Subject area
Lean thinking and organizational culture
Study level/applicability
MBA, Executive Education, Post Graduate Diploma
Case overview
The case details the adoption of lean thinking at K-Way, a contemporary technical textile manufacturer of outdoor apparel and accessories. The case covers the 12-year journey at K-Way, detailing the process and cultural improvements the company underwent. The case closes as Bobby, the General Manager at K-Way, thinks about his new challenges. The CEO of K-Way’s parent company, Cape Union Mart, wants Bobby to start devolving the lean thinking approach to other units within Cape Union Mart, in particular a newly acquired and under-performing children’s clothing business. Bobby is excited at the prospect, but simultaneously anxious about the work that still needs to happen at K-Way and more importantly, whether the organization is ready for his, and his key consultant-coach’s withdrawal as the primary “voices” of lean thinking. Would there be a reversal of progress in their absence and how can they counter this?
Expected learning outcomes
Understanding lean thinking as a management system and not a mere set of tools for waste reduction, while recognizing the importance of waste reduction. An understanding of how to entrench lean thinking in an organization after initial adoption with specific emphasis on the following: Kata and scientific thinking – what it is and how it can be employed; Hoshin Kanri/Strategy Deployment – what it is and how it can be used; Leader Standard Work, what it is and how it can be used. Consider responses for a company that has been on a lean journey for 10 years, with a focus on how (or if) lean leaders can withdraw from the operation.
Supplementary materials
Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Subject code
CSS: 9: Operations and logistics
How do we engender excellence? Malcolm Gladwell popularised the notion of a “Tipping Point” – little things that make a big difference and move to a point where the social phenomenon gains traction that is virus-like – it becomes deeply infectious. However, what are the things we should be driving to the tipping point in an Islamic system of governance where excellence, or iḥsān, is a key requirement? The Qur<ānic narrative on iḥsān emphasises kindness to parents. A field-based study of ‘Operational Iḥsān’ amongst pre-recognised top tier educators in Brunei’s public schooling system strongly affirms and heightens this component of the Qur<ānic narrative. These discoveries, both Qur<ānic and lived, manifest a simple, but deeply implicative promise – fostering kindness to parents may be an untapped well from which to feed excellence. This paper explores why this might be the case, and what the implications of such an understanding for policy design and delivery, whether at the governmental or organisational level.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.