The impact of lean practices on the operational performance of SMEs in India

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Purpose Although lean thinking is deemed to be a gold standard of modern production management, a lot of scepticism still remains regarding its applicability in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this paper is to understand the perception of lean in SMEs and establish the relationship between lean adoption and operational performance. Design/methodology/approach With the help of a survey, data were collected from 425 SMEs in India and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings Operational performance of the firms was found to be positively related to lean implementation. Originality/value This study also furnishes practitioners with a better understanding of lean thinking in SMEs and its impact on performance.