Rosário Moreira

Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to research the way in which Lean practices are affecting the performance of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs), analyzing the effects of Lean practices on companies’ operational, financial and market performance.Design/methodology/approachAn online questionnaire was distributed among Portuguese organizations that fitted the category of SMEs and belonged to the manufacturing sector. A sample of 329 enterprises was analyzed with partial least squares–structural equation modelling. Four hypotheses on the impact of Lean practices on company performance were tested.FindingsThe results show that the effects of Lean on performance are positive, which stresses the benefits attainable with the implementation of Lean practices. The aggregated implementation of Lean practices, namely, customer involvement, statistical process, continuous flow and total productive maintenance leads to improvements in company’s global performance measured by market, financial and operational performance measures, and also improves each of these performance measures individually. It was also noticed that financial capability is one of the indispensable factors for the successful implementation of Lean practices.Research limitations/implicationsThe results contribute to the investigation on the topic, broadening the literature on the implementation of Lean practices in companies around the world.Practical implicationsThe research outcomes may be used as a motivation for other SMEs to implement Lean practices by acknowledging the positive impact on their performance. Furthermore, the degree of Lean implementation in the particular industry may constitute a signal for government and/or economic decision makers to define incentives such as fiscal benefits for companies that engage in Lean implementation programmes, partly financing workers cross-training, among other necessary investments.Originality/valueThis is the first study that examines the impact of the effect of Lean on operational, financial and market performance in a discriminated and simultaneous way.

Abstract
Studies linking the use of lean practices to company performance have been increasing as markets are becoming more competitive and companies are eager for reducing waste and therefore implementing the Lean Management (LM) philosophy to improve performance. However, results from these studies have found various and different impacts and some light is needed. Extant literature was reviewed and, to achieve the research objective, a meta-analysis of correlations was carried out. The obtained results suggest a positive relationship between some lean practices and performance measures. Furthermore, the presence of moderators influencing the relationship between lean practices and performance outcomes is highlighted in our results. To our best knowledge, this is the first research that proposes a comparison of results from primary studies on Lean implementation, by analysing the linear relationship between lean practices and enterprise performance. It fills this gap and therefore represents an important contribution.