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Recent literature emphasizes the application of lean manufacturing practices to food processing industries in order to improve operational efficiency and productivity. Only a very limited number of studies have focused on the implementation of lean manufacturing practices within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the food sector. The majority of these studies used the case study method and concentrated on individual lean manufacturing techniques geared towards resolving efficiency issues. This paper aims to analyze the status of the lean manufacturing practices and their benefits and barriers among European food processing SMEs.

A structured questionnaire was developed to collect data. A total of 35 SMEs' representatives, mostly CEOs and operations managers, participated in the survey. The study investigated the role of two control variables in lean implementation: size of the company and country of origin.

The findings show that lean manufacturing practice deployment in food processing SMEs is generally low and still evolving. However, some lean manufacturing practices are more prevalent than others; e.g. flow, pull and statistical process control are not widely used by the food processing SMEs, whereas total productive maintenance, employee involvement, and customer association are more widespread. The key barriers encountered by food SMEs in the implementation of lean manufacturing practices result from the special characteristics of the food sector, such as highly perishable products, complicated processing, extremely variable raw materials, recipes and unpredictable demand. In addition, lack of knowledge and resources makes it difficult for food processing SMEs to embark on the lean journey.

The gap in the literature regarding the application of lean manufacturing in the food sector is identified and addressed in this study. The originality of this paper lies in analyzing the current status of the use of lean manufacturing practices among food SMEs in Europe and identifying potential barriers.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and illustrate an application of a tool for assessing the maturity and effectiveness of enterprise performance measurement systems.

Assessment elements were defined based on the literature, and the scoring approach was designed based on performance excellence frameworks such as Baldrige and EFQM. A research case application in a Belgian public sector organization is used to illustrate how the tool can be used and the types of insights generated.

The case application indicates that the tool can be used to generate useful and actionable feedback for leadership to increase the maturity of enterprise performance measurement systems. The tool can also be used to longitudinally track progress in performance measurement system effectiveness.

The current paper represents the pilot application of the tool. Future work is needed to further test and refine the tool, refine the assessment process, and collect additional assessment data in other organizations.

This tool provides a more holistic yet detailed assessment of performance measurement systems. It assesses measurement system design quality, as well as implementation/use Specific feedback on process gaps can be used to detect and address problem areas, providing value for practitioners. The tool provides researchers with a standard, structured approach for collecting and codifying detailed observations and artifacts when studying measurement systems.

Lean principles are applied in manufacturing and service industries extensively, but its successful application in the printing industry has been poor. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that impede the uptake of lean in the printing industry.

Qualitative case study research methods were used to explore success factors and barriers to implementing lean in printing by interviewing two managers and three employees at each of two printing firms that had implemented lean to different degrees.

A number of critical success factors and barriers to implementing lean are identified. Success factors include practitioners’ understanding of lean philosophy, principles and methods, management leadership and commitment, upfront training in lean and effective communication.

The work contributes to empirical research on implementing lean in the printing industry. This research identified critical success and failure factors in implementing lean in this industry. Management knowledge, commitment, and support emerged as key factors. A theoretical framework is provided that proposes relationships of causality for the successful implementation of lean in this industry.

The purpose of this paper is to recognise the importance of the interplay between performance measurement, performance management, employee engagement and performance. However, the nature of this phenomenon is not well understood. Analysis of the literature reveals two dimensions of organisational control, technical and social, that are used to develop a conceptual framework for studying this phenomenon.

The authors conducted explorative action research involving pilot and control groups from two departments of a UK bank.

The authors show that an intervention on the social controls has led to changes in technical controls of the performance measurement system resulting in significant improvement in employee engagement and performance.

The research was undertaken with two cases from a single organisation. Further fine-grained, longitudinal research is required to fully understand this phenomenon in a wider range of contexts.

The paper contributes to the theory on performance measures and gives guidance on how organisations might design their performance measurement systems to enhance employee engagement and performance.

The study makes three contributions. First, the authors introduce a new theoretical framework based the organisational control theory providing a basis for future research. Second, through nine propositions, the authors establish a causal relationship between performance measurement, performance management, employee engagement and performance. Third, the authors identify a gap in knowledge concerning the design of organisational controls in the context of the process that is being managed.

The purpose of the study is to explore the relationship between performance measurement systems (PMSs) and organizational learning (OL) and the impact on firm human capital building.

Data were collected using a survey instrument. Then, a structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the proposed model.

The results reveal that PMS, which is designed with three main qualities – valid, comprehensive, and coherent with its environment – has an overall positive relationship with OL and firm's human capital (employee satisfaction and work‐related competencies). First, the validity of the individual performance measure is found to be positively linked to employee satisfaction. Second, the comprehensiveness of the PMS and work‐related competencies are positively associated. Third, the coherence of the PMS with its environment has a positive relationship with OL but not directly with the human capital indicators. Thus, OL, which is positively associated with both work‐related competencies and employee satisfaction, mediates the relationship between the coherence of the PMS and the work‐related competencies.

There are some linkages among these three concepts (PMS, OL and human capital) that have not been specifically explored in the existing relevant studies. Previous studies have asserted that human capital could not be utilized and nurtured without supporting infrastructure. Therefore, this study explores the relationships among the three constructs to uncover the additional benefits of PMS and OL for different purposes such as building firm's human capital. This could help firms to improve the utilization of their existing management tools and their competitiveness.