Purpose Literature has shown that many companies fail lean implementation or is not able to sustain lean for a long time. Researchers have found that lean failures are associated with leadership, which is a key factor. However, it is not easy and a long time is needed to change the leadership, behaviour and traits. This study aims to introduce the Blue Ocean Leadership concept to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach A literature review is carried for articles related to critical success factors for Lean and Lean Six Sigma with a focus on leadership factors. Findings The Blue Ocean Leadership concept focuses on leaders’ acts and activities which can be changed with less effort and time. Seven categories of lean activities for leaders are identified. Research limitations/implications Leadership is one of the many factors for the success of lean implementation. This conceptual study focuses only on leadership and it needs further field study for validation. Practical implications Blue Ocean Leadership provides lean practitioners and academicians with a new perspective for successful lean implementation. Originality/value To the best knowledge of the researcher, there is no similar study in this area. Thus, the finding can form the basis for further research for the benefit of lean communities, especially the small- or medium-sized enterprises with less cost and time.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediation effect of Blue Ocean Leadership (BOL) activities between lean manufacturing (LM) practices and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach This study applied sequential mixed method with expert opinion in the first stage and cross-sectional survey from automotive vendor companies in the second stage. The samples were drawn using random sampling procedure from automotive vendor companies in Malaysia with the final number of respondents of 64. Four main hypotheses were developed and tested statistically by applying multivariate data analysis using SmartPLS3.0 SEM software. Findings The results provide evidence that LM practices have positive and significant impact on firm performance. Moreover, activities of Genba-Kaizen significantly improve the firm performance by an amazing 30 per cent. Research limitations/implications The data used in the survey represent self-reporting by mainly the top management in operations or production. It is recommended for future study to include middle and lower management level to understand the difference of their activities. Besides, it is proposed to extent the population beyond automotive industry. Practical implications This study contributes to the LM body of knowledge by identifying the relationships between the LM practices, firm performance and BOL activities. Understanding these will help lean practitioners especially the leaders in making better decision in both manufacturing and service organizations. Thus, increasing the staff motivation and engagement eventually contributes to the firm performance. Originality/value Although there are growing numbers of anecdotal and empirical evidences in favour of LM in manufacturing environment, there has been almost no theory-building and methodologically rigorous research examining the link between the leaders’ activities with LM practices and firm performance. This study is addressing such gaps.