Lean bundles implementation and performance improvement. An empirical anlysis.

The aim of our research is to disentangle the complex relations among lean bundles and operational performance. In particular, we focus on direct, mediating and complementary effects on operational performance of three of the main lean manufacturing bundles, namely Just in Time (JIT), Total Quality Management (TQM) and Human Resource Management (HRM). Our study represents one of the few attempts trying to operationalize and empirically validate the concept of complementarity that thrives in the management literature, but often remains ill-defined. We run statistical analysis on High Performance Manufacturing round III database, a survey that involves 238 plants in eight countries across three different industries. We find that JIT and TQM have a direct and positive effect on operational performance while HRM shows a mediated effect on it. Moreover, we find that JIT and TQM are complementary lean bundles. Theoretical and managerial implications of our findings are drawn and discussed.