Lean meeting buyer's expectations, enhanced supplier productivity and compliance capabilities in garment industry

Lean, sustainability and the triple bottom line performance: a systems perspective-based empirical examination

Purpose

This study draws on the systems perspective to study the individual and combined interaction effect of lean management (LM) and sustainability management (SM) on the organization's triple bottom line (TBL) performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employs structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses using data from the sixth version of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS VI).

Findings

The study finds that LM is positively related to all dimensions of the TBL performance. In contrast, SM is positively related to social and environmental performance and negatively related to economic performance. Finally, by finding that the interaction between LM and (SM) is positive for social and environmental performance, this study not only confirms that LM is an enabler for sustainability, but it also supports that the two paradigms are mutually compatible and reinforcing.

Practical implications

The findings imply that practitioners pursuing both LM and SM should leverage their mutual positive effects and balance the unintended effects of implementing isolated bundles by implementing them together as a complete socio-technical system. Their combined impact on the TBL performance will outweigh the sum of their individual effects in the case of isolated implementations.

Originality/value

In contrast with the extant literature, this study proposes that LM and SM make parts of one system as opposed to one correlated with the other or having a positive causal effect on the other. Taking an integrated systems approach, the study empirically verifies the “mutual compatibility” of the lean and sustainability paradigms argument, with regard to their effect on the TBL performance.

Buyer–Supplier Role in Improving Ergonomics in Garment Supplier Factories: Empirical Evidence from the Garment Industry of Bangladesh

Ergonomics is a key concern of garment suppliers to improve their workers’ well-being and efficiency. However, suppliers’ isolated initiatives are not sufficient to improve ergonomics conditions. Thus, buyers’ cooperation and collaboration with suppliers are necessary to make the ergonomic initiatives successful and sustainable. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of buyer-assisted ergonomics intervention on suppliers’ performance and the role of buyers’ assistance and suppliers’ initiatives for improving ergonomics conditions in garment supplier factories. Following a qualitative research approach and multiple embedded case study method, this study intervened in supplier factories and collected qualitative and quantitative data from one Danish buyer and their four key suppliers on ergonomics and the role of buyers and suppliers in improving ergonomics conditions. Collected data were analysed by employing both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques. This study demonstrates that buyer-assisted ergonomics intervention on the shop floor can improve ergonomics conditions in garment supplier factories. This study also shows that improving ergonomics in supplier factories need joint efforts of buyers and suppliers. The findings of this study will enrich the literature on ergonomics, sustainability, and buyer–supplier relationships by demonstrating how garment suppliers in developing countries can improve ergonomics to meet the expectations of lead buyers and their workers. This is a unique research attempt to understand ergonomics from a buyer–supplier relationship perspective and its impact on the social sustainability of garment suppliers.

Individuals' psychosocial voice barriers in lean problem-solving teams

Purpose

Voice role identification and the psychosocial voice barriers represented by implicit voice theories (IVTs) affect lean team members' prosocial voice behavior and thereby lean team performance. This paper investigates how role definition and IVTs influence individual lean team-members' prosocial voice behavior during lean implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

This research was conducted in four case readymade garment (RMG) factories in Bangladesh following a mixed-method research approach dominated by a qualitative research methodology. Under the mixed-method design, this research followed multiple research strategies, including intervention-based action research and case studies.

Findings

The findings suggest that voice role perception affects the voice behavior of the individual lean team members. The findings also demonstrate that voice role definition significantly influences individually held implicit voice beliefs in lean teams.

Research limitations/implications

This research was conducted in four sewing lines in four RMG factories in Bangladesh. There is a need for a cross-sector and cross-country large-scale study that follows the quantitative research methods in different contexts.

Practical implications

This research contributes to the operations management literature, especially in lean manufacturing, by presenting the difficulties of mobilizing employee voice in lean problem-solving teams. This work provides new knowledge to managers to address challenges and opportunities to ensure decent work and to improve productivity.

Originality/value

This research raises a key issue of employee voice and its influence on lean performance which addresses two critical areas of employee voice behavior in lean teams: team-members' voice role perception and implicit voice beliefs that influence their voice behavior in the workplace, thereby influencing team performance.

Quality intervention, supplier performance and buyer–supplier relationships: evidence from the garment industry

Purpose

This study investigates the impact of a buyer-assisted quality intervention on suppliers' quality performance and buyer–supplier relational dynamics in the garment industry.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employed a multiple-embedded case study following a qualitative research approach. The study used data from buyer-assisted quality interventions in sewing lines of four garment supplier factories. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews of buyer's representatives at their office and senior managers, line inspectors, supervisors and workers in supplier factories. In addition, data related to product quality was obtained from quality check sheets and observations on the shop floor. Data were analysed using qualitative data analysis techniques.

Findings

This study demonstrates that a buyer-assisted quality intervention improves product quality performance by reducing quality defects in targeted garment products resulting in improved buyer–supplier relationships. Moreover, this study identifies the lack of a systematic approach in quality control as a key reason for poor product quality.

Research limitations/implications

The study adds knowledge to the literature on quality improvement and buyer–supplier relationships by analysing buyer-assisted quality interventions in the garment industry in Bangladesh. The study demonstrates that buyer's assistance and adopting a systematic approach in quality control can significantly improve product quality in the garment industry.

Practical implications

This research can help the quality assurance managers in buyer and supplier firms understand the significance of quality interventions and systematic quality control approach to decrease product quality defects and ensure smooth buyer–supplier relationships.

Originality/value

The study adds new knowledge on the link between buyer-assisted quality interventions, systematic quality control and product quality in garments factories in Bangladesh.

Country-related future research agenda of Lean Manufacturing–A systematic literature review

Purpose

Many future research proposals of Lean Manufacturing (LM) are presented in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to determine these future research proposals of LM which are country-related and classify them.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review (SLR) of peer-reviewed journal articles in LM was conducted. A total of 145 articles published in 34 journals during 2010–2020 were collected from four major management science publishers namely, Emerald Online, Elsevier/Science Direct, Springer Link and Taylor and Francis. The country-related future research proposals of LM identified in the literature were classified according to, firstly, the continent of the country of reference, and secondly, some form of natural affinity of these proposals creating meaningful themes. The quality tool “affinity diagram” was applied to classify the country-related future research proposals of LM.

Findings

The country-related future research proposals of LM, which are increasing in the literature over time, refer mostly to studies to be conducted in several continents/countries and to multinational studies. Conducting studies specifically in Asia, Europe, South and North America, Africa and Australia–New Zealand is also suggested. The plethora of the country-related future research proposals of LM were classified, based on the affinity of their content, into 18 meaningful themes. These themes were also classified based on their affinity into two broad categories, namely “themes concerning the LM approach itself” and “themes concerning factors outside the LM approach”.

Research limitations/implications

The restricted number of the databases searched and the subjectivity of classifying the large number of the country-related future research proposals into themes are the main limitations of the present SLR. Based on these limitations, future literature review studies can be carried out.

Practical implications

Useful proposals are provided to researchers of several countries for conducting original and country-specific research studies which can enrich the knowledge of the implementation of LM under the specific circumstances of a country for the benefit of practitioners.

Originality/value

This study goes beyond previous literature review studies on LM by focusing exclusively on the LM future research agenda which is country related. The analytical presentation of the country-related future research proposals as well as the formulation of clusters of these proposals make the present SLR study substantially different from those carried out worldwide so far.

Transfer mechanisms for lean implementation with OHS integration in the garment industry

Purpose

Lean manufacturing has the potential for simultaneously improving the competitiveness and the social sustainability of the apparel industry in developing countries. However, there is limited research on the ways to a successful lean implementation in developing countries and with an emphasis on occupational health and safety (OHS) improvement.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper investigates four cases of lean implementation in garment factories and uses the design science research strategy, building on the context-intervention-mechanism-outcome (CIMO) framework to identify explanatory mechanisms that can be used for designing future action.

Findings

The study identifies tangible mechanisms that can lead to successful lean implementation. The most important mechanisms relate to practical top management support, worker involvement, application of lean tools and training.

Practical implications

The findings of this study can guide better lean implementation for the many garment factories in developing countries.

Originality/value

While the lean literature provides general recommendations for lean implementation, knowledge about the transfer mechanisms in developing countries as well as the connections between lean and OHS is limited. This paper contributes to lean implementation theory and to the discourse of positive lean by integrating efficiency and working conditions. In addition, the paper identifies transfer mechanisms for lean implementation in the garment industry in a developing country.

Task performance and occupational health and safety management systems in the garment industry of Bangladesh

Purpose

This study investigates the relationship between individual task performance of garment workers and occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS) in the garment industry of Bangladesh.

Design/methodology/approach

Following a quantitative research approach and using a four-stage cluster sampling technique, data collected from 610 workers of twelve garments supplier factories using a structured questionnaire. Mean, standard deviation, correlation and stepwise multiple regressions performed to understand the relationship between task performance and OHSMS.

Findings

The study results demonstrate that occupational health and safety (OHS) policy, benchmarking, worker participation, OHS training, communication, emergency response, preventive and protective action, monitoring and review are the significant predictors of individual task performance of garment workers; and OHS policy contributes most substantially to the variance of task performance in the garment industry of Bangladesh.

Research limitations/implications

This study’s findings contribute to operations management, human resources management and the health and safety management literature by demonstrating a link between operational performance, human resources management and OHSMS.

Practical implications

This study could be beneficial for garment suppliers to understand how effective OHSMS can reduce production costs by increasing worker efficiency.

Originality/value

This is a unique research attempt as it considers the task performance dimension of an individual garment worker from the OHS management perspective.

Complementarities between Operations and Occupational Health and Safety in Garments

There is an ongoing debate in the extant literature regarding whether the relationship between occupational health and safety (OHS) and operational practices is contradictory or complementary. However, previous research has focused on companies situated in developed and highly industrialized countries. We contribute to the debate by investigating the relationship between OHS and operational practices in 50 selected garment factories in the context of a developing country (Bangladesh). We investigated OHS and operational practices in a developing country because the institutional context and the industrial tradition are different from those in developed countries, and these factors are very likely to influence how companies invest in enhancing work conditions and improving operational practices. Indeed, the main contribution of this study is that, in contrast to findings from developed countries, our results indicate that both the maturity levels of OHS and operational practices and the complementarity between them depended on plant size. In particular, large plants had higher levels of maturity and were more likely to perform well in both OHS and operational practices than small and medium plants. Based on these findings, we emphasize that, to enhance work conditions and remain competitive, small and medium companies must embrace multi-stakeholder initiatives involving international buyers, local government, and international labor. Organizations can contribute to building the capabilities of suppliers and balance the pressure of cost reduction with investment in OHS improvement.