THE IMPACT OF LEAN PRACTICES ON THE SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE OF SMES IN KARACHI, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose behind the study is to focus on the effects of the Lean practices i.e. “process and equipment, Planning and control, Human resources, product design, supplier relationship and customer relationship” on the sustainable performance of the firms. The mentioned lean practices can be the answer to one ofthe most basic and fundamental aspect of the business i.e. the sustainable performance ofthe firm. Also, the research seeks to emphasize the importance of lean practices, since application of these procedures is not found to greater extent in Karachi. Design/Methodology/Approach: Due to the covid-19 restriction the majority of the forms were collected via online methods i.e., Emails, Whatsapp, Facebook and the data was used to examine the research hypothesis. The sample size of 293 was used for the research study. The respondents were from SMEs of Karachi. Findings: The study identifies that lean practices do have an impact of the organization’s sustainable performance. The lean practices (process and equipment, customer relationship, Human resources, and product design) have a positive impact on the sustainable performance of the firms. While the impact of the lean practices (Planning and control & supplier relationship) is insignificant on the organization’s sustainable performance. Limitations: Less knowledge of lean, vague understanding of Lean implementation, and unfamiliar with the sustainable performance, time limitations and the impact of Covid-19 disease on the time horizon due to which responses could not be collected physically.