Title: A marketing paradigm for successful lean implementation

Authors: Rapinder Sawhney, Tzong-Ru Lee, Hsiao-Chen Wu, Shiou-Yu Chen

Addresses: Department of Industrial and Information Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA. ' Marketing Department and Chairman of Institute of Electronic Commerce, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan, ROC. ' Marketing Department, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan, ROC. ' Department of Shipping and Transportation Management, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 20224, Taiwan, ROC

Abstract: Since the early 1990s, many companies have begun adopting lean principles and practices. While it appears to be an effective methodology to improve operational efficiency and process productivity, lean implementation has failed in many organisations with their performance sliding back to the original state. This situation is due to a number of reasons, one of which being, the poor marketing of lean to people. This article proposes a conceptual design for marketing Lean, with |Planning for change| acting as a prerequisite. This new paradigm aims to sustain lean successfully in the organisation.

Keywords: consumer behaviour; marketing models; selling lean; lean implementation; planning for change; change management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLEG.2008.023162

International Journal of Logistics Economics and Globalisation, 2008 Vol.1 No.3/4, pp.282 - 297

Published online: 12 Feb 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article