Title: How much is Lean Six Sigma applied by small and medium enterprises? Systematic literature review 2015-2023

Authors: Engelbert Zefaj

Addresses: Department of Management, Business and Economics, University for Business and Technology, Prishtina, Kosovo

Abstract: This study aims to find out how much the scientific literature has followed and treated the application of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A systematic literature review related to LSS and SMEs was conducted to gather useful knowledge about LSS in general and LSS applied to SMEs. Carefully selected criteria such as year of publication, publisher, research type and research field were applied to identify appropriate papers. Findings of this research show that LSS is a useful concept because it improves the performance of SMEs, however, the number of papers treating the application of LSS in SMEs is limited. Although in their study Albliwi et al. (2015) say that LSS have become one of the most popular business strategies for establishing continuous improvements in production, services and public service organisations, this research confirms that it is not the same in relation to SMEs.

Keywords: Lean; Six Sigma; small and medium-sized enterprise; SME; barriers; successes.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2026.153640

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2026 Vol.48 No.1, pp.90 - 106

Received: 10 Dec 2023
Accepted: 17 Dec 2023
Published online: 19 May 2026 *

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