The influence of lean management and environmental practices on relative competitive quality advantage and performance

Abstract

PurposeFirms are adopting strategies to advance product quality and environmental sustainability to achieve improved profitability and shareholders’ wealth. The study investigates strategies that create a superior quality performance to competitors and improve both environmental and business performances. This paper explores the direct and indirect influence of lean management and environmental practices on relative competitive quality advantage, environmental performance and business performance.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a quantitative method where data is gathered from 259 manufacturing firms in Ghana. The data is gathered through customized questionnaires. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (SmartPLS 3.2.8) is used to analyze the data. Firm size, industry type and importance of environmental issues are used as control variables in this study.FindingsThe findings of the study indicate that both lean management and environmental practices create relative competitive quality advantage and improve environmental performance and business performance. Environmental performance and relative competitive quality advantage mediate the influence of lean management and environmental practices on business performance. The results further indicate that lean management creates a higher relative competitive quality advantage than environmental practices, while environmental practices have more potency to enhance environmental performance than lean management.Originality/valueThe study develops and proposes a comprehensive theoretical framework that examines the potency of environmental practices and lean management in creating a relative competitive quality advantage and improving environmental performance and business performance from a Ghanaian perspective, which is an emerging economy in Africa. Lean management and environmental practices may jointly help firms create relative competitive advantage and improve environmental performance to enhance business performance.

Exploring the mediating influences of total quality management and just in time between green supply chain practices and performance

“…Nine items are used to measure JIT. A five-point Likert-type scale (from 1 = low implementation and 5 = full implementation) adopted from Feng et al (2018) and Agyabeng-Mensah et al (2020a, b, c) was used to measure the level of the implementation of GSCPs, JIT and TQM over the last three years. The dimensions used to measure GSCPs, TQM and JIT are dominantly implemented among Ghanaian manufacturing firms and used in literature.…”

“…The benefits of adopting GSCPs, TQM and JIT such as OP is measured with quality improvement, cost reduction, reliable delivery, customer responsiveness and reduction in energy consumption (Agyabeng-Mensah et al , 2019a, b, c; Flynn et al , 2010; Lai and Wong, 2012). Again, BP is measured using market and financial indicators such as market share, sales, net profit margin, gross profit margin and return on assets (Agyabeng-Mensah et al , 2019a, b, c, 2020a, b, c; Feng et al , 2018; Agyabeng et al , 2020c). OP and BP were measured using a seven-point Likert-type scale anchored (from 1 = very low extent to 7 = very high extent) to ascertain the level of impact of the implementation of GSCPs, TQM and JIT on OP and BP over the last three years.…”

“…Two-month duration was given to the respondents to complete the questionnaires while a regular five-day reminder messages were sent to them to remind them of the questionnaires. We received an active response of two hundred and eighty (280) questionnaires from 140 firms, which represents (26.92% = 140/520) of the total sample size which is above the 20% minimum response rate requirement for supply chain management research (Agyabeng-Mensah et al , 2020a, b, c; Green et al , 2019). The respondents included manufacturing managers and supply chain managers where we surprisingly received equal rate of valid response from the respondents.…”

Extending lean management along the supply chain: impact on efficiency

“…The relational view of RBT is an extension of RBT that integrates the core tenets of RBT and relational network theory to explain how SC cooperation and collaboration can lead to sustainable CA (Prajogo et al, 2016). This framework has been used to explain the effect of resource complementarity in LM environments (Agyabeng-Mensah et al, 2020;Kumar and Sanchez-Rodrigues, 2020), LM implementation at the internal level (Ghobakhloo and Hong, 2014;Ghobakhloo and Azar, 2018) and LM application at supply chain level (Iyer et al, 2019;Yildiz-Çankaya, 2020). In this sense, while LM provides productivity and cost advantages for focal firms, implementing this way of thinking across the supply chain is an extremely difficult and complex process in which RBT must underpin research into LSCM's effects on performance (Yildiz-Çankaya, 2020).…”

The role of green logistics management practices, supply chain traceability and logistics ecocentricity in sustainability performance

“…Today, Ghana is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa where logistics activities of manufacturing firms pose a significant threat to human lives and natural environment due to urbanization and industrialization (Afum et al , 2020a, b; Agyabeng-Mensah et al , 2020a, b, c, d and e). The introduction of laws, access to international market and stakeholder pressures have caused firms to adopt green logistics practices to reduce adverse effect of firms' operations on the environment and societal safety and health (Agyabeng-Mensah et al , 2020a, b, c, d and e; Famiyeh et al , 2018). Existing studies suggest that the introduction of green strategies and policies into logistics activities serve as a solution to environmental, social and economic problems created through supply chain activities (Halldórsson and Kovács, 2010; Agyabeng-Mensah et al , 2020a, b, c, d and e).…”