Search results

The need for long‐term relationships between customer and supplier has been suggested for some time. The literature of supply chain management often compares customer‐supplier relationships to a marriage. The purpose of this paper is to apply results of research on successful families to supply chain management in order to improve these critical business relationships.

The family strengths research is based on surveys and interviews of more than 6,000 successful families over a period exceeding 20 years, and has been summarized in six characteristics of successful families, which are used as the basis of a model of a successful supply chain relationship. The proposed model for successful supply chain relationships is then compared with the existing literature that addresses relationship success and failure.

Support for the characteristics in the supply chain relationships model was found in the literature. One weakness of the model was the failure to explicitly emphasize supplier performance.

The characteristics of principles‐centered relationships and the need for appreciation were new contributions. Generally, this aspect is not emphasized in the supply chain management literature. The supply chain relationships model provides a conceptual framework that should be useful in communicating the desired final state.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and introduce comprehensive insights into the field of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) by reviewing the existing literature and identifying the research gap. The state of LSS research is assessed by critically examining the field, along with a number of dimensions, including time horizon, year, journal and publisher, university, country, author, geographic analysis, research design, research affairs, research methods, tools/techniques used, focus industries, major research area, benefits gained by LSS, critical success factors and barriers of LSS implementation.

This paper is based on a systematic literature review of 190 articles containing the word LSS in their title, which are published in a well-known database, such as Elsevier ScienceDirect, Taylor and Francis, Emerald Full Text, Springer Link, Wiley InterScience and Inderscience from January 2000 to September 2016.

This analysis reveals 15 significant dimensions to identify the state of LSS research. Authors find a noticeable rise in the attention of LSS research in the available literature. Major findings show that, the empirical research holds greater credibility. Statistics prove that the case study method scores the highest among all the research methods used in the discipline. The largest number of studies have investigated research issues related to implementation and process of LSS. The LSS uses a wide range of tools/techniques/methodologies: the choice of tools is situation-specific. Manufacturing and health-care sectors have been the focus of LSS research, but LSS has also been adopted by other types of industries. The organizations following LSS have improved bottom-line results, improved company profitability and growth and enhanced customer satisfaction. In general the research is more interpretive in nature; there is still a lack of standard in the LSS implementation framework.

This study is limited to reviewing those articles which contain the word LSS appeared in the title.

This study will help understand the current state of research on LSS, various trends in the field, its applicability and future prospects of investigation in the field.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of research topics and methodologies employed in existing studies of quality management (QM) in research and development (R&D).

Using a systematic review methodology (SRM), this paper analyzes the literature to identify major themes, shortcomings, and key management practices.

The literature review reveals that researchers have mainly explored only how to implement quality principles and practices in the R&D environment and made little effort to explore other aspects of QM. QM practices discussed in the literature consist of top management commitment, R&D workforce involvement, training, a process‐based approach, teamwork and cross‐functional teams, fact‐based measurement and feedback mechanisms, R&D client focus, and good communication with suppliers. The dominant methodology employed in existing studies is either a case study or conceptual approach.

The paper provides researchers with valuable information about how this research area has evolved, what main themes have been discussed in the literature, and what management practices are effective in pursuing quality efforts in R&D. This study also makes a contribution to the development of quality theory in R&D by pointing out significant gaps in the current literature and suggesting important areas for future study.