Companies' Responsiveness in Facing Supply Chain Breakdowns: The Role of Lean Manufacturing

Crisis times result in supply chain instabilities but represent a unique opportunity to test organizational theories and measure the effectiveness of management approaches in exceptional times. The main goal of this research is to study the role of lean manufacturing (LM) to improve the company's response in times of unprecedented crisis and in facing challenges in the post-COVID-19 world. A survey was conducted with 202 manufacturing companies and then analyzed using structural equation modeling. Our main findings suggest that LM's excellence is not lost during crisis times and that the performance of lean companies can be sustained during crises. Lean companies have a culture of problem-solving and innovation that makes them more responsive during crisis and better prepared for changes and challenges in a post-crisis world. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that provides empirical evidence that LM practices are a moderating variable that improves companies' responsiveness in crisis times.