ABSTRACT
The idea that supply chains compete against each other, rather than individual firms or brands, has
been written about extensively (Christopher, 2005). Similarly, lean thinkers have for some time
encouraged us to think beyond the ‘‘door to door’’ of our factory to the extended value stream
( Jones and Womack, 2002). Lean principles and practices when adopted and spread among
supply chain members effectively will derive potential benefits for all concerned (Hines et al.,
2004; Shah and Ward, 2007). Very often the main focus of lean supply chain initiatives is the
reduction of waste, the elimination of non-value-adding activities, the reduction of costs, and
increasing flexibility from order placement to order delivery processes to the end customer
(Womack and Jones, 1996; Mollenkopf, et al., 2010; So and Sun, 2010; Martinez-Jurado and
Moyano-Fuentes, 2014). The overall aim is to optimize activities along the supply chain from the
final customer’s point of view (Martı´nez-Jurado and Moyano-Fuentes, 2014).
