CHARACTERISTICS OF A LEAN COMPANY A quantitative study analysing the characteristics and environment of a lean company

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to comprehend what the characteristics are for companies that use lean, and where they operate. Earlier studies are often from a qualitative approach, where this study instead will be from a quantitative approach with survey data. The study presupposes two research questions; What characterizes a lean company with regards to performance/targets, incentives/people, & macro-level factors, and In what regions are lean practices more common and how do the factors regarding performance/targets & incentives/people differ between the regions? The study is realised with survey data from the World Management Survey, Sustainable Development Report, and the World Bank. The findings suggest that companies using lean often use a high level of other modern management practices such as focusing on long-term goals or non-financial performance. Other findings show that the regions Europe, North America, and Oceania have a larger scale of lean implementation than the regions East Asia, South America, and Asia. The most findings correspond with earlier previous studies and the most of the findings are as expected.