Exploring the environmental sustainability tensions in leagile manufacturing within the furniture industry.

Sikabbwele, Kellys (2021) Exploring the environmental sustainability tensions in leagile manufacturing within the furniture industry. PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.

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Abstract

This research aims to understand the tensions that emerge from misaligned logics between environmental sustainability and leagile manufacturing practices. Early research has hinted at both supportive and competing relationship, but the empirical evidence so far is limited in articulating the inherent tensions and ways to manage them in leagile manufacturing to enhance environmental sustainability. Although a favourable relationship between lean and sustainability performance has been discussed in past literature, manufacturing firms often adopt a combination of lean and agile approaches through a decoupling point, which has not been analysed in past literature. Therefore, there remains a need to explore these tensions and analyse how the decoupling point impacts supply chains' sustainability performance. This research draws on institutional logic perspective understand the nature of the emergent tensions. It argues that tensions in the focal firm result from the presence of misaligned institutional logics between leagile manufacturing practices and environmental sustainability goals. Paradox theory offers a lens for analysing the organizational responses to the tensions, focusing on the mechanisms for navigating these tensions to enhance environmental sustainability performance.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Lean, agile, leagile, Sustainability
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Management
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	08 Feb 2022 15:22
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 21:28
DOI:	10.17638/03137729
Supervisors:	Hernandez Hormazabal, Jorge Kumar, Niraj
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3137729