Exploration and prioritization of lean techniques in a hotel supply chain

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 375-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raid Al-Aomar ◽  
Matloub Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Lean Management ◽  
Time Service ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Survey Tool ◽  
Lean Practices ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Structured Approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for identification, categorization and prioritization of lean techniques adopted in a hotel supply chain. Design/methodology/approach A survey tool is used for the identification of lean techniques that are relevant to a hotel supply chain. The targeted sample includes experts from 50 four- and five-star hotels in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that confirmed experience in implementing lean practices across hotels supply chain. A Supplier-Inputs-Process-Outputs-Customers (SIPOC) chart and experts’ opinion are used to allocate and categorize the identified lean techniques across the construct of the hotel supply chain. Finally, analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is used to prioritize the criteria and sub-criteria of adopted lean techniques. Findings Study results have identified six main categories of lean practices and 19 specific lean techniques as relevant to a hotel supply chain. The identified categories include JIT, Kaizen, Quality, Inventory, Maintenance and Standardization. The study found that JIT and Kaizen take the top priority among the identified categories of lean practices. In line with that, on-time service to customers, effective improvement system and on-time delivery from suppliers were found to be the three most relevant lean techniques to a hotel supply chain. Research limitations/implications The study has targeted a representative sample of hotels with experience in implementing lean practices. Study findings have several implications to researchers and practitioners for effective adoption of lean techniques within a hotel supply chain. However, the accuracy and credibility of results obtained from this research including SIPOC allocation and lean categorization are highly dependent on the accuracy and credibility of collected empirical data from surveyed hotels within the study context. Results of AHP prioritization also depend on the credibility of judgements made by the hotels’ supply chain experts. Practical implications The study provides the hospitality industry with a structured approach that can help in a prioritized adoption of most relevant lean techniques across the hotel supply chain to reduce wastes, create value, increase efficiency and improve the service level. Study findings can be used by hotel management to direct and focus the effort of lean capacity building, resources allocation and implementation plans. Originality/value Limited research is available on lean management in the context of a hotel supply chain. Also, most of the previous research is focused on lean impacts, while academics and practitioners agree that the identification and prioritization of most relevant lean techniques is crucial to the successful implementation of lean management for waste reduction and value creation. This research addresses this important issue in hotel supply chains and proposes a structured approach for effective lean adoption.

The relationship between organizational attitude and lean practices: an organizational sense-making perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 120 (9) ◽  
pp. 1715-1731
Author(s):  
Mohsin Malik ◽  
Salam Abdallah
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Customer Management ◽  
Sense Making ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Lean Management ◽  
Lean Implementation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Lean Practices

PurposePast studies of lean have failed to sufficiently address the importance of social factors for successful lean implementations. This paper aims to broaden and deepen the understanding of lean as a socio-technical paradigm by conceptualizing lean implementation as an organizational change process.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on the organizational sense-making literature to conceptualize and validate lean implementation as an organizational change process that necessitates a focus on the ability of organizational actors to construct a shared meaning of lean. This study posit that this shared understanding shapes the collective behaviour and attitudes of people towards a future desired organizational state such as a successful implementation of lean. Survey data were collected from various manufacturing and services firms to test the hypothesis derived from literature using a structural equation modelling approach.FindingsThe mutual social interactions of organizational actors contribute to an enabling lean organizational attitude that has a dominant effect on the lean practices of employee involvement, internal technical practices, supplier and customer management. This study also established boundary conditions for these relationships by identifying firm size as a moderating variable.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings establish a supportive organizational attitude as an antecedent for lean implementation, which goes beyond the current socio-technical characterization of lean management. This conceptualization draws the attention of researchers and practitioners towards the critical role of the cooperative behaviours of organizational actors in lean implementations.Originality/valueThe statistical results add a novel perspective to the discourse on the social dimension of lean implementation by conceptualizing and validating lean management as a combination of organizational attitude and the process facilitators comprising of employee empowerment, internal technical practices, supplier and customer management.

scholarly journals An empirical study of oil and gas value chain agility in the UAE

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 3541-3569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ala Shqairat ◽  
Balan Sundarakani
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Moderate Effect ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the agility of oil and gas value chains in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and to understand the impact of implementing supply disruption (SD) strategies, outsourcing strategies (OS) and management strategies (MS) on oil and gas value chain agility (VCA). The results can support the oil and gas industry across the UAE to build resilience in the value chain. Design/methodology/approach The research design consists of a comprehensive literature review, followed by questionnaire-based survey responses of 106 participants and comprehensive statistical analysis, thus validate the developed theoretical framework and contribute to both practical and methodological approaches. Findings The findings indicate that oil and gas value chain in the UAE has moderate a significant degree of SD, when OS in place that are synchronized with the overall MS. Among the hypotheses developed, two were accepted thus warranting both SD strategies (r=+0.432) and MS (r= +0.457) found to have a positive moderate effect on VCA. The third hypothesis was rejected by revealing OS (r=+0.387) found to have a positive moderate relationship with VCA. Therefore, implementation of all three strategies has a positive moderate effect on the agility of the value chain and, therefore, supports to sustain competitive position. Research limitations/implications Some of the limitations of this research include the geographic coverage of the study region and other methodological limitation. Practical implications The research provides guidance for oil and gas supply chain managers to better understand the critical factors that impact and determine VCA. The paper also describes relevant strategies that should be taken into consideration by these managers in order to build their agile value chains. Social implications The research contributes to the social dimensions of supply chain sustainability of how resilient is the oil and gas value chain during uncertain conditions, so that it can respond to uncertain changes in order to contribute to corporate social responsibility. Originality/value This research is the first of its kind in the UAE region to assess the link between dimensions of agile value chain, OS, SD strategies and MS primarily from the Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

The verification of effective leadership style for TQM

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 822-840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young Sik Cho ◽  
Joo Y. Jung
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Style ◽  
Effective Leadership ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Total Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Results

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to verify the universal applicability of total quality management (TQM) across national boundaries. Specifically, the authors examined the validity of the isomorphic nature of TQM leadership style by comparing survey samples from both USA-based firms (n=112) and China-based firms (n=121). Design/methodology/approach – The authors collected the primary data through a survey research method. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were adopted to test the hypothesized research model. Findings – The study results did not support the universality of TQM practices. For example, the results reveal that in the USA-based firms, transformational leadership has a more significant positive influence on TQM practices, while in the China-based firms, transactional leadership has a more significant positive impact on TQM practices. Originality/value – Most of the existing literature on TQM assumed that the most effective TQM leadership style would be universal across organizational or international boundaries. However, our findings imply that the effective leadership style for successful implementation of TQM practices could be contingent on the cultural background embedded within the firms. Therefore, the authors anticipate the findings of the study will guide future research on TQM and create a new path to find solutions not only for optimizing the successful implementation of TQM, but also for minimizing the current high level of TQM failures.

Building resilience in retail supply chains: Lessons learned from COVID-19 and future pathways

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Atif Saleem Butt
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis study explores the countermeasures taken by retailers to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on supply chain disruptions.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses a multiple case study approach and undertakes 36 semi-structured interviews with senior management of the four largest retailers of the United Arab Emirates. The respondents were designated at different positions such as Vice President, Director and Project Manager.FindingsResults reveal that retailers are employing six countermeasures to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on supply chains. Particularly, retailers are securing required demand, preserving cash flows, redirecting inventory, adding capacity to their distribution centres, becoming more flexible with their direct or third-party logistics provider and finally widening delivery options for their suppliers to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has some limitations. First, the results of this study cannot be generalized to a broader population as it attempts to build an initial theory. Second, this study uses a cross-sectional approach to explore the countermeasures employed by retailing firms to mitigate the effects of COVID-19.Originality/valueA notable weakness in a supply chain disruption literature is an unfulfilled need for research examining the strategies employed by retailers to respond to/address the challenges posed by COVID-19. Our study fills this gap.

Comparative analysis of ranking the lean supply chain enablers: An AHP, BWM and fuzzy SWARA based approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hemant Sharma ◽  
Nagendra Sohani ◽  
Ashish Yadav
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Lean Manufacturing ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Initial Step ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Lean Practices ◽  
Manufacturing Organization ◽  
Good Productivity ◽  
Lean Supply Chain

PurposeIn the recent scenario, there has been an increasing trend toward lean practices and implementation in production systems for the improvement of an organization’s performance as its basic nature is to eliminate the wastes. The increasing interest of customers in customized products and the fulfillment of customers’ demand with good productivity and efficiency within time are the challenges for the manufacturing organization; that is why adopting lean manufacturing concept is very crucial in the current scenario.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the authors considered three different methodologies for fulfilling the objective of our research. The analytical hierarchy process, best–worst method and fuzzy step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis are the three methods employed for weighting all the enablers and finding the priority among them and their final rankings.FindingsFurther, the best results among these methodologies could be used to analyze their interrelationships for successful lean supply chain management implementation in an organization. In this paper, 35 key enablers were identified after the rigorous analysis of literature review and the opinion of a group of experts consisting of academicians, practitioners and consultants. Thereafter, the brainstorming sessions were conducted to finalize 28 lean supply chain enablers (LSCEs).Practical implicationsFor lean manufacturing practitioners, the result of this study can be beneficial where the manufacturer is required to increase efficiency and reduce cost and wastage of resources in the lean manufacturing process.Originality/valueThis paper is the first of the research papers that considered deep literature review of identified LSCEs as the initial step, followed by finding the best priority weightage and developing the ranking of various lean enablers of supply chain with the help of various methodologies.

The relationship between cost leadership competitive strategy and firm performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 920-936 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manjeet Kharub ◽  
Rahul S. Mor ◽  
Rajiv Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Management ◽  
Developing Country ◽  
Continuous Improvement ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cost Leadership ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Study Results ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the cost leadership competitive strategy’s (CLCS) impact on firm performances and the mediating role of quality management (QM) practices in the context of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Design/methodology/approach A structures questionnaire data collected from 245 ISO 9000 certified MSMEs in India (65.1 per cent of response rate) have been utilised to understand the CLCS’s impact on firm performances. In the first step, the data adequacy tests were performed to check the reliability and validity of the questionnaire and survey data. After that, the partial mediating model (direct, indirect and total effect) along with structural equation modelling approach was employed to test the research hypotheses. Findings The study results revealed that no direct relationship exists between the CLCS and firm performances (0.12<β<0.13; p>0.05); however, QM practices entirely mediated their relationship (β=0.73, p<0.01). Among eight model parameters, with highest total effects on product quality improvement (β=0.6264) and process improvement (β=0.6028), the continuous improvement secured the rank 1, followed by information and analysis (β=0.2334) and supplier management (0.1839), respectively, at p<0.05. Based on the empirical results, it can be concluded that the continuous improvement via proper information and data analysis is the key to achieve CLCS’s goal in the MSMEs. Research limitations/implications The study results’ generalisation towards the large organisations is limited. The survey result findings applicability to other developing countries should also be treated with caution because the Indian Government subsidised the MSMEs selected for this study. The study results will help managers in implementing CLCS at the organisational level. The successful implementation will facilitate a competitive advantage in the local market and will motivate them to think globally. Originality/value The research observation and findings are expected to contribute to the strategic management in manufacturing industries. The study also confirms the existence of strategic management in MSMEs in a developing country. Furthermore, the major contribution is to understand the mediating role of QM practices, especially continuous improvement effect on the relationship between CLCS and firm performances in a developing country. The results indicated that the CLCS is only possible when the managers in the manufacturing sectors emphasis on the QM practices in their firms.

Agility and lean practices as antecedents of supply chain social sustainability

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 1589-1611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vishnu Nath ◽  
Rajat Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Operational Performance ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sustainability Performance ◽  
Lean Practices ◽  
Sustainability Practices

PurposeThe present study aims to empirically investigate whether supply chain agility and lean management practices are antecedents of supply chain social sustainability.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 311 supply chain practitioners from the Indian manufacturing sector. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to test the validity and reliability of the measures used, and a structural model was analyzed to test the hypotheses of the current study.FindingsThe results indicate that agility and lean practices are significant antecedents of social sustainability orientation as well as social sustainability performance. The results also suggest that agility has a significant indirect effect on operational performance via social sustainability orientation, basic social sustainability practices as well as agility is indirectly affecting social sustainability performance via social sustainability orientation and basic social sustainability practices.Practical implicationsThe results of the present study have implications for managers that want to make their supply chain more socially sustainable.Originality/valueThe study is unique in the sense that it empirically links agility and lean practices with social sustainability orientation, social substantiality performance and operational performance in supply chains.

BIM for client organisations: a continuous improvement approach

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 402-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mubarak Al Ahbabi ◽  
Mustafa Alshawi
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Continuous Improvement ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Maturity Level ◽  
Building Information Modelling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Building Information ◽  
Structured Approach ◽  
Over Time

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a continuous improvement approach for clients to improve their performance and to maximise the benefits gained from building information modelling (BIM) over time. The role of client organisations is considered to be very important to accelerate the implementation of BIM. To do this, they need to clearly understand the implementation mechanisms; determine the level of change required within their organisations; and evaluate how best they can achieve this change. The paper’s concept is based on identifying BIM requirements and documenting them in an Employer Information Requirements (EIR) document based on their capability and maturity to deliver and manage BIM. Design/methodology/approach – The continuous improvement approach is based on introducing gradual details to the client’s EIR, depending on the capability and maturity of the client organisation and their supply chain. The approach uses BSI B/555 maturity levels as a baseline for improvement. Findings – A structured approach for client organisations is presented. This helps them to gradually improve their performance towards BIM implementation, taking into consideration their capability and maturity level. Originality/value – The proposed approach is new to industry and could contribute to the efforts of the industry in reaching higher BSI B/555 maturity levels with minimal risks.

Analyzing the factors for implementation of green supply chain management

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 246-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.K. Singh ◽  
Sanjay Rastogi ◽  
Mallika Aggarwal
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Management ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Measurement System ◽  
Green Supply Chain Management ◽  
Green Supply Chain ◽  
Performance Measurement System ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Chain Management ◽  
Content Type

Purpose In the present context of a globalised economy, market requirements are changing regularly in term of product cost, delivery time, safety and environmental issues. Apart from conventional measures, environmental factors have become an integral part of performance measurement system. This study aims to analyse major barriers and factors in green supply chain (GSC) management implementation. Design/methodology/approach The present study has tried to identify barriers and factors for green supply chain management (GSCM) based on literature review. Factors for GSCM have been modelled by interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach. Findings Based on literature review, 12 factors have been identified. It has been observed that top management commitment, integration among supply chain members, vendors’ development, environmental friendly packaging and transportation, reverse logistic management and development of a green performance measurement system are major drivers for successful implementation of GSCM. Research Limitations/implications Organisations need to follow a proactive approach for taking GSC initiatives. For generalisation of findings, empirical study and some case studies need to be carried out. Originality/value Findings of this study will help organisations in strategy formulation for GSCM and successful implementation for sustainable competitiveness.

Sustainable supply chain management

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 1001-1049 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swayam Sampurna Panigrahi ◽  
Bikram Bahinipati ◽  
Vipul Jain
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Management ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Sustainable Supply Chain ◽  
Chain Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sustainable Supply Chain Management ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Business Enterprises

Purpose The business enterprises are increasingly focusing on buying and supplying of products and services in a manner to reduce the adverse impacts on the environment, society, and economy. In view of the above, the concept of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has received attention of the industry and academia due to its importance on environmental, social and corporate responsibility through economic performance. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The structured literature review attempts to map the various theories in the SSCM literature from the perspectives of economic performance, environmental dimensions, and social values and ethics. Findings As supply management is vital for enhancing organizational competitiveness, the present work attempts to investigate the theoretical perspectives in SSCM to develop an understanding of the current research activities and future potentials. Practical implications This work aims to gain a number of valid insights for the practitioners and the researchers. It also focuses on the perspectives of governance mechanisms for successful implementation SSCM practices in the business enterprises. Originality/value As the theory building initiatives with implications on the conceptualization of SSCM is limited in literature, this work has also been able to identify the trends and relevant research gaps to define the potential areas for future research.

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