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

Geandra Alves Queiroz (), Paulo Nocera Alves Junior and Isotilia Costa Melo
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Geandra Alves Queiroz: Engineering Department, Production Engineering, Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais, Passos 37900-106, Minas-Gerais, Brazil
Paulo Nocera Alves Junior: Escuela de Ingeniería de Coquimbo (EIC), Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN), Coquimbo 1781421, Chile
Isotilia Costa Melo: Escuela de Ingeniería de Coquimbo (EIC), Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN), Coquimbo 1781421, Chile

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 21, 1-21

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: lean; lean-green; systematic literature review; topic modelling; industry 4.0; small and medium enterprise (SME); machine learning; artificial intelligence; digitization; digitalization; digital transformation; latent dirichlet allocation (LDA) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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