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This paper aims to investigate how implementing lean six sigma and Industry 4.0 (LSSI4.0) can influence a company’s financial performance and discusses the current trend involving LSSI4.0 in China.

For statistical analysis, financial data was sourced from the China Stock Market and Accounting Research database. Keywords used to assess the implementation status of LSSI4.0 were extracted from the 2007 to 2020 annual reports of A-share manufacturing companies. Regression analysis was applied to the quantitative analyses of 5,041 observational data points from 945A-share manufacturing companies in China.

LSSI4.0 implementation in the manufacturing industry boosts the firms’ financial performance. However, the former outperforms the latter in terms of long-term advantages. Meanwhile, incorporating lean six sigma (LSS) into Industry 4.0 (I4.0) can lead to long-term improved financial performance compared to solely implementing the I4.0.

The findings possess limited international representativeness because all empirical data were derived from Chinese large manufacturing companies. In addition to return on assets and return on equity, financial performance can also be measured using other financial metrics, such as return on investment. In this study, only listed manufacturing companies were considered as research samples.

Top management must acknowledge the positive impact of LSSI4.0 on financial performance and prioritize implementing I4.0 based on LSS implementation.

Empirical results concerning the effectiveness of LSS implementation in enhancing financial performance are inconclusive, particularly in China. In addition, most studies collected data through surveys and interviews, so the representativeness of their outcomes is limited. Overall, this study evaluated the impact of LSSI4.0 implementation with large sample size.

Although researchers have long recognized the importance of participating organizations’ (POs) relational behavior for mega construction projects (MCPs) performance, relational behavior may not be executed by POs without effective leadership from project owners. However, little is known about the mechanisms linking owners’ leadership styles to POs’ relational behavior. This study draws on full range leadership theory and role theory to examine the relationships between owners’ leadership styles (i.e. transformational and transactional) and relational behavior. POs’ role orientations (i.e. normative and economic) are considered as potential mediators.

Data were collected from 175 managers deeply involved in MCPs. Hierarchical regression model and bootstrapping methods were performed on the data to examine the direct effects of owners’ leadership on POs’ relational behavior and the mediating effects of POs’ role orientations.

The results revealed that both owners’ transformational and transactional leadership positively affect POs’ relational behavior, despite the former being higher than the latter, and indirectly influence relational behavior via POs’ normative and economic role orientation, respectively.

This study provides a clear picture of how owners’ leadership can motivate POs’ relational behavior to achieve high-quality inter-organizational relationships in MCPs. The findings can guide owners’ top manager selection by prioritizing those with transformational leadership, which is beneficial to achieving high-level relational behavior of POs. The results also imply that owners should pay greater attention to cultivating POs’ normative role orientation by encouraging teamwork and open communication to enhance their implementation of relational behavior.

Unlike previous research focusing more on intra-organizational leader–follower relationship within one PO, this study is one of the first to empirically confirm owners’ leadership as a critical antecedent of POs’ relational behavior, thus enhancing the theoretical understanding of inter-organizational relationship management in MCPs. Based on role theory, this study considers a novel organizational psychology mechanism, i.e. POs’ role orientations, as the mediator to unravel how owners’ leadership affects POs’ relational behavior, which was rarely invoked in MCP leadership literature.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the tannase-assisted extraction of tea stem pigment from waste tea stem, after which the stability of the purified pigment was determined and analyzed.

The extracting process was optimized using the response surface methodology (RSM) approach. Material-liquid ratio, temperature and time were chosen as variables and the absorbance as a response. The stability of the tea stem pigment at the different conditions was tested and analyzed.

The optimized extraction technology was as follows: material-liquid ratio 1:20 g/ml, temperature 50°C and time 60 min. The stability test results showed that tea stem pigment was sensitive to oxidants, but the reducing agents did not affect it. The tea stem pigment was unstable under strong acid and strong alkali and was most stable at pH 6. The light stability was poor. Tea stem pigment would form flocculent precipitation under the action of Fe²⁺ or Fe³⁺ and be relatively stable in Cu²⁺ and Na²⁺ solutions. The tea stem pigment was relatively stable at 60°C and below.

No comprehensive and systematic study reports have been conducted on the extraction of pigment from discarded tea stem, and researchers have not used statistical analysis to optimize the process of tannase-assisted tea stem pigment extraction using RSM. Additionally, there is a lack of special reports on the systematic study of the stability of pigment extracted from tea stem.