Impact of Lean, Agile and Green (LAG) on business competitiveness: An empirical study of fast moving consumer goods businesses

Abstract

The adoption/utilisation of Lean, Agile and Green (LAG) practices in both the manufacturing and service sector is rising. However, there yet remain a research gap to precisely evaluate the relationship between LAG practices and business competitiveness (e.g, achieving reduction in cost, lead time and environmental recyclable waste). This research aims to explore this relationship, specifically in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) businesses. The hypothesised relationships are tested with data collected from 96 FMCG companies. Structural Equation Modelling is applied to evaluate different channels of achieving business competitiveness through the adoption of Lean, Agile and Green. The findings suggest that competitive outcomes vary with the adoption of LAG practices in specific product life cycle stages. This implies that awareness of the product life cycle concept is essential. A combination of LAG practices for the sole purpose of reducing environmental waste is negatively related to environmental waste reduction. LAG practices are more efficiently adopted when the adopters are equipped with expert knowledge on the paradigms and their individual practices. This research has approached the attainment of competitiveness in the FMCG businesses by analysing management efforts that improve cost performance, lead time and environmental sustainability aspects of business operations. The research has also considered the product life cycle stages in analysing the impacts of management efforts. AbstractThe adoption/utilisation of Lean, Agile and Green (LAG) practices in both the manufacturing and service sector is rising. However, there yet remain a research gap to precisely evaluate the relationship between LAG practices and business competitiveness (e.g, achieving reduction in cost, lead time and environmental recyclable waste). This research aims to explore this relationship, specifically in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) businesses. The hypothesised relationships are tested with data collected from 96 FMCG companies. Structural Equation Modelling is applied to evaluate different channels of achieving business competitiveness through the adoption of Lean, Agile and Green. The findings suggest that competitive outcomes vary with the adoption of LAG practices in specific product life cycle stages. This implies that awareness of the product life cycle concept is essential. A combination of LAG practices for the sole purpose of reducing environmental waste is negatively related to environmental waste reduction. LAG practices are more efficiently adopted when the adopters are equipped with expert knowledge on the paradigms and their individual practices. This research has approached the attainment of competitiveness in the FMCG businesses by analysing management efforts that improve cost performance, lead time and environmental sustainability aspects of business operations. The research has also considered the product life cycle stages in analysing the impacts of management efforts.

The Role of Supply Chain Integration and Agile Practices in Improving Lead Time During the COVID-19 Crisis

“…With the appropriate measurement of lead-time reduction, it would be easy to detect how long it would take to apply certain functionality (Mehralian et al, 2015). Without making any guess, accurate data can be gained with lead-time reduction measurement (Udokporo et al, 2020). Based on the above, we can hypothesize the following: H2: Agile practices have a significant impact on lead-time reduction at Dubai Healthcare City.…”

“…Agile Practices and Lead-Time Reduction Udokporo et al, (2020) stated that a short lead-time is significant to have agile, quick and first move benefits and be capable of responding to rapid changes in current business markets. Agile practices are known as a development paradigm, which aims to be capable for responding quickly towards changes regarding the requirements of consumers (Tarafdar & Qrunfleh, 2017).…”

“…Lead-time could be considered as the time between requesting and delivering the order or the amount of time required to satisfy the order fulfilment processes (Udokporo et al, 2020). In this context, lead-time reduction is the quantity of time that passes from the start of a procedure, such as manufacturing, supply chain management, project management till its completion (Mulugeta, 2017).…”

Analyzing the effect of supply chain strategies and collaboration on performance improvement using MIMIC model

“…The agile enterprise appears to be the winning strategy in the digital era. The agile concept can enhance companies as leaders in a competitive market with volatile customer requirements [1]. According to the literature, the implementation of lean and agile in supply chain strategy seems to be a successful solution in the 21st century.…”

An empirical investigation and prioritization of barriers toward implementation of agile manufacturing in the manufacturing industry

“…The deficiency of a structured framework for an effective agile manufacturing implementation does not permit the organization to prosper the necessary competency in change. Expert knowledge of agile manufacturing and the existing business practices followed is essential for agile manufacturing implementation (Udokporo et al , 2020). Modern manufacturing industries have to adopt a new manufacturing approach to outpace today's customer-driven and spontaneously changing market (Sindhwani and Malhotra, 2016).…”