TQM JournalPub Date : 2023-09-08DOI: 10.1108/tqm-06-2023-0185
Alessandro Laureani, J. Antony, Mariam Ali Ramadan, Maha Khalifa Al Dhaheri, Anders Fundin, Lars Sörqvist
{"title":"Leadership characteristics for implementation and sustainability of quality: an exploratory study and directions for further research","authors":"Alessandro Laureani, J. Antony, Mariam Ali Ramadan, Maha Khalifa Al Dhaheri, Anders Fundin, Lars Sörqvist","doi":"10.1108/tqm-06-2023-0185","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/tqm-06-2023-0185","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis qualitative study aims to explore the concept of organisational leadership in the context of Quality Management deployments across a variety of business organisations, particularly focusing on the possible relationships between leadership approaches during the implementation and sustaining phases of Quality Management.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on one-to-one semi-structured virtual interviews with leaders in the quality field.FindingsFour themes (Customers, Leadership, Quality Culture and Sustainability of Quality) emerged from the post-interview data analysis, illustrating the critical role of Leadership in the successful deployment and sustainment of Quality Management and identifying the leadership traits that are most conducive to successful organisational deployments.Originality/valueAlthough some of these leadership traits are described in the wider leadership literature as belonging to one or more different leadership styles, there is no existing style of leadership that comprehends all the characteristics; thus, the need for a new leadership paradigm is this paper's theoretical contribution to the literature.","PeriodicalId":40009,"journal":{"name":"TQM Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47786873","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
TQM JournalPub Date : 2023-09-08DOI: 10.1108/tqm-10-2022-0313
A. Papadimitriou, Sarah Maria Schiffecker
{"title":"Looking good or doing good? Define the U.S. university's public mission by analyzing mission statements and strategic planning","authors":"A. Papadimitriou, Sarah Maria Schiffecker","doi":"10.1108/tqm-10-2022-0313","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/tqm-10-2022-0313","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis study aimed to find possible answers to whether U.S. universities are merely looking good or doing good regarding their third mission using elements of the triple bottom line (people, planet, prosperity) and the 2030 Agenda.Design/methodology/approachQualitative exploratory empirical study based on an in-depth analysis of publicly available documents (i.e. mission statements and strategic planning) and information from the Impact Rankings 2020 edition (webpages). The study uses a multilevel analysis to capture the parameters “looking good” and “doing good.” The sample consists of 15 U.S. universities.FindingsThe findings demonstrate that universities are looking good in terms of their effort to support their third mission. Data show that all universities covered themes related to people and prosperity in their mission statements and strategic planning. However, when the authors dived into the managerial metrics, KPIs, benchmarks and other evidence to characterize them as doing good, the authors encountered some challenges in identifying evidence. The data suggest that universities most likely participated in the Impact Ranking act as “cherry pickers” and might participate in unproblematic goals for their organization.Originality/valueThe 3Ps and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals used in this study to examine the university public mission never used in other studies. The goal in this study was not to evaluate those universities in terms of looking good and doing good but rather to contribute to the gap in the literature and provide suggestions to university C-suite.","PeriodicalId":40009,"journal":{"name":"TQM Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44302996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
TQM JournalPub Date : 2023-09-07DOI: 10.1108/tqm-03-2023-0085
Mauro Dini, I. Curina, B. Francioni, Sabrina Hegner, M. Cioppi
{"title":"Tourists' satisfaction and sense of belonging in adopting responsible behaviors: the role of on-site and social media involvement in cultural tourism","authors":"Mauro Dini, I. Curina, B. Francioni, Sabrina Hegner, M. Cioppi","doi":"10.1108/tqm-03-2023-0085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/tqm-03-2023-0085","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe study aims to analyze the relationship between tourists' satisfaction and their sense of belonging in a specific cultural destination by also investigating the moderating role of their on-site involvement, both offline (on-site activities at the destination) and online (social media activities). A further objective lies in exploring the relationship between tourists' sense of belonging and their adoption of environmentally responsible behavior while at the destination. Finally, the paper attempts to determine whether said behavior can predict tourists' pro-environmental behavior and recommendation intention.Design/methodology/approachTo reach these objectives, a survey and a structural equation model, based on a sample of 647 visitors of an important world Heritage site UNESCO (i.e. Urbino), have been adopted.FindingsFindings reveal a positive influence of sense of belonging on satisfaction and environmentally responsible behavior, which, in turn, influences pro-environmental behavior and Recommendation intention, thus triggering a virtuous process in the tourists' formation as responsible and loyal travelers. Moreover, results underline how the relationship between satisfaction and sense of belonging is significantly strengthened when tourists' on-site activity involvement increases. Conversely, the moderating role of social media involvement is not supported.Practical implicationsThe present study offers important implications for different actors in the tourism sector, such as policy makers, destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and tourism operators.Social implicationsThe present study explores the role of social media involvement, specifically during the tourist's holiday.Originality/valueThis study enriches the empirical evidence in the cultural tourism through an analysis focused on the tourists' perspective, especially by investigating the relationship between satisfaction and emotional constructs (i.e. sense of belonging) that are able to bring environmental and loyalty benefits to the destination. Moreover, although existing research has highlighted the positive influence of the tourists' involvement on their experience, there is a paucity of studies jointly analyzing the on-site and online activities in the sustainability field.","PeriodicalId":40009,"journal":{"name":"TQM Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46632199","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
TQM JournalPub Date : 2023-09-07DOI: 10.1108/tqm-02-2022-0065
Hirendra Singh, Bhim Singh
{"title":"Industry 4.0 technologies integration with lean production tools: a review","authors":"Hirendra Singh, Bhim Singh","doi":"10.1108/tqm-02-2022-0065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/tqm-02-2022-0065","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeLean production has been proved to be a cost-effective and efficient means of production that reduces non-valve added activities. Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is a technology-driven platform that allows machines to interact with other systems through artificial intelligence, machine learning, industrial Internet of Things (IoT), etc. that improve the production system with flexibility, quality and customization throughout the whole value chain. New approaches to digitization of lean production have recently been emerged and they are transforming the industry and increasing productivity throughout the value chain. Through this article, an effort has been made to review the research published in this field.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reviews the literature published in various journals, the databases Web of science (WoS), ScienceDirect, Scopus, Emerald etc. were referred with a focus on lean concepts and tools and I4.0 technologies; it has been noticed that the integration of the lean tools with I4.0 technologies is a very effective tool for the industry.FindingsIt has been found in the literature published earlier in various journals that lean manufacturing (LM) is commonly acknowledged and considered a best practice to improve the productivity. It is concerned with the tight integration of people into the industrial process through continuous improvement which leads to value addition throughout the whole value chain by eliminating non vale added activities. The findings show that organizations can improve their productivity and flexibility with speed and accuracy by integrating I4.0 technologies with LM, which is foremost need of any industry across the world.Originality/valueThis article accentuates the connections between the principles and tools developed under the umbrella of I4.0 and those developed by the LM techniques, with a specific emphasis on how some of the principles and tools of I4.0 improve the implementation of lean principles dependent on the competence levels of the technology. Very few articles have been published in this area, and this paper is an original piece of research covering a review of extant research published in various journals.","PeriodicalId":40009,"journal":{"name":"TQM Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41449603","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
TQM JournalPub Date : 2023-09-05DOI: 10.1108/tqm-01-2023-0019
Olivia McDermott, J. Antony, M. Sony, V. Swarnakar
{"title":"The misplacement of ISO 18404:2015 in organisational improvement: a point-counterpoint article","authors":"Olivia McDermott, J. Antony, M. Sony, V. Swarnakar","doi":"10.1108/tqm-01-2023-0019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/tqm-01-2023-0019","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis paper gives the background to the ISO 18404:2015 standard and explains its rationale. It aims to rebut the Oudrhiri et al. (2022) paper. Furthermore, this paper adds further evidence of the misplacement and unfitness for use of the standard, as evidenced in the previous work by Antony et al. (2021, 2022).Design/methodology/approachA point-counterpoint methods approach with a literature review of studies available on ISO 18404:2015 to respond to the Oudrhiri et al. (2022) study.FindingsThe findings indicate that Oudrhiri et al.'s (2022) work is not open minded in relation to ISO18404. Each point raised in the Oudrhiri et al. (2020) study has been answered and counter argued.Research limitations/implicationsOther than Antony et al.'s three studies (2021 and 2022) and Oudrhiri et al.’s (2022) study empirical studies looking into the impact of the ISO 18404 standard in the literature were limited. As the literature has shown, many companies are not utilising the standard given its current format; hence, a lack of information relating to the practical implementation is sparse.Practical implicationsThe findings indicate that Oudrhiri et al.'s (2022) work can be answered and counter argued.Originality/valueThis study consolidates and strengthens the findings from the three studies by Antony et al. (2021 and 2022) and acts as a rebuttal to the Oudrhiri et al. (2022) study.","PeriodicalId":40009,"journal":{"name":"TQM Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46389213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
TQM JournalPub Date : 2023-09-01DOI: 10.1108/tqm-05-2023-0155
Tutku Ekiz Kavukoğlu, Emre İşci
{"title":"The mediating role of strategic planning awareness in the impact of organizational innovation on business excellence in hospitals","authors":"Tutku Ekiz Kavukoğlu, Emre İşci","doi":"10.1108/tqm-05-2023-0155","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/tqm-05-2023-0155","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeEvaluating the operational outcomes of hospitals is critical concerns for hospital managers. The realization of these evaluations through the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) is important so that decision-makers can base their decisions on rational grounds. To achieve TQM principles, hospitals need innovative processes that can adapt to changing patient expectations. Innovation activities that will lead to business excellence can be achieved with the strategic planning awareness of healthcare professionals. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the effect of organizational innovation on business excellence and to reveal the role of strategic planning awareness in this relationship in hospitals.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected using a quantitative questionnaire to 450 healthcare professionals working in private hospitals operating in Istanbul (Turkey). The data were analyzed using the AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures) 23.0 and SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) for Windows 25.0 program. In addition to the reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis was performed using the AMOS program to test the construct validity of the scales. The model established in line with the research hypotheses was tested with path analysis and mediator role analysis.FindingsThe results confirm that organizational innovation has a statistically significant and positive effect on strategic planning awareness and business excellence. In addition, it has been determined that strategic planning awareness has a statistically significant and positive effect on business excellence. Moreover, the research model confirms that strategic planning awareness plays a mediating role in the relationship between organizational innovation and business excellence.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of the study is that it was conducted only in private hospitals. A comparative study that includes the public health sector can further strengthen the research framework.Practical implicationsHospitals that invest in innovative activities can get the reward of their efforts as business excellence. However, this is affected by the strategic planning awareness of healthcare professionals. Research results present the role of strategic planning awareness on the way to business excellence led by organizational innovation. Achieving business excellence in complex and constantly changing environmental conditions depends on an appropriate strategic plan for hospitals. In order to achieve these goals included in the strategic plans, the education of healthcare professionals that contributes to their strategic perspectives should be supported and their participation in decision-making processes should be ensured.Originality/valueThe research contributes to the literature on the relationship between organizational innovation and business excellence in the health sector. In addition, revealing the role of strategic planning awarene","PeriodicalId":40009,"journal":{"name":"TQM Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43883679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
TQM JournalPub Date : 2023-08-30DOI: 10.1108/tqm-03-2023-0088
Gustavo Quiroga Souki, Alessandro Silva de Oliveira, Marco Túlio Correa Barcelos, Maria Manuela Martins Guerreiro, J. Mendes, Luiz Rodrigo Cunha Moura
{"title":"Does guests-perceived value for money affect WOM and eWOM? The impact of consumer engagement on SNS on eWOM","authors":"Gustavo Quiroga Souki, Alessandro Silva de Oliveira, Marco Túlio Correa Barcelos, Maria Manuela Martins Guerreiro, J. Mendes, Luiz Rodrigo Cunha Moura","doi":"10.1108/tqm-03-2023-0088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/tqm-03-2023-0088","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeHotels provide high-quality guest experiences to generate perceived value for money (PVM), positively influencing word-of-mouth (WOM) and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication. This study aims to (1) verify the impacts of the perceived quality by the guests about their experiences in hotels on their PVM; (2) inspect the influence of guests' perception of hotel prices on PVM; (3) examine the impacts of guest PVM on their hotel experiences on WOM and eWOM and (4) investigate the consequences of the hotel guests' behavioural engagement on social networking sites (HGBE-SNS) on eWOM.Design/methodology/approachThis quantitative and descriptive study consists of a survey with 371 guests who evaluated their experiences at three hotels in Brazil. PLS-SEM tested the hypothetical model that resorted to the stimulus-organism-response theory (S-O-R), proposed by Mehrabian and Russell (1974). Cluster Analysis compared the PVM, WOM and eWOM of groups of hotel guests with different levels of social media engagement.FindingsPerceived quality by hotel guests positively impacts PVM. Perceived price negatively influences PVM. PVM had a positive and robust impact on WOM. PVM impacts and explains weakly eWOM. In contrast, HGBE-SNS affects and better explains eWOM than PVM.Originality/valueThis unprecedented investigation concomitantly exhibits the relationships between perceived quality, price, PVM, WOM, eWOM and HGBE-SNS. Hotels must offer high perceived quality experiences to influence PVM and WOM positively. PVM is unable to stimulate eWOM strongly. HGBE-SNS is pivotal for guests to share their hotel experiences through eWOM. This study suggests marketing strategies for hospitality companies to amplify customer engagement on SNS.","PeriodicalId":40009,"journal":{"name":"TQM Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41281324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
TQM JournalPub Date : 2023-08-24DOI: 10.1108/tqm-03-2023-0083
J. Antony, V. Swarnakar, M. Sony, Olivia McDermott, Raja Jayaraman
{"title":"How do organizational performances vary between early adopters and late adopters of Quality 4.0? An exploratory qualitative study","authors":"J. Antony, V. Swarnakar, M. Sony, Olivia McDermott, Raja Jayaraman","doi":"10.1108/tqm-03-2023-0083","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/tqm-03-2023-0083","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis study aims to investigate how early and late adopters of Quality 4.0 (Q4.0) differ in terms of organizational performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employed a grounded theory approach for interviewing 15 senior managers from diverse organizational contexts throughout the globe as part of their qualitative research methodology.FindingsThe research's findings were analyzed based on four types of performance: operational, financial, environmental and social. It was clear that early adopters of Q4.0 were sustaining superior performance in quality over time, even though their investment was significantly higher than that of late adopters. From a financial viewpoint, it was evident that early adopters had a competitive edge over their rivals compared to late adopters. Late adopters have utilized the notion of the circular economy (CE) more effectively than many early adopters in the context of environmental performance in order to establish a green economy and sustainable development.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the results of the interview indicate that Q4.0 is having some positive effects on social performance, in the authors' view, it is still least understood from an empirical standpoint.Originality/valueThe study's findings assist organizations in comprehending the performance differences between Q4.0 early adopters and late adopters.","PeriodicalId":40009,"journal":{"name":"TQM Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44460861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
TQM JournalPub Date : 2023-08-24DOI: 10.1108/tqm-06-2023-0189
Ankesh Mittal, S. Sachan, Vimal Kumar, Sachit Vardhan, Pratima Verma, Mahender Singh Kaswan, J. Garza‐Reyes
{"title":"Essential organizational variables for the implementation of Quality 4.0: empirical evidence from the Indian furniture industry","authors":"Ankesh Mittal, S. Sachan, Vimal Kumar, Sachit Vardhan, Pratima Verma, Mahender Singh Kaswan, J. Garza‐Reyes","doi":"10.1108/tqm-06-2023-0189","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/tqm-06-2023-0189","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeQuality 4.0 represents the integration of quality management principles with digital technologies to drive continuous improvement and innovation in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the essential organizational variables (OVs) for the successful implementation of Quality 4.0 in the Indian furniture industry.Design/methodology/approachThrough a broad literature review, data from the Indian furniture industry and experts’ judgments a list of nineteen OVs have been recognized and classified into four major categories of digitalization, design, continuous improvement and employee training and up-skilling. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been used to give comparative importance and prioritize the identified nineteen OVs of Quality 4.0 in the context of the Indian furniture industry.FindingsThe results of this study reveal that the identified variables are very important for successful Quality 4.0 implementation and have been supported by empirical evidence from the Indian furniture industry. The variable “automation” under the digitalization-related category is a significant variable having a maximum weightage of 26.8% followed by Cloud computing (DI4) having a global weight of 12.8%.Research limitations/implicationsIn addition to offering valuable insights and practical recommendations, the study recognizes a few limitations, such as industry-specific and the limited sample size. To diminish these limitations, future research should believe in conducting similar studies in different industries and extend the scope of the study.Originality/valueQuality 4.0 is a term that refers to the integration of advanced digital technologies and smart data analytics into quality management systems to implement it considering OVs.","PeriodicalId":40009,"journal":{"name":"TQM Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42386527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
TQM JournalPub Date : 2023-08-22DOI: 10.1108/tqm-03-2023-0080
Md Reiazul Haque
{"title":"A financial analysis of inventory leanness before, during and after the Covid-19 crisis","authors":"Md Reiazul Haque","doi":"10.1108/tqm-03-2023-0080","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/tqm-03-2023-0080","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe recent Covid-19 crisis has exposed the limitations of inventory leanness (i.e. keeping fewer inventories than expected), leading its followers to question whether it is the end of inventory leanness. This study aims to answer that question from a financial perspective.Design/methodology/approachThis study considers 2019, 2020 and 2021 as the pre-, during- and post-Covid periods, respectively, and compares the financial performance and risks of firms that followed a lean inventory strategy (lean firms) to those that do not (non-lean firms). The sample is drawn from manufacturing firms in the USA, and the data are analyzed using univariate tools (such as a t-test) and multivariate regressions.FindingsThe results show that the financial performance of lean firms was better than that of non-lean firms under normal operating conditions in 2019, which continued to sustain during the crisis and post-crisis operating conditions in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Lean firms were also less risky than non-lean firms, except for in 2020, where they were equally risky.Practical implicationsA financial perspective suggests that managers of lean firms who might be thinking of changing over to a non-lean or more conservative strategy in the post-Covid era in relation to their firms' level of inventories do not need to do so unless otherwise required.Originality/valueThis is the very first study that shows the implications of inventory leanness for firms across three operating conditions: pre-crisis (normal business condition), crisis (abnormal business condition) and post-crisis (sub-normal business condition).","PeriodicalId":40009,"journal":{"name":"TQM Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44774903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}