A stakeholder perspective on process improvement behaviours: delivering the triple bottom line in SMEs

Abstract

The primary focus of operations management is to add value through operational processes. Considerable attention has been given to using process improvement (PI) techniques to reduce costs and time, in order to develop a competitive advantage for the wider organization. However, this narrow definition of value at times overlooks the triple bottom line (TBL) which can result in a number of unintended consequences, specifically issues related to environmental and social measures of performance. To address this, a stakeholder theory lens will be used to analyze PI activities within the context of small and medium-sized enterprises. The TBL will be used to complement the stakeholder perspective, to interpret the benefits that are realized from PI activities. This article highlights both the direct benefits from PI as well as more indirect benefits realized by involving a selection of salient stakeholders in PI. It will show how a developed view of PI can provide an important mechanism for delivering improvements to a firm’s TBL. The work concludes by highlighting the contributions made to both PI practice and stakeholder theory, while acknowledging the need for more research on PI, both from a stakeholder perspective and how it impacts a firm’s TBL.

Keywords:

• Process improvement
• small and medium-sized enterprises
• stakeholder theory
• triple bottom line

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rupert L. Matthews

Dr Rupert Matthews is a Lecturer in Operations Management and DBA Programme Director at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University. He has Bachelor and Masters degrees in Manufacturing Engineering, Operations Management and Business and Management. He received his PhD in Business and Management exploring the intersection between process improvement and organizational learning from the University of Nottingham. His areas of research are process improvement, six sigma, organizational learning, small and medium-sized enterprises, craft manufacturing and supply quality risk management. Rupert teaches in the area of operations management, supply chain management, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation.

Ying Kei Tse

Dr Ying Kei Tse is an Associate Professor and Head of the Operations Management Group at The York Management School. The University of York, UK. His research crosses over different disciplines, including empirical research in risk and resilience in supply chain, data-mining of big social data in crisis management and development of operations management educational simulation platform. He has published more than 30 academic articles, including in high-quality journals such as British Journal of Management, International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Production Research, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Annals of Operations Research, Industrial Management and Data Systems, Computers and Education, Expert Systems with Applications and others.

Matthew O’Meara Wallis

Matthew O’Meara Wallis is a Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management at Nottingham Business School at Nottingham Trent University. He teaches organizational sociology and business ethics with critical analysis of the effects of management on stakeholders. He researches and writes on Stakeholder Theory, Organizational Trust, Leadership, and Communitarian and Virtue Ethics. His doctoral research concerns corporate stakeholder relations through the examination of community, focused on the social license to operate. Matthew previously worked in retail and investment banking, and works as a corporate social responsibility consultant for large MNCs as well as in the SME sector.

Peter E. Marzec

Dr Peter Marzec’s research interests lie in Knowledge Management, Organizational Learning, Process Improvement. He has lectured on Statistics, Quantitative Methods and Operations Management at various UK Business Schools and is a visiting fellow at the Nottingham Business School. Professionally, Peter’s experience covers operations excellence, project management, outsourcing, and consulting in Australia, Malaysia, UK and China. Peter is currently a Manager with KPMG Australia Lean Practice and a National Knowledge Management Lead.