Digitalization as an Enabler to SMEs Implementing Lean-Green? A Systematic Review through the Topic Modelling Approach

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a fundamental role in the global economy. However, SMEs usually have different characteristics from larger enterprises, e.g., essential resource restrictions, lower performance, and higher environmental impacts. This requires them to search for strateg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSustainability Vol. 14; no. 21; p. 14089
Main Authors Queiroz, Geandra Alves, Alves Junior, Paulo Nocera, Costa Melo, Isotilia
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.10.2022
Subjects
Business competition
Business models
Competition
Cost control
Digitization
Dirichlet problem
Environmental aspects
Environmental management
Global economy
Green marketing
Industrial Revolution
Innovations
Inventory
Lean manufacturing
Literature reviews
Modelling
Operations management
Productivity
Research methodology
Sustainability
Technology application
India
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Summary:Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a fundamental role in the global economy. However, SMEs usually have different characteristics from larger enterprises, e.g., essential resource restrictions, lower performance, and higher environmental impacts. This requires them to search for strategies to be more competitive and sustainable. A possible solution relies on introducing Lean-Green practices. Previous research indicated that digitalization could be an enabler of Lean. Lean can also help to achieve increased environmental performance using the Lean-Green approach. In this study, this important yet under-studied area is investigated as we consider digitalization as an enabler for implementing lean in SMEs, with a focus on Lean-Green practices. A systematic literature review is executed, following a new framework based on topic modelling for extracting the papers. The topic modelling is executed through latent dirichlet allocation (LDA) which is a machine learning technique. In methodological means, this paper represents an example of the frontier of digitalization for research activities. Regarding the investigated focus, the main findings revealed that digitalization is an enabler to Lean and to Lean-Green. As digitalization supports information sharing, it consequently fosters performance measurement systems, improvements, and value chain integration.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su142114089