Lean Implementation in Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises in Less Developed Countries: Some Empirical Evidences From North AfricaFootnote^*

* The present paper explores status of lean adoption in the North African example of SMEs in less developed countries. Owing to the unique characteristics of SMEs in less developed countries, this paper provides several unique contributions to the extent theory and practice in Operations Management (OM) (1) this is the first study to investigate the status of lean implementation in North Africa, (2) the present work highlights via the North African example the immense need for lean within SMEs as a key factor of the economic development of less developed countries, (3) this study uses data collected directly from North African SMEs through a survey, which enables to OM community to discover the issues related to lean implementation in this kind of companies which have not received much attention before, (4) this work enhance also the knowledge about lean implementation in less developed countries in general, and in North Africa in particular, and (5) this research is a real quantum leap toward helping the OM community to understand the current situation of lean in the North African context in order to redirect strategies to implement this approach in SMEs in less developed countries.

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