Abstract
Multinational firms often initiate continuous improvement programmes such as Lean Six Sigma and roll them out to their foreign subsidiaries. So far, little attention has been given to the role national culture plays in the successful implementation of Lean Six Sigma. Through a review of the Critical Success Factors of Lean Six Sigma, coupled with in-depth case studies of multinational companies currently implementing Lean and Lean Six Sigma, the authors propose a conceptual model that will be refined in subsequent studies using action research. Action research will contribute to improved managerial actions grounded in scientific research for the companies participating in these studies.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Desai DA, Jiju A, Patel MB (2012) An assessment of the critical success factors for Six Sigma implementation in Indian industries. Int J Prod Perform Manag 61(4):426–444
O’Reilly C (1998) New united motors manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI). Stanford Business Case
McLean RS, Antony J, Dahlgaard JJ (2015) Failure of continuous improvement initiatives in manufacturing environments: a systematic review of the evidence. Total Qual Manag, 1–19
Abrahamson E (2000) Change without pain. Harvard Business Review, pp 75–79
Patyal VS, Koilakuntla M (2018) Impact of organizational culture on quality management practices: an empirical investigation. Benchmarking 25(5):1406–1428
Juergensen T (2000) Continuous improvement: mindsets capability process, tools and results. The Juergensen Consulting Group Inc., Indianapolis
Chakraborty A, Chuan TK (2012) Case study analysis of Six Sigma implementation in Singapore. Bus Process Manag J 18(6):992–1019
Linderman K, Schroeder RG, Zaheer S, Choo AS (2003) Six Sigma: a goal-theoretic perspective. J Oper Manag 21:193–203
de Koning H, Does RJ (2008) Lean Six Sigma in financial services. Int J Six Sigma Compet Adv 4(1):1–17
Rockart J (1979) Chief executives define their own needs. Harvard Bus Rev 57(2):238–241
Banuelas R, Antony J (2002) Critical success factors for the successful implementation of Six Sigma. TQM Mag 14(2):92–99
Antony J, Banuelas R (2002) Key ingredients for the effective implementation of Six Sigma program. Meas Bus Excell 6(4):20–27
Timans W, Antony J, Ahaus K, van Solingen R (2012) Implementation of Lean Six Sigma in small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in the Netherlands. J Oper Res Soc 63:339–353
Chakraborty A, Chuan Tan K (2007) A survey on Six Sigma implementation in Singapore service industries. In: Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on industrial engineering, Furama River Front, Singapore
Monteiro de Carvalho M, Lee Ho L, Boarin Pinto SH (2014) The Six Sigma program: an empirical study of Brazilian companies. J Manuf Technol Manag 25(5):602–630
Laureani A, Antony J (2012) Critical success factors for the effective implementation of Lean Six Sigma. Int J Lean Six Sigma 3(4):274–283
Brun A (2011) Critical success factors of Six Sigma implementations in Italian companies. Int J Prod Econ 131(1):158–164
Manville G, Greatbanks R, Krishnasamy R, Parker DW (2012) Critical success factors for Lean Six Sigma programmes: a view from middle management. Int J Qual Reliab Manag 29(1):7–20
Jayaraman K, Kee TL, Lin Soh K (2012) The perceptions and perspectives of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) practitioners: an empirical study in Malaysia. TQM J 24(5):433–446
Hofstede G (1980) Culture's consequences: international differences in work-related values. Sage, Beverly Hills, CA
House RJ, Hanges PJ, Javidan M, Dorfman PW, Gupta V (2004) Leadership, culture and organizations: the GLOBE study of 62 societies. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA
Flynn B, Saladin B (2006) Relevance of Baldrige constructs in an international context: a study of national culture. J Oper Manag 24:583–603
Cronemyr P, Eriksson M, Jakolini S (2014) Six Sigma diplomacy—the impact of Six Sigma on national patterns of corporate culture. Total Qual Manag Bus Excell 25(7–8):827–841
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge funding received by SiA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Kokkinou, A., van Kollenburg, T. (2020). An Exploration of the Interplay Between National Culture and the Successful Implementation of Lean Six Sigma in International Companies. In: Rossi, M., Rossini, M., Terzi, S. (eds) Proceedings of the 6th European Lean Educator Conference. ELEC 2019. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 122. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41429-0_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41429-0_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-41428-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-41429-0
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)