Lean Intrapreneurship for Networked Manufacturing Enterprises

Abstract

Manufacturing processes are usually imbedded in cross-company value and supply chains. Most manufacturing companies are currently encountering the obligation to react on their rapidly changing network environments. For companies, which are willing to remain competitive and to keep their position in the global business environment, continuous improvement and innovation of production system processes has become a necessity. Lean manufacturing and lean thinking represent meanwhile traditional frameworks for improving the performance for production systems in various industries. But not all production companies succeed with their implementation efforts towards lean manufacturing and performance improvements due to failures in organisational topics, especially at the interfaces within supply chains. Lean start-up theory and its methodologies represent success factors for organisational development paving the way to intrapreneurial and innovation concepts in a lean management influenced by lean thinking. Modern manufacturing concepts which are embracing networked enterprises are emphasising approaches for production in networks. The article investigates the innovation shortcoming in the lean manufacturing framework; organisational development in the context of intrapreneurship in a case study of a modular manufacturing company which is based on a smart and lean production concept. The research is empirically validated by using data samples from a business reengineering project in an internationally operating high-tech manufacturing enterprise from Estonia. The empiric analysis is based on semi-structured expert interview data and secondary data revealing the synergies between lean practice bundles and networked production enterprises in the context of intrapreneurship.

The use of sales technology by salespeople as an information source and stimulant for intrapreneurship

“…This also supports Hsieh and Wu (2019), who have highlighted information systems as sources of intrapreneurship. Finally, the results on model invariance based on business type do not clarify the differences between industries and services that previous studies have suggested (Atari & Prause, 2019;Lages et al, 2017).…”

“…For instance, industries and manufacturers are normally involved in value chains and production systems. For industries that wish to remain competitive, continuous improvements and innovations in production processes have become imperative (Atari & Prause, 2019). On the other hand, in a service company, the focus is tending towards relying less on innovation and more on the intrinsic behaviour of intrapreneurs, by way of proactiveness and risk-taking (Lages et al, 2017).…”

Individual Intrapreneurial Behavior Effect on Project Success: Profiles and Distinct Outcomes

“…This leads us to further explore for more evidence of efficiency as a positive result of projects, following in particular the effects of members of the team on project outcomes, already evidenced in the existing literature (Juras, 2019;Tam et al, 2020). We propose that intrapreneurial individuals conduct project activities more efficiently to reach a far better result for the company and the project, based on innovation principles of the intrapreneur (Atari & Prause, 2019). H2: Intrapreneurial behavior will positively influence efficiency.…”

Why do process improvement projects fail in organizations? A review and future research agenda

“…Kaizen, Lean, LSS and Agile (Atari and Prause, 2019;Berhe, 2022;Chow and Cao, 2008;Kinder and Burgoyne, 2013;Kuiper et al, 2022;Swarnakar et al, 2020) Inadequate level of documentation Agile (Chow and Cao, 2008;Maiden and Jones, 2023) Source: Authors' own work…”