and total assets could be used in future studies to verify or deny these findings. Moreover, using a better multidimensional construct in measuring the level of focus on each competitive priority represents another way of improving this study.

The paper adds to the scarce body of empirical studies of manufacturing strategies in newly emerged economies. This is especially true in the Middle East and the Gulf areas. The findings augment the development of a better contingency theory of plant competitive priorities to capture the complexity of different plant characteristics.

Introduction: Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in the economic development of economies by generating job opportunities. Considering their significance, understanding the challenges and skills required in these enterprises becomes essential and timely.

Purpose: This study aims to discuss the limitations and skill gaps faced by SMEs in emerging economies, such as India, Indonesia, Brazil, China, Malaysia, Ghana, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, UAE, Iran, Kazakhstan, Türkiye, Zambia, Romania, and Vietnam.

Methodology: The study adopts a systematic review and meta-synthesis approach, utilising a literature review to comprehensively analyse, synthesise, and map the existing literature by identifying overarching themes.

Findings: The study examines the challenges SMEs encounter in emerging economies, including resource scarcity, limited access to credit, inadequate infrastructure, low technology adoption, restricted global market access, and ineffective marketing strategies. There is a notable shortage of skilled labour and development initiatives within SMEs in India even though the country has a sizeable pool of qualified workers. There is a pressing need for additional technical and managerial skills to remain competitive in the market. The findings of this study will assist HR managers in addressing skill shortages among employees in SMEs operating within emerging economies

The purpose of this exploratory study is to survey quality management practices in two industrial sectors in the state of Kuwait. It aims to provide reliable and valid constructs for measuring quality management practices and to test the effect of type of industry and plant size on the implementation level.

A questionnaire was administered, with the help of the Kuwaiti Public Authority for Industry (PAFI), to a stratified sample of 105 Kuwaiti plants. Confirmatory factor analysis and internal consistency tests were used to verify scales validity and reliability. The two independent samples t‐test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were utilised to investigate the statistical effects of type of industry and plant size respectively.

The results revealed four reliable and valid constructs: customer focus, total quality management (TQM) human practices, process quality resource, and quality measurements. While type of industry showed no significant effect on the level of implementation of the four quality management constructs, plant size was a determinant factor of the implementation of customer focus and process quality practices.

The study is the first quality management survey in Kuwait. No valid or reliable TQM scales were developed before in such rigorous methodology. The study contributes to the unresolved issue of the size effect, especially when considering plant rather than company size. The need for governmental support, especially for small plants, in quality management implementation was reinforced.

The performance of Kuwaiti small firms was examined, with specific attention paid to gender as a differentiating factor. Differences and similarities between the two gender groups were discussed with respect to human capital variables, family situation factors, business characteristics, and financial performance indicators. The results showed that women had less business experience, higher education levels, and were older than their male counterparts. Furthermore, the results showed that women‐owned firms suffered from liability of newness and their financial performance was significantly lower than men‐owned firms.

The purpose of this study is to report and contrast manufacturer–supplier relationships, supplier selection and procurement performance of two manufacturing sectors in Kuwait. The effect of supplier relationship and selection on the performance of the procurement function was also investigated.

Surveys of supplier selection, supplier relationship and procurement performance are taken from 62 plants operating in 2 competitive manufacturing sectors in Kuwait (foods industry and refractors industry). The study utilizes multivariate and multi-regression analyses in understanding the effect of supplier relationship and selection on the performance of the procurement function.

Findings indicate a significant effect of supplier relationship and supplier selection on a plant’s procurement performance. However, variance in plant size and/or industrial sector was found to not affect this relationship.

Despite the significance of the Gulf states and the growing importance of the manufacturing sector in these countries, relatively little is known about how buyers and suppliers within this sector interact. This study is the first to document supplier relationships and selection processes in this area of the world. The study also provides a reliable and valid scale for measuring the performance of the procurement function in the Kuwaiti manufacturing sector. Furthermore, the postulated impact of supplier–buyer relationships on the performance of the procurement functions was investigated in a newly emerging economy in the Gulf.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the status of lean manufacturing in Indian automotive sector, component manufacturing industries in terms of lean adoption, benefits, motivation, and challenges of implementing lean manufacturing practices.

The research objectives were achieved by conducting a qualitative multicase study approach. Fourteen Indian automotive component manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were chosen based on their different product offerings as well as differing approaches to the introduction and implementation of lean initiatives. Data were collected through in-depth, semistructured interviews supported by shop-floor observations.

The findings from the present study suggest that some of the participating automotive component manufacturing SMEs have a relatively good understanding of lean concepts and philosophy. However, there is room for further improvement for most SMEs. Major top five lean practices being implemented were found to be cellular manufacturing, total productive maintenance, 5S, work standardization, and quality management practices. Also, leadership and organizational culture were found to be crucial factors for the success of lean manufacturing.

The fact that the data collected for the research study is based on subjective business evidence obtained from company representatives comprises the main limitation of the present study. So, the results should be considered with caution, as far as the lean adoption in Indian automotive component manufacturing sector is concerned.

Based on the present study, suggestions can be made regarding the successful adoption of lean principles, not only for the participating SMEs but also for the whole of the automotive component manufacturing sector. More specifically, by determining the strength and weakness of automotive component manufacturing SME's effort to adopt lean, suitable managerial initiatives can be undertaken by these companies as well as the whole sector to fully adopt lean and derive the respective benefits.

This paper explores the status of lean adoption in Indian automotive component manufacturing SMEs. Considering the unique characteristics of the automotive component manufacturing industry, the present research would be helpful for making strategies to implement lean in automotive component manufacturing industry setups.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the quality practices of European pharmaceutical manufacturers to determine the level of readiness of this industrial sector to implement and/or sustain lean manufacturing (LM).

An assessment framework developed by Al-Najem et al. (2013) was adapted to evaluate how ready European pharmaceutical manufacturers are to implement and/or sustain LM. Therefore, the lean readiness (LR) level of these organisations was assessed through six quality practices related to LM. These included: processes, planning and control, human resources, top management and leadership, customer relations, and supplier relations. One research question and three hypotheses were formulated and tested using a combination of descriptive statistics and non-parametric Mann-Whitney tests. Data were collected through a survey questionnaire distributed to 310 European pharmaceutical manufacturers and responded by 37 of these organisations.

Overall, the results of this study indicate an inadequate level of LR for the participating firms. Simultaneously, it was concluded that factors such as company size, type of relationships with suppliers and ISO 9000 certification do not have an effect on the quality practices, and hence LR level, of European pharmaceutical manufacturing organisations.

This study provides crucial information regarding the LR level of European pharmaceutical manufacturers, which can now be aware of the areas in their practices that require further improvement towards a successful lean journey. Simultaneously, organisations in the pharmaceutical sector that intend to implement LM can consider the results of this study and evaluate their readiness level. Managers can, therefore, refer to this research and use it as a platform to take better decisions regarding what quality aspects of their operations need to be enhanced to successfully deploy or sustain a lean strategy.

This research is one of the very few studies that have focussed on evaluating whether the European pharmaceutical manufacturing industry is ready to successfully implement or sustain LM. Therefore, this research expands the limited existent body of knowledge of LM in this industry.

The authors have recently been seeing a rising trend towards sustainability and innovation among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kuwait, especially through the use of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were introduced by United Nations in 2015. In Kuwait, corporations such as Zain and NBK have already implemented the SDGs as part of their main objective to create a better future for their companies. This research attempts to explore the reasons why entrepreneurs in SMEs are implementing the SDGs and specifically goal number 12 (SDG 12).

With this research drawing on a qualitative approach, a sample of 20 participants who operated at the executive level of the SMEs were chosen randomly using the “snowball” sampling from different industries, including the food and beverage and beauty and service sectors, and were interviewed.

The results revealed that most SMEs in Kuwait are considering their approach to sustainability. Although these SMEs are following a global trend, the Kuwait government does not support them in adopting sustainability rules and regulations.

This research contributes to the existing literature by presenting new knowledge about SMEs in Kuwait implementing the SDGs. It also makes an empirical contribution to the SME and entrepreneurship literature by exploring the reasons for adopting these goals. This study is one of very few that have explored the SDGs in Kuwait, and it can provide grounds for future research on SMEs' adoption in Kuwait of future SGDs. Recommendations and future directions are presented.

The findings add to the empirical literature by revealing the reasons why entrepreneurs in SMEs are implementing SDG 12. Furthermore, the findings will open doors for future research in this field.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the perception of total quality management (TQM) benefits, practices and obstacles in Kuwaiti industrial organizations certified against ISO 9001:2000 (or later) and following a TQM approach. A discrepancy in perception between project managers (PMs) and quality management representatives (QMRs) of organizations in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries has already been identified (Jaeger and Adair, 2013), and this study compares the perception of these two groups in more depth.

Extensive representatives of both groups have been individually interviewed, a classification system for TQM benefits, practices and obstacles has been developed, and interview responses have been analyzed against this classification system.

It emerges that all responses matched one of the benefits, obstacles and practices of the classification system. Comparing the total group of PMs with the total group of QMRs, it was found that both groups agree on their perception of the most important practice (i.e. an implemented management system) and, the biggest obstacle (i.e. lack of employee involvement). However, they disagree on their perception of the most important TQM benefit (i.e. PMs prefer quality of products and services, and QMRs prefer productivity).

The results of the total groups and sub-groups give new insights regarding the different perceptions of PMs and QMRs. Also, the results enable practitioners of these two functions to discuss the differences and align their perceptions. This should increase the effectiveness of the TQM approach in their organizations. Finally, the results allow management consultants to focus on areas with high potential for improvements.