Global trends and factors, such as the increased level of globalization, climate change, resource scarcity, and awareness of social and environmental responsibilities, as well as fiercer competition and lower profit margins in all industries, force organizations to act to retain, regain, or sustain their competitive advantages for long-term survival. These trends and factors are historically known to bring about innovations that drive the evolution of industries. Sustainability is considered to be such an innovation to achieve fiscally sound, environmentally conscious, and socially progressive organizations and supply chains. This study reviewed 477 past articles published in five major databases from 1990 to 2018. The purpose of the study was to assess the current state-of-the art in the subject of lean-driven sustainability. Based on the exhaustive descriptive and contextual analysis, synergies, divergences, and the extent of two-way permeability of lean and sustainability concepts from the perspective of intra-and inter-organizational operations were identified along with future research opportunities. Fundamental strengths and weaknesses of both concepts, existing strong synergies and untapped potential, along with their key contributors, the potential-use cases of lean tools to derive sustainable solutions are highlighted in this review.

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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to develop a methodology to help manufacturers determine and rank key internal business processes based on critical success factors (CSF).Design/methodology/approachFirst, company CSF and key performance measures were determined based on vision, mission and strategic objectives statements. Second, most important CSF were prioritized according to rating scores such as cost savings, necessary improvement, and own discretion using a balanced scoreboard procedure and a prioritization matrix. Third, CSF were related to internal business processes based on “strength of relationship” in order to define the most critical internal processes. Fourth, possible differences in the perception of CSF and strategic objectives among different management levels were compared. Fifth, the methodology was validated in three furniture manufacturing companies.FindingsIt was found that when a firm is missing vision or mission statements, it is imperative to define them before CSF can be identified. The CSF found through this case study were related to customer service, manufacturing management, quality and price of the products. The key internal business processes identified for the companies in this study were customer engagement, product operations and supply chain management. Conclusions show that better results were obtained when this methodology was applied to highest‐level of management.Originality/valueThis study has proved to be a useful tool to determine a strategy based on CSF and their relationship to internal business processes. Plant managers in our case studies were able to prioritize the critical internal business processes for their plants based on the most important CSF.

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