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This paper aims to propose an assessment framework to evaluate companies' innovation capability in the context of industrial clusters.

The assessment framework was built based on the Graph-Theoretic Approach (GTA) to measure the influence of the factors and sub-factors of innovation capabilities. To quantify the level of interdependence between factors and sub-factors of innovation capability Delphi method was adopted. The authors developed five case studies in firms from an Information and Communications Technology and Creative Economy cluster in Northeastern Brazil to test the framework's applicability.

The results showed that identifying and evaluating the factors of innovation capability allows a larger understanding of what affects these capabilities to a greater or lesser extent and contributes to strategic decision-making.

The framework evaluates the innovation capability of each firm, not providing an index for the whole industrial cluster. Besides, the framework does not consider the innovations developed by the companies through the innovation's capabilities. As the Delphi technique was adopted to analyze the levels of influence or interdependence between factors and sub-factors of innovation capability, different experts may lead to different results.

Among the managerial implications, the authors can highlight the innovation capability index as a practical performance measure to stimulate improvement initiatives regarding innovations in industrial clusters. Besides, as the proposed framework is generic, research organizations, public institutions and regional governments can adopt it to analyze innovation capabilities in cluster-based companies.

Previous industrial cluster studies have concentrated on knowledge transfer as the main attribute influencing innovation capabilities. The literature also presents assessment frameworks focusing on qualitative analyses or innovation capabilities outcomes (patents and products). Differently, the authors proposed a quantitative assessment framework considering specific factors (and sub-factors) of innovation capabilities in industrial clusters.

This study aims to analyze the knowledge transfer process for implementing a company-specific production system (XPS) from a subsidiary of a multinational corporation (MNC) to its local suppliers.

A case study approach was adopted and applied in an automotive supply chain. Empirical data were collected from interviews, observations and internal documents.

The literature shows that the successful XPS implementation depends on the ability to transfer XPS knowledge; the motivation of the source unit to share XPS knowledge; the value and nature of knowledge embedded in XPS; the effectiveness of individual, social and organizational transfer mechanisms; the motivation and absorptive capacity of the target unit and, the organizational, social and relational contexts in which XPS is transferred. Based on the research findings, we develop 12 propositions and presented them in a framework.

This paper expands and enriches the literature on the knowledge transfer process of XPS. The proposed framework establishes theoretical propositions and associations raised by qualitative analysis. However, these propositions are potentially testable on a larger scale for broader generalization.

Managers can recognize critical factors and relationships needed to improve the XPS implementation from an MNC subsidiary to its local suppliers.

The proposed framework provides a scheme to capture the essential critical factors affecting a successful XPS implementation between MNC subsidiaries and local suppliers. Moreover, we found relevant associations between pairs of critical factors that were not identified in the literature.

Developing a lean supply chain is a continuous improvement effort, so it requires tracking the implementation progress by assessing the achieved level of leanness. However, lean supply chain practices depend on firm-to-firm relationships and an assessment method should consider these network interactions. Given the absence of such a method, this study aims to propose an alternative approach for assessing the leanness level of supply chains.

The authors extracted 18 typical lean supply chain practices from the literature, constituting the leanness assessment parameters. Then, the authors developed an assessment method based on the graph-theoretic approach due to its properties of capturing the interdependencies between elements of a system. The authors tested the proposed method in an automotive supply chain, selecting the focal firm and three of its first-tier suppliers.

The authors positioned partial and overall results in a visual classification scale and the supply chain presented a moderate leanness level. After empirical testing, the proposed method demonstrated its practical feasibility.

This paper contributes to the literature with a novel approach for supply chain leanness assessment. However, to increase its generalizability, it would be beneficial to test the method in non-automotive supply chains, extending the assessment scope to downstream firms and second-tier customers and suppliers.

For practitioners, this paper provides a self-assessment tool to monitor the supply chain leanness and set priorities for improvement.

Besides tackling the interrelationships between firms, the proposed method considers the interdependencies between lean practices, providing partial and overall feedback to enable a systemic assessment.

Although there are general methodologies for lean implementation in manufacturing companies, a specific methodology for the implementation of lean healthcare in hospitals has not been addressed by the literature. Addressing this gap, the purpose of this paper is to develop a practice-driven methodology for implementing lean in hospital operations.

Three case studies were conducted to collect evidence on the lean implementation process in Brazilian hospitals. From empirical evidence and literature, the implementation methodology was proposed and submitted to critical assessment by experts from the field.

The process of lean implementation was very similar in all cases, triggered by strategic planning and operationalized by continuous improvement projects. On the other hand, in all cases, the lean implementation teams had to deal with employees’ resistance. These findings were valuable inputs to the development of the implementation methodology. After refinement, it was proposed a feasible, useful and user-friendly methodology.

The proposed methodology was raised from the practice through case study research. However, the proposed methodology was not fully applied, and the associated performance measures were not elaborated in this paper. Therefore, more case studies and applications will be necessary to generalize the findings.

The methodology provides practical guidelines that support lean implementation in hospital operations. Although it demands adaptations for each specific hospital setting, this initial step may encourage hospital managers to start the lean journey.

This study addressed the gap in the literature regarding the lack of methodologies for implementing lean healthcare in hospital operations. The methodology synthesizes the knowledge, principles and tools of lean thinking that can be applied in hospital operations.

This study aims to assess suppliers’ learning from knowledge transfers with a global truck manufacturer, considering both source and supplier capacity, and the cultural proximity between the parties.

A case study was conducted between two factories, one in Brazil and one in Germany. This study adopted a mixed-method sequential explanatory approach, which involves a quantitative phase followed by a qualitative one to provide a better understanding of the studied phenomenon. Quantitative data were collected from the automaker’s suppliers in both countries and analyzed using factor and inferential analyses. Qualitative data were obtained from the automaker’s purchasing executives, and from the company’s suppliers in both countries. Content analysis was used to analyze data.

Results suggest that both the source’s disseminative capacity and suppliers’ absorptive capacity had a positive effect on suppliers’ learning during knowledge transfers. The study also found out that cultural proximity among parties positively moderates the relationship between suppliers’ absorptive capacity and their learning. However, cultural proximity does not moderate the relationship between a source’s disseminative capacity and supplier learning.

This study’s findings are important to foster knowledge transfers by developing absorptive and disseminative capabilities in the automakers industry, in which the implementation of interorganizational learning is quite challenging due to the large number of strategic providers.

This study contributes to theoretical and conceptual consolidation of knowledge transfer, which includes cultural proximity among parties and the source’s and supplier’s disseminative and absorptive capacities, respectively. This study constructs and validates a model of knowledge transfer using a large automaker with a worldwide presence.

Studies addressing barriers to implement lean production (LP) from the perspective of risk management (RM) have not been so usual in the literature. Re-interpreting barriers to lean as potential risks that should be avoided or mitigated, this paper aims to identify and categorise risks in the implementation of LP to propose a framework, which provides an overview of risks that negatively influence this process.

Through a systematic literature review exploring papers in the Web of Knowledge database, 69 papers were selected. A descriptive analysis was first carried out to identify the evolution in the number of papers, usual terminologies, research methods, analytic tools and the RM phases approached by each paper. After that, an in-depth study of the paper sample was conducted to find risk factors and categories.

The authors found a list of 61 risk factors. Then, considering the sources of the identified risk factors, six broad categories of risks were defined, namely, top management risks, human resources risks, lean knowledge risks, technical risks, supply chain risks and cultural risks. The authors also defined 34 subcategories, resulting in a risk classification framework.

Based on the review, the authors identified literature gaps and provided a research agenda. A noteworthy research limitation is that the authors only selected papers about LP, so the authors might have missed some potential risks in lean implementation that may arise from other-related areas. Thus, the exploration of lean risks adopting other perspectives may constitute a promising pathway for further research.

The classification framework may help practitioners and researchers in risk identification, evaluation and mitigation. It can also enable the creation of response plans to risks in lean production implementation, as it indicates the potential risks that may be faced along with this process.

This study contributed to add the perspective of RM to the literature on lean implementation. The introduction of RM concepts and tools may generate more robust models of lean implementation. Therefore, the classification framework may represent a starting point to produce new knowledge about this research topic.

This paper aims to map literature about innovation capabilities (IC) taking into consideration industrial clusters to propose a conceptual framework that synthetizes the main factors and subfactors responsible for ICs; in addition, the paper also proposes a research agenda.

A systematic literature review (SLR) was performed; academic papers were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively.

The authors provide a descriptive analysis followed by a thematic synthesis, in which we present 05 enablers and 20 critical factors (CF) of IC in clusters. The proposed framework emphasizes what needs to be done or improved to increase IC in cluster-based companies. Based on this systematic review and the framework proposed, the authors identified opportunities for future research.

The enablers and CF identified through SLR were not validated empirically. Therefore, future studies on the current topic are required to validate the framework by investigating which factors are more relevant to cluster-based companies that intend to improve their innovative performance.

The present findings have important implications for the identification of the factors and subfactors that may contribute to the development of IC, which may help managers and decision-makers in recognizing which factors are the most responsible for business innovation.

The paper identifies enablers related to the development of IC in industrial cluster and presents a research agenda. The framework represents a guideline for companies to achieve better innovation performance.

The paper aims to present a hands‐on activity for operations management (OM) education that simulates assembly operations common in industrial settings using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) threadable fittings utilised in water pipes as interchangeable parts for easy manual assembly.

The teaching method followed the philosophy of active learning and was applied in an action research approach; the proposed activity was tested and improved during applications in the classroom.

The applicability of the method was proven during in‐class exercises. The results were confirmed with positive feedback from the students involved in the exercises, which was obtained through a survey conducted after a set of applications.

Although the proposed activity may have several possibilities for application, this paper focuses specifically on teaching the topics of work measurement and assembly line balancing, thus limiting the generalisability of these findings to other OM techniques. Therefore, it is important that the activity is further adapted to teach other OM topics.

The activity performed with pipe fittings represents a practical exercise that contributes to reduction of the gap between theory and practice in OM education. Using simple and low cost materials, the students are involved in creating a real process from a fictional product.

This paper presents an experiential learning exercise applied using an innovative approach, using pipe fittings as interchangeable parts assembled in a production line.