Strategic Groups and Competitive Priorities in Lean Production Environments: Challenges of Production Management

Abstract

This paper explores how the choices and implementation of lean production practices are influenced by performance goals prioritized by firms in the context of operations strategy. We analyzed a set of fifty-six companies in the auto parts industry in Campinas and Jundiai region, divided into four strategic groups. These groups of firms that adopt similar strategic orientations were used to investigate the relationship between implementation of lean manufacturing practices and choice of performance objectives. The results suggest that consideration of strategic groups can improve the understanding of how performance objectives can define lean manufacturing practices adopted by manufacturing companies.