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Uncertainty in the early development of digital business startups can benefit from data-driven testing of hypotheses. Startups face uncertainty not only in product development, but also over the structure of the business model and the nature of the customer or market to address. The authors conceptualize a new model, the Lean Discovery Process (LDP), which focuses on market-based testing from the early business idea through to fully realized product stages of an innovation. The purpose of this paper is to highlight a methodology to help digital business reduce uncertainty and apply lean principles as early as possible in the development of a business concept.

Examining literature in lean startups, lean user experience and lean software development, the authors highlight underlying assumptions of existing lean models. The authors then examine the LDP using the case of raiserve, a social entrepreneurship startup that focuses on the management of cause-based voluntary service.

Existing literature focuses on product development against an assumed customer base. Early hypothesis testing can be applied to business concept development to substantially reduce cost and time to market.

Further investigation of different forms of uncertainty in digital startups can open up opportunities to further apply lean methodologies. A more extensive empirical study to measure the potential impact is warranted.

The authors conceptualize the minimum viable customer and support early testing with concepts from market research and collective intelligence. The authors demonstrate early opportunities to apply lean principles and rigorous hypothesis testing in an LDP that results in significant reductions in time and expense of product development.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss health services managers’ experiences of management in a special health-care unit and development efforts from the point of view of the Lean method. Additionally, the aim is to deepen the knowledge of the managers’ work and nature of the Lean method development processes in the workplace. The research focuses on those aspects and results of Lean method that are currently being used in health-care environments.

These data were collected through a number of thematic interviews. The participants were nurse managers (n = 7) and medical managers (n = 7) who applied Lean management in their work at the University Hospital in the Northern Ostrobothnia Health Care District. The data were analysed with a qualitative content analysis.

A common set of values in specialized health-care services, development of activities and challenges for management in the use of the Lean manager development model to improve personal management skills.

Managers in specialized health-care services can develop and systematically manage with the help of the Lean method. This emphasizes assumptions, from the point of view of management, about systems development when the organization uses the Lean method. The research outcomes originate from specialized health-care settings in Finland in which the Lean method and its associated management principles have been implemented and applied to the delivery of health care.

The study shows that the research results and in-depth knowledge on Lean method principles can be applied to health-care management and development processes. The research also describes health services managers’ experiences of using the Lean method. In the future, these results can be used to improve Lean management skills, identify personal professional competencies and develop skills required in development processes. Also, the research findings can be used in the training of health services managers in the health-care industry worldwide and to help them survive the pressure to change repeatedly.

The purpose of this paper is to gain insights about the applicability of Lean principles in software industry along with the Lean implementation issues.

Exploratory case studies have been carried out in five software companies. Data were collected by observation and semi-structured interviews with project managers. In this paper, case organizations are categorized as product vs project software development (SD) organization.

It is found that although Lean principles are being adopted in SD projects, application of all Lean principles is not visible. This research reveals that value and flow are more relevant in SD organizations, while value stream, pull and perfection are not conspicuous.

This paper would prove invaluable to lean practitioners and researchers to gain knowledge in lean SD. The paper puts forward the key issues that should be addressed for successful adoption of lean in SD. This study set out to determine the practitioners’ perception of the applicability of lean principles in SD projects. It provides a sound basis for further empirical research on adoption of lean principles in SD organizations.

The puropse of this paper is to explore the extent to which principles of lean product development are applied to product design and engineering at automotive companies in South Africa (SA). Survey, interview and observational data form the basis for an adaptation of Toyota’s lean product development system (LPDS) (Morgan and Liker, 2006) to the South African automotive product engineering context.

All seven automotive manufacturers then operating in SA (including Toyota) were investigated, together with sample of those suppliers carrying out product engineering and/or design locally. A questionnaire based on the LPDS, and follow-up interviews were used to ascertain the extent to which lean principles informed product engineering, and identify areas where there was scope for improvement.

The survey established that while SA automotive companies have a strong manufacturing focus there is very limited local product design and development (PD&D), as this tends to be carried out centrally for multinationals. However, global product designs require modifications to suit local conditions and many decisions about manufacturability are taken locally. This broad area of design-related activity will be termed product engineering. The study found considerable scope for increasing the extent to which aspects of product engineering were influenced by lean thinking. An adapted version of the LPDS is proposed to aid lean thinking in product engineering in this context.

This study provides information on the application of lean thinking in product engineering, an area that has attracted far less attention than manufacturing and PD&D. Furthermore it addresses a significant sector of an important emerging economy, and contributes a practitioner perspective to what is predominantly a theoretical literature.

Toyota had mature lean capabilities when developing its supplier network. This paper aims to explore how companies can develop a Toyota-style supplier network (TSN) while their lean capabilities are still evolving.

Theoretically, this paper relies on the literature on lean maturity levels and lean supplier network development. Empirically, the paper portrays a Toyota-style initiative, detailing the buyer’s efforts to develop internal lean capabilities concurrently with developing lean in its supplier network. It compares the Network for supplier innovation (NSI) initiative with TSN development regarding activities, organizations and knowledge-sharing routines.

Unlike the sequential development in the case of Toyota, NSI improved performance and capabilities in the buyer’s supplier network by implementing lean in the firm and its supplier network concurrently. Third-party involvement was the key to the initiative’s success.

The findings are based on an in-depth single-case study which allows theoretical generalization but not statistical generalization. Furthermore, the case study concerns an initiative with Norwegian firms during a financial recession. Future studies should consider these limitations on how firms with evolving lean capabilities can develop a TSN-style supplier network and the importance of involving third parties operating in the role of lean master.

This study suggests what buying firms should consider when designing a TSN initiative, enrolling suppliers and engaging third parties that can take on the role of lean master.

Previous research has focused on how mature lean firms develop lean suppliers and networks. This paper extends this to firms whose lean capabilities are still evolving.

In this study, the authors assess the current state of lean product development and the lean production shop floor, along with the impact of the former on process quality and the latter on product quality and customer complaint reduction. The interplay between process and product quality and customer complaint reduction is assessed, along with their impacts on business performance.

Data were collected from 377 managers working at auto-component manufacturing firms in India. Confirmatory factor analysis was used for scale validation, and structural equation modelling was employed to test the research hypotheses.

The results of the statistical analyses reveal the positive influence of a lean production shop floor on process quality and lean product development on product quality and customer complaint reduction, and thereby on business performance.

The findings of this research provide insights into the interplay between lean and quality factors and their influence on customer complaint reduction and business performance. Practitioners can use the proposed model to strategically design unique products and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the production shop floor, which can help enhance the product and process quality. This can reduce customer dissatisfaction and improve the business performance.

Few studies have simultaneously investigated the influence of lean product development and lean production shop floors in the Indian manufacturing context. To the best of our knowledge, this study is one of the first attempts to include customer complaint reduction as a construct in a lean model. It helps identify and prioritise the enablers of business performance and provides valuable insights for practitioners to strengthen lean implementation to attain a competitive edge.

The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate how Toyota deploys Lean Manufacturing and Toyota Production System (TPS) for their automotive parts’ suppliers in Philippines based on the case study and the literature review.

The methods to better understand how Toyota donates Lean Manufacturing to develop their suppliers include to review the general Lean thinking process and tools and study in depth the selected Lean manufacturing tools that are directly related with Toyota supplier development and to show the actual implementations base in the case of the supplier of Toyota in Philippines.

The result of the case study shows how Toyota donates their Lean manufacturing (TPS) methods to the suppliers. There are several procedures and various tools for the Lean process. But one procedure within the process and only some of the Lean tools are suitable for supplier development. The case shows that all improvements (Kaizen) during the Lean implementation should be directly intertwined onsite (Genba) and just a small amount of the Lean tools is needed in real-world situations. In other words, the consultation of the Lean implementation might not require the full package of the Lean implementations. More importantly, the consultations of the Lean implementation without deeply understanding the onsite are useless.

The project for the Lean deployment for supplier implementation is targeted to understand the full procedure from the start to the end, but the case in this paper is only covering the setup phase. As the suppliers of Toyota, there are additional parts to be implemented (i.e. shipping management), but it is not covered in this paper.

There are some researches about Lean implementation framework, and only few cases deal with the actual Lean implementations. But the case about the Lean implementation of supplier development initiation which aligned with the Toyota Company is unique.

The purpose of this paper is to describe benchmarking to evaluate the product development process (PDP) from a lean perspective.

The work was conducted by means of case studies at large companies in Brazil that develop products, based on a gap in the literature involving a lack of indicators to diagnose how lean are PDPs considering the principles and practices of the lean approach.

The results indicate in a quantitative manner that the 12 companies of the multiple case study are implementing the lean approach in their PDPs in an isolated or systematic manner through the categories – process, management, structure, people, product, client, supplier and waste.

The large companies in the case studies are located in different positions of the supply chain and the year that the company began introducing lean manufacturing was not considered, or the maturity of each firm.

Based on the diagnosis, it was possible to propose a set of actions so that the PDP at each company can be structured in a lean manner, improving competitiveness.

The main contribution of the study is a simple, useful and reproducible method that has a set of measurable indicators and graphic representation identifying the lean product development practices, as well as a structured guide to the implementation of improvements that allow companies from different sectors to be compared at a national level and also in the international market.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the evidence of interlinkages between Lean and sustainability among organisational leaders in the early stages of Lean implementation.

A multiple-site case study was conducted to study the connections between Lean and sustainable development during the implementation stages of a Lean practice. In-depth interviews were conducted with managers about their knowledge and understanding of the interlinkages between Lean and sustainable development. The findings were then used as an analytic frame to determine whether these interlinkages were present in the organisation.

Evidence of interlinkages between Lean and sustainable development was found; however, their presence was incomplete and inconsistent across clinics.

Insights from the research can help organisations plan for the implementation of Lean practice, particularly when a sub-goal is to achieve sustainable development.

The study shows the importance of focussing on managers’ knowledge and understanding of the interlinkages between Lean and sustainable development when implementing Lean in order to utilise Lean’s full potential to achieve sustainability.

The purpose of this study is to theorize and test the relationships among lean operations and lean supply chain practices, learning- and innovation-oriented lean cultures and dynamic capabilities (DCs) microfoundations. Further, this study aims to assess the association of DCs microfoundations with process innovation.

The researchers combine primary data collected from 153 manufacturing firms located in five continents using a survey designed for the purpose of this study with archival data downloaded from the Bureau Van Dijk Orbis database and test the hypothesized relationships using structural equation modelling.

Results support the contribution of lean operations and lean supply chain practices to the development of DCs microfoundations, which further lead to greater process innovation. Additionally, while a learning-oriented lean culture positively moderates the relationships between both lean operations and lean supply chain practices and DCs microfoundations, an innovation-oriented lean culture only moderates the relationship between lean operations practices and DCs microfoundations.

This study identifies DCs microfoundations as the key mechanisms for firms implementing lean practices to achieve greater levels of process innovation and the important role played by lean cultures. This study provides direction for managers to put in place DCs through lean implementations, enabling their firms to be ready to respond to challenges and opportunities generated by environmental changes.

While previous research has confirmed the positive effects of lean practices on efficiency, the role of lean practices and cultures in developing capabilities for reacting to environmental dynamism has received little attention. This study offers an empirically supported framework that highlights the potential of lean to adapt processes in response to environmental dynamics, thereby extending the lean paradigm beyond the traditional focus on operational efficiency.