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A positive outlook on the impact of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) on sustainability prevails in the literature. However, some studies have highlighted potential areas of concern that have not yet been systematically addressed. The goal of this study is to challenge the assumption of a sustainable Fourth Industrial Revolution by (1) identifying the possible unintended negative impacts of I4.0 technologies on sustainability; (2) highlighting the underlying motivations and potential actions to mitigate such impacts; and (3) developing and evaluating alternative assumptions on the impacts of I4.0 technologies on sustainability.

Building on a problematization approach, a systematic literature review was conducted to develop potential alternative assumptions about the negative impacts of I4.0 on sustainability. Then, a Delphi study was carried out with 43 experts from academia and practice to evaluate the alternative assumptions. Two rounds of data collection were performed until reaching the convergence or stability of the responses.

The results highlight various unintended negative effects on environmental and social aspects that challenge the literature. The reasons behind the high/low probability of occurrence, the severity of each impact in the next five years and corrective actions are also identified. Unintended negative environmental effects are less controversial than social effects and are therefore more likely to generate widely accepted theoretical propositions. Finally, the alternative hypothesis ground is partially accepted by the panel, indicating that the problematization process has effectively opened up new perspectives for analysis.

This study is one of the few to systematically problematize the assumptions of the I4.0 and sustainability literature, generating research propositions that reveal several avenues for future research.

This paper seeks to shed light on the resources and capabilities required by SMEs to successfully implement Industry 4.0 (I4.0) and to explore how these resources and capabilities can be acquired and/or developed.

The authors employed an exploratory multiple case study approach to analyze five Portuguese SMEs that have implemented I4.0 technologies. Data were primarily collected through direct semi-structured interviews with managers from different departments and areas. Moreover, a technology, organization and environment (TOE) framework approach was adopted to analyze the resources and capabilities needed for I4.0 implementation in SMEs.

Research findings suggest that the analyzed Portuguese SMEs did not require all the considered I4.0 resources and capabilities. Therefore, results may support practitioners to recognize and prioritize the resources and capabilities needed to successfully embrace all the benefits of I4.0. In this regard, SMEs can develop these resources and capabilities needed both internally (e.g. through the process and product innovation focused on digital technologies, human resource management practices and top management commitment) and externally (e.g. hiring skilled employees and through innovative collaboration networks).

Using the TOE framework, this study shows how SMEs could acquire and develop their resources and capabilities to accelerate I4.0 implementation and maximize its benefits.

The lean philosophy has demonstrated its effectiveness to improve firms' operational performance. However, the impact of lean practices on financial performance is still unclear due to the poor understanding of the link between operational and financial measures and the conflictive results obtained by previous research. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic literature review to understand whether lean companies have improved their financial performance. Moreover, this article aims to uncover research gaps in the literature and examine which time spans of research have been considered to analyse both the degree of lean implementation and the measurement of financial outcomes.

A systematic literature review has been conducted to identify peer-reviewed articles that analyse the effect of the lean production paradigm on the financial performance measures of manufacturing companies. Then, the identified articles were processed using a combination of descriptive and content analyses methods to draw new conclusions, uncover gaps and find novel paths for research.

Various authors indicate that lean initiatives lead to an enhancement of financial performance measures. JIT and TQM lean practice bundles are suggested as the best enablers of financial performance in terms of sales and profit. In contrast, according to some scholars, lean does not necessarily improve companies' financial results if it is not properly implemented.

Several studies have focused on analysing the effects of lean on performance. However, only a small part of the literature has addressed the study of the effects of lean practices on financial performance metrics. The originality of this study lies in the investigation of the connections between lean practices and financial performance measures found in the literature. The outcome is the identification of various possible positive impacts of some lean practices on financial metrics.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between lean manufacturing and corporate environmental performance. Scholarly literature has extensively addressed the relationship between those two areas but empirical papers present mixed and inconsistent results, calling for further analysis to establish a clearer understanding of the actual relationship and to identify the causes of conflicting findings across studies. Given the importance of sustainable practices in the current business landscape, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of this relationship through a meta-analysis of previous research, with a focus on integrating quantitative findings to shed light on the potential impact of lean manufacturing on environmental performance and report its intensity with Pearson’s correlation coefficient.

This paper analyzes the data from 29 primary studies published between 2001 and 2022 that have empirically measured the relationship between lean manufacturing and corporate environmental performance and that have been identified in the Web of Science and SCOPUS databases through an exhaustive review of the literature. To integrate previous empirical results and evaluate the evidence for the lean manufacturing’s influence on environmental performance, a meta-analytic methodology was adopted through the Hedges–Olkin random effect approach, based on correlations.

Main findings support the notion that a significant, positive, rather moderated, relationship exists between lean manufacturing and environmental performance, with an overall correlation coefficient r¯ = 0.25. The result seems robust, as several tests confirm that publication bias is unlikely. Overall, various lean practices are correlated to varying degrees with different measures of environmental performance. The environmental efficiency of external lean practices is higher than that observed for internal practices and quality management has a more pronounced effect than other internal lean practices. The 2008 global crisis did not change these relationships and the impact of lean manufacturing on environmental performance does not seem to be moderated by the degree of environmental awareness of the country where applied.

The results conclude that a significant, positive relationship exists between lean manufacturing and environmental performance (r¯ = 0.25). This study tests certain factors that exhibit varying effect sizes and moderate the overall outcome, highlighting that the environmental efficiency of external lean practices is higher than that observed for internal practices. In addition, it suggests a more pronounced effect of quality management among other internal lean practices.

This study provides companies with an opportunity to align their operational strategies with environmental sustainability goals. Understanding that various lean practices exhibit diverse levels of correlation with multiple measures of environmental performance, decision-makers can prioritize their efforts and apply the lean practices that have a stronger effect on the desired environmental outcomes to improve their environmental impact. Conversely, managers are aware that certain lean practices have a week relationship with some environmental performance so they can avoid overestimating environmental benefits of lean manufacturing. Finally, results underscore the importance of organizational commitment to environmental sustainability.

It is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first meta-analytic study to investigate the strength of the association between lean manufacturing and environmental performance and to test whether various lean practices are correlated to different measures of environmental performance. It fills this gap in the literature and therefore it represents a valuable contribution to the field. In addition, this paper explores certain factors that moderate the overall outcome.

This paper aims to deal with the grape sourcing strategies of wineries in the Canary Islands.

Sourcing decisions are analysed from official registers of transactions between wineries and their external suppliers. The main sources of information are harvest reports submitted by wineries containing data about observable dimensions of their purchasing decisions. The general behaviour in the wine-grape zones that make up the grape market in the Canary Islands is described, and different strategies of individual wineries are revealed. Grape purchasing decisions are interpreted in terms of the potential explanatory factors involved in the undeclared objectives of wineries’ sourcing strategies. Two research questions are considered in this study: the spatial dimension, which refers to plot location, and the social dimension, which refers to the relationships between wineries and winegrowers.

The location of grape producers is a key factor in achieving the desired wine quality for wineries. The sourcing strategy of wineries is also influenced by size, but the impact of size varies depending on the short and long-term objectives of wineries.

Typically the literature on grape sourcing strategies relies on interviews with winemakers. However, this paper analyses wineries’ sourcing decisions based on records and reports that reveal their decisions in the specific context of the Canary Islands.

General data protection regulation (GDPR) entered into force in May 2018 for enhancing personal data protection. Even though GDPR leads toward many advantages for the data subjects it turned out to be a significant challenge. Organizations need to implement long and complex changes to become GDPR compliant. Data subjects are empowered with new rights, which, however, they need to become aware of. GDPR compliance is a challenging matter for the relevant stakeholders calls for a software platform that can support their needs. The aim of data governance for supporting GDPR (DEFeND) EU project is to deliver such a platform. The purpose of this paper is to describe the process, within the DEFeND EU project, for eliciting and analyzing requirements for such a complex platform.

The platform needs to satisfy legal and privacy requirements and provide functionalities that data controllers request for supporting GDPR compliance. Further, it needs to satisfy acceptance requirements, for assuring that its users will embrace and use the platform. In this paper, the authors describe the methodology for eliciting and analyzing requirements for such a complex platform, by analyzing data attained by stakeholders from different sectors.

The findings provide the process for the DEFeND platform requirements’ elicitation and an indicative sample of those. The authors also describe the implementation of a secondary process for consolidating the elicited requirements into a consistent set of platform requirements.

The proposed software engineering methodology and data collection tools (i.e. questionnaires) are expected to have a significant impact for software engineers in academia and industry.

It is reported repeatedly that data controllers face difficulties in complying with the GDPR. The study aims to offer mechanisms and tools that can assist organizations to comply with the GDPR, thus, offering a significant boost toward the European personal data protection objectives.

This is the first paper, according to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to provide software requirements for a GDPR compliance platform, including multiple perspectives.

This paper aims to explore how lean manufacturing practices (LMPs) predict sustainable performance (SP) in the context of manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in less developed countries, like Yemen. In particular, it investigates the mediating effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) under different levels of competitive intensity (CI).

Hierarchical regression analysis was used to analyze data gathered from a survey of 259 Yemeni manufacturing SMEs.

The findings confirm that LMPs affect CSR, which in turn affects SP. This study also confirms that LMPs have a positive indirect effect on SP through CSR, which diminished in the presence of CI.

This study provides useful insights for policymakers and firms’ managers, who are anticipated to show a higher commitment to CSR in their firms when adopting LMPs to enhance their firms’ SP, especially under a low level of CI.

This paper contributes to expanding knowledge on the effect of LMPs on SP through CSR constrained by the level of CI.

Buoyed by the increasing demand for improved productivity and environmentally conscious manufacturing, research in the area of lean production and green manufacturing has experienced significant growth since Dües et al. (2013). Taking the latter as the point of reference, a review of recent developments in the complementary and conflicting areas between lean production and green manufacturing that has been missing is presented.

A systematic search was done to identify articles on lean production and green manufacturing from Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar. The population-intervention-outcome format was used to develop and answer the research questions. ATLAS.ti 22 was used to analyse 141 qualifying papers and identify the research themes.

Lean production and green manufacturing have strong synergy, and when integrated, they tend to deliver superior organisational performance than their individual implementations. This is consistent with the pre-2013 results, and other areas of synergy and divergence were also identified.

The study considers only papers published in the manufacturing sector after Dües et al. (2013). A review of lean production and green manufacturing in integrated product-service systems may also be relevant, especially due to the continuing trend since its introduction.

Any new adopter of lean production should consider implementing it simultaneously with green manufacturing.

This study establishes the persistence of the pre-2013 patterns of synergy and divergence between lean production and green manufacturing, and identifies new considerations for their joint implementation.

Spain has one of the greatest photovoltaic potentials in Europe. The boom suffered in the photovoltaic sector during the years 2007 and 2008 led to instability in the electrical system, prompting the legislator to develop a large number of legislative changes trying to control the electric system tariff deficit. These measures profoundly affected plant owners creating a non-transparent secondary market, which are not covered by the current exchange platforms. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current situation of the photovoltaic market in Spain, try to understand it based on its historical sequence and propose efficiency improvement measures, based on the implementation of best practices and market mechanisms.

This paper studies the legislative evolution in the photovoltaic sector in Spain and its effect on owners and investors. The authors propose an intermediation system that improves the efficiency of the secondary market.

The authors propose an intermediation system that improves the efficiency of the secondary market.

The authors have not found any other paper that proposes the creation of a market for photovoltaic facilities to increase efficiency.