See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/372622192

The critical success factors of the Lean Six Sigma implementation: a systematic
literature review

Article in International Journal of Business Excellence · July 2023

CITATIONS READS

0 387

2 authors:

Alaa M Ubaid Laith Abdullah Mohammed

University of Sharjah University of Technology, Iraq
23 PUBLICATIONS 194 CITATIONS 14 PUBLICATIONS 50 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Alaa M Ubaid on 25 July 2023.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Int. J. Business Excellence, Vol. X, No. Y, xxxx 1

The critical success factors of the Lean Six Sigma

implementation: a systematic literature review

Alaa M. Ubaid*
College of Engineering,
University of Sharjah,
P.O. Box 27272 Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Email: aubaid@sharjah.ac.ae
*Corresponding author

Laith Abdullah Al-Juboori

Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab Emirates
Email: laljuboori@hct.ac.ae

Abstract: This research highlights the Lean Six Sigma (LSS) critical success
factors (CSFs) literature’s strengths and weaknesses, generates a unified list of
the LSS CSFs, and proposes future research agenda. The research methodology
used encompasses three stages. First, a systematic literature review (SLR) was
used to extract and analyse the literature’s strengths and weaknesses and
propose future research agendas. Second, the focus group discussions approach
was used to generate a unified list of the LSS CSFs. Third, two layers of Pareto
analysis were used to extract the vital few and useful many of the LSS CSFs. A
list of 37 CSFs that represent the unified list of the LSS CSFs was generated.
Then, the vital few and useful many CSFs were extracted from the 37 LSS
CSFs. The top three LSS CSFs were management involvement and leadership,
training and education, and LSS approach integration in business strategy.

Keywords: critical success factors; CSFs; Lean Six Sigma; LSS; unified list;
systematic literature review; SLR.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Ubaid, A.M. and

Al-Juboori, L.A. (xxxx) ‘The critical success factors of the Lean Six Sigma
implementation: a systematic literature review’, Int. J. Business Excellence,
Vol. X, No. Y, pp.xxx–xxx.

Biographical notes: Alaa M. Ubaid is a Senior Administrative Officer and an

adjunct faculty member in the College of Engineering-University of
Sharjah – United Arab Emirates. He holds a PhD from the Industrial
Engineering and Engineering Management Department – College of
Engineering – University of Sharjah. He is the winner of the third place in the
Sharjah Award for Doctoral Dissertations in Administrative Sciences in Arab
countries for the academic year 2021–2022. He also has an MSc and BSc in
Production Engineering from the University of Technology-Iraq. He has an
extensive experience in the industrial sector. He served as a senior production
engineer and production manager in many international companies. He is also a
reviewer in many peer-reviewed scientific journals. HIs research interest is
distributed between optimisation, sustainable manufacturing systems,
innovation management, organisational excellence, and Industry 4.0.

Copyright © 20XX Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

2 A.M. Ubaid and L.A. Al-Juboori

Laith Abdullah Al-Juboori received his BS, MS, and PhD in Production
Engineering from the University of Technology, Baghdad, in 1995, 1998, and
2002 respectively. From 2003 to 2011, he was a Lecturer with the Production
and Metallurgy Engineering Department. Since 2015, he has been an Assistant
Professor in the Engineering Technology and Science Program, Mechanical
Engineering Division, at Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab
Emirates. His research interests include CAD/CAM, machining processes, and
additive manufacturing. He is a member of the Alexander von Humboldt
Foundation (AvH), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME),
and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME).

1 Introduction

The adoption and implementation of the best practices models/systems/methodologies

such as Lean Six Sigma (LSS) (Patel and Patel, 2022), Six Sigma (6σ) (Ren et al., 2022),
total quality management (TQM) (Felicetti et al., 2022; Ho et al., 2023), business
excellence models (BEMs) (Parast and Safari, 2022), etc. were found to be one of the
useful approaches for improving organisations competitiveness (Teixeira et al., 2022).
Therefore, there were extensive efforts in the literature to implement best practices
models and methodologies to assist organisations in satisfying customers, exceeding their
expectations, achieving an excellent performance level, and sustaining it (Ghafoor et al.,
2022; Haerizadeh and Vijaya Sunder, 2022; Orji and U-Dominic, 2022; Parast and Safari,
2022; Salih and Dolah, 2022; Trakulsunti et al., 2023). However, the implementation or
adoption process of such systems/methodologies is complex. Therefore, there were many
attempts in the literature to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) to ensure a
successful implementation/adoption of such models/systems/methodologies (Silva et al.,
2019; Yadav et al., 2021; Yazdi et al., 2021; Francescatto et al., 2022).
Lean is a methodology or initiative if implemented, will eliminate waste and
minimise the cost of the product and services. Waste can be overproduction waste,
waiting waste, transportation waste, over-processing waste, inventory waste, motion
waste, and defects waste. Lean implementation will increase production process speed,
improve product quality, and increase customer satisfaction. Consequently, Lean
implementation will enhance organisational performance (OP) and assist organisations in
gaining benefits from the environment (Blijleven et al., 2019). On the other hand, Six
Sigma (6σ) is a methodology or set of methods used to reduce defects, improve product
quality, increase financial outcomes, and enhance customer satisfaction (Silva et al.,
2019).
Lean and 6σ methodologies are integrated to generate the LSS methodology.
Literature analysis showed that LSS implementation would assist in achieving high levels
of continuous improvement (CI) and result in better savings in terms of cost of the
operations and quality. In other words, operational excellence can be achieved and
sustained by implementing the LSS methodology. Therefore, by implementing the LSS,
the organisations will continually seek to delight the customers, keep quality costs at their
minimum range, and maximise process speed (Swarnakar and Vinodh, 2016; Orji and
U-Dominic, 2022; Patel and Patel, 2022; Tissir et al., 2023).
The research efforts on identifying and using the CSFs in the LSS research scope are
tremendous. For instance, the LSS CSFs were identified and used in many business
 The critical success factors of the Lean Six Sigma implementation 3

sectors, such as the service sector (Aljazzazen and Schmuck, 2022; Deshmukh and
Mukti, 2022), educational sector (Xin et al., 2021; Kowang et al., 2022), healthcare sector
(Sohal et al., 2022; Swarnakar et al., 2022a), small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
sector (Ali, 2021; Lande et al., 2022), etc. However, for the literature reviewed in the
current research, the literature analysis proved that the LSS research scope is scattered,
focused on narrow areas, and lacks an extensive systematic literature review (SLR)
process. Such a SLR process will help highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the
literature, generate a comprehensive and unified list of LSS CSFs that can cover most of
the business sectors, and provide the necessary knowledge about the CSFs required to
implement LSS successfully.
Hence, the current research aims to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the
literature, generate a unified list of the LSS CSFs for LSS implementation, and propose
future research agenda. An SLR methodology (Cooper and Hedges, 1994; Zellner, 2011),
focus group discussions, and two layers of Pareto analysis (Radson and Boyd, 1997) will
be used to analyse the literature, extract the necessary information, and synthesise the
results to achieve the aim of the research.
The Pareto analysis technique is a problem-solving tool that allows individuals and
organisations to identify the most critical factors contributing to a problem and prioritise
efforts to achieve the best results with minimal effort. It is based on the Pareto principle,
which suggests that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes (Radson and Boyd,
1997). Pareto analysis enables individuals and organisations to prioritise their resources
and efforts on the most critical issues that require immediate attention, which saves time
and cost. By knowing the critical factors causing a problem, better decision-making can
be made, such as budget and resource allocation (Ali and Johl, 2022; Rajput et al., 2022;
Ghosh et al., 2023; Lestyánszka Škůrková et al., 2023).
Pareto analysis is widely applicable in different fields, such as manufacturing (Kumar
et al., 2019), healthcare (Heijink et al., 2022), customer service (Livingstone, 1992), the
financial sector (Akinbowale et al., 2022), etc. Pareto analysis usually encompasses the
following steps (Brook, 2014):
1 Identify the problem: Pareto analysis begins by clearly defining the problem. This
will provide focus and direction to the analysis.
2 Gather data: relevant data should be collected to help with the analysis. Data could
be in the form of customer complaints, sales data, production data, etc.
3 Categorise data: once the data has been collected, it must be categorised into specific
groups. Each group should be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive.
4 Count data: the frequency of occurrence for each category should be counted, from
which a Pareto chart can be created to display the distribution of the problem.
5 Analyse the chart: analysing the chart helps in identifying the vital few factors that
cause the most significant problems. This analysis allows for better decision-making.
6 Address root cause: once the vital factors have been identified, steps should be taken
to address their root cause.
7 Monitor progress: continuously monitoring progress helps organisations evaluate
their initiatives’ success and make adjustments where necessary.
4 A.M. Ubaid and L.A. Al-Juboori

The research outcomes contribute to the knowledge body by proposing a vital few LSS
CSFs of the service, manufacturing sectors, and generic LSS CSFs in addition to
presenting a unified list of the LSS CSFs. The unified CSFs list comprises 17 vital few
CSFs and 20 useful many CSFs for successful LSS implementation. The top three LSS
CSFs were management involvement and leadership, Training and Education, and LSS
approach Integration in business strategy, respectively.
The paper structure consists of four sections. After the introduction, the research goal,
objectives, questions, and methodology were discussed in Section 2. Section 3 introduces
the SLR details in addition to the focus group and Pareto analysis results. The research
conclusions, implications, limitations, and future research agenda were discussed in the
Section 4.

2 Research goal, objectives, questions, and methodology

Considering the discussion presented in the introduction section, the current research
aims to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the literature, generate a
comprehensive and unified list of the CSFs for LSS implementation in different business
aspects, and propose future research agenda. Moreover, it is mandatory to highlight the
novelty of the current research approach. The following research objectives will be
derived to fulfil the research aim.
1 Prove the novelty of the research approach.
2 Discuss and summarise the strengths, weaknesses, and future research agenda in the
scope of the LSS CSFs.
3 Propose a unified list of the LSS CSFs.
The following research questions will be derived from the research objectives for a
focused literature review.
1 Does the current research approach novel?
2 What are the literature’s strengths, weaknesses, and future research agenda on the
LSS CSFs research scope?
3 What is the unified list of the LSS CSFs?
The methodology used in the current research will be described in the following
paragraphs. After introducing the research problem in the introduction section, discussing
the research goal, and deriving the research objectives and questions, an SLR
methodology will be used to extract the results from the literature. The SLR process will
follow the reference (Zellner, 2011) approach. The literature review process encompasses
five steps. These steps include problem formulation, data collection, data evaluation,
literature analysis and interpretation, and results’ public presentation (Zellner, 2011).
During the literature analysis and interpretation step, the LSS CSFs will be extracted
based on the focus group discussions and using the Pareto analysis technique. The
approach used to extract the CSFs list was adopted from the references (Karuppusami
and Gandhinathan, 2006; Finney and Corbett, 2007). The steps followed to extract the
LSS CSFs list are described in the following points.
 The critical success factors of the Lean Six Sigma implementation 5

1 Extracting the CSFs from the reviewed literature. The extracted factors are only the
factors that were selected as CSFs in the reviewed literature.
2 Categorising the reviewed literature based on the business sector, using the focus
group discussions.
3 The extracted CSFs, within each business sector, will be thoroughly reviewed by the
experts based on the provided definitions. The CSFs with high similarity will be
unified, and one term/statement will be used to describe them.
4 The occurrences numbers for each CSF will be recorded.
5 The Pareto analysis will be used based on the occurrences numbers, to identify the
vital few CSFs for each CSFs’ business sector.
6 The vital few and the useful many CSFs will be extracted by repeating steps 3 to 5
for LSS implementation based on the CSFs of all business sectors. The regular
Pareto analysis is used to identify the vital few and trivial many (Radson and Boyd,
1997). In the current research, the focus group of experts decided to change it to the
vital few and the useful many. This decision is because all CSFs that reached point 6
are already selected as vital few from the first Pareto analysis cycle.
The final steps of the research methodology include the discussion of the conclusions,
implications, and limitations of the research.

3 Literature review

3.1 Problem formulation

The literature review will be conducted to answer the research questions. Answering the
research questions will guide to prove the originality and attractiveness of the current
research, highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the LSS implementation CSFs
literature, propose future research agenda, and extract a unified list of the CSFs for LSS
successful implementation.

3.2 Data collection and evaluation

The Google Scholar search engine was used to search for the LSS CSFs literature. The
literature was collected from 15 databases. These databases include AIP Publishing, DE
GRUYTER OPEN, Elsevier, Emerald insight, ExcelingTech, growingscience, IAEME
Publication, IEEE Xplore, IEOM Society International, Inderscience, IOPscience,
ResearchGate, Springer, Taylor & Francis, and Teknika. Therefore, the literature review
diversity is guaranteed. The citations and patents were excluded to avoid unnecessary
noise during the literature review. Also, all paper elements were included in the search to
ensure the inclusion of all relevant results. The researchers did not specify a specific
search period to avoid excluding valuable results. However, the selected papers were
published between 2010 and 2022 (12 years).
6 A.M. Ubaid and L.A. Al-Juboori

Lean Six Sigma + CSFs keywords were used to focus the search on the exact research
scope. (Any type) option was selected, and the search results were sorted by relevance to
ensure the inclusion of all research efforts related to the research scope and bring the
relevant results to the first pages of search results. Only peer-reviewed papers from
academic journals or scientific conference papers that fall within the LSS CSFs research
scope were selected. The selected papers are only those focused on finding, using, and
prioritising LSS CSFs. The relevant papers were selected after reading the papers’ titles
and abstracts. If the scope of the papers was not clear in the title and abstract, the papers
were thoroughly reviewed to clarify the paper scope.
On 29-Oct-2022, the search resulted in 6,680 results. However, the first screening
process continued until the authors found no more relevant papers could be identified –
only 558 papers were identified. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and
Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) flow diagram shown in Figure 1 was used to explain the data
collection and evaluation process. The flow diagram is based on a reference (Page et al.,
2021). Among the 558 papers, the authors, during the second screening process, the
authors excluded 310 papers because they were duplicated or discussed other LSS areas.
Among the 248 papers, 170 were excluded because they were irrelevant. The authors
could not retrieve 20 papers, and 15 were excluded because they lacked robust research
methodology. Following Zellner (2011) approach, the authors discussed and agreed on
the review process’s outcomes to accomplish the review’s reliability and selection
process. As a result of the above-followed steps, the review process resulted in the
selection of 43 papers which will be analysed in the following sections. The selected
papers were categorised based on the business sectors, as shown in Table 1.

3.3 Analysis and interpretation

The literature reviewed in the previous section will be analysed in this section. The
analysis will help answer the research questions and fulfil the objectives. The reviewed
papers span over 12 years (between 2010 and 2022). As shown in Figure 2, among the 43
papers, 72% were published during the last five years, which indicates that the topic of
the LSS CSFs is one of the attractive research scopes for many researchers. This
conclusion is further supported by the information shown in Figure 3. The 43 papers, as
shown in Figure 3, were published in 25 peer-reviewed scientific journals, and the
majority of the reviewed papers were published in high-quality journals. Hence, the LSS
CSFs research scope is still attractive, and many scientific journals, databases, and
researchers are still keen to publish papers in this research scope.
In terms of the business sector, the analysis proved, as shown in Table 1, that the
majority of the papers, 33%, covered generic LSS CSFs and did not belong to a specific
business sector. The manufacturing and service sectors were ranked second because each
sector got a 16 % out of the total reviewed papers. The third rank was the SMEs sector
with 12%, and the rest of the sectors got very minor contributions in the scope of LSS
CSFs. Considering that the LSS CSFs in one business sector are not necessarily
applicable in other business sectors (Cocks, 2009), a conclusion can be made that
literature lacks a unified list of the LSS CSFs.
 The critical success factors of the Lean Six Sigma implementation 7

Figure 1 PRISMA flow diagram (see online version for colours)

Records removed before

Identification

screening:
Records identified from*:
Duplicate records removed
Databases (n = 558)
(n = 160)
Records removed for other
reasons (n = 150)

Papers screened Papers excluded

(n = 248) (n = 170)

Papers sought for retrieval Papers not retrieved

(n = 78) (n = 20)
Screening

Papers assessed for eligibility

(n = 58) Reports excluded:
Papers were excluded
because they lacked robust
methodology (n = 15)
Included

Papers included in review

(n = 43)

Source: Page et al. (2021)

Figure 2 Papers numbers/year (see online version for colours)

14 12
Numbers of publications

12 10
10
8
6 4
4 3 3 3 3
2
2 1 1 1
0
2010 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Years
8 A.M. Ubaid and L.A. Al-Juboori

Table 1 The business sector categories of the selected papers

NO# Business sector References

1 Construction
2 Education
3 Food sector
4 Generic
5 Healthcare
6 Manufacturing
7 Oil and gas industry
8 Service
9 SMEs
10 Telecommunication
Soraya et al. (2022)
Antony et al. (2012), Xin et al. (2021) and Kowang et al. (2022)
Halim-Lim et al. (2021)
Abu Bakar et al. (2015), Alnadi and McLaughlin (2021), Anass
et al. (2016), Antony et al. (2022), Francescatto et al. (2022),
Laureani and Antony (2012, 2018), Mashinini-Dlamini and
Van Waveren (2013), Mishra (2022), Narottam et al. (2020),
Näslund (2013), Patel and Patel (2021), Perera et al. (2021) and
Yadav et al. (2021)
Sohal et al. (2022) and Swarnakar et al. (2022a, 2022b)
Jeyaraman and Kee Teo (2010), Fadly Habidin and
Mohd Yusof (2013), Swarnakar et al.,( 2020), Mabrouk et al.
(2021), Raval et al. (2021) and Gastelum-Acosta et al. (2022)
Yazdi et al. (2021)
Manville et al. (2012), Vouzas et al. (2014), Ali et al. (2016),
Juliani and Oliveira (2019), Shofia et al. (2020), Aljazzazen and
Schmuck (2022) and Deshmukh and Mukti (2022)
Lande et al. (2016, 2022), Stankalla et al. (2018), Ahmad et al.
(2019) and Sodhi et al. (2019)
Selvaraju et al. (2019)

Regarding the research methodologies used in the literature, as shown in Figure 4, the
analysis revealed that survey analysis methodology were used in the majority of the
reviewed papers, 35%, followed by mixed methods, 30%, and literature analysis, 23%.
The figure indicates that most of the extracted CSFs (35%) were based on data collected
from individuals working in practical fields. Therefore, it ensures better insights, which
leads to realistic and authenticated research results (Hackett, 1981). On the other hand,
using mixed methods in 30% of the reviewed literature to extract the CSFs confirms the
literature research methodologies’ robustness, i.e., it ensures high-quality results by
enabling researchers to integrate qualitative and qualitative data and analyse them
conceptually and analytically (Vedel et al., 2019).
The literature analysis category covered 23% of the reviewed literature. This indicates
the attractiveness of the research scope and opens the door for future research because it
will give insights into the gaps in the literature and which areas should be covered by
future research. The percentage of the thematic and qualitative methods among the
review literature sample indicates that more efforts are required to use these two research
methods to have deep insights and recognise the patterns and themes of the LSS CSFs’
literature (Guest et al., 2012; Watkins, 2012). The methodologies of the papers that
followed a similar research approach used in the current research were analysed to prove
the novelty of the current research approach. The analysis revealed that each reviewed
paper has its gaps, demonstrating the novelty of the current research approach, see
Table 2.
 The critical success factors of the Lean Six Sigma implementation 9

Figure 3 Papers numbers/journal (see online version for colours)

Uncertain Supply Chain Management 1

Teknika: Jurnal Sains dan Teknologi 1

Quality Engineering 1

Quality - Access to Success 1

Nang Yan Business Journal 1

Journal of Modelling in Management 1

Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management 1

Journal of Management Control 1

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and
Technology 1
International Journal of Global Business and
Competitiveness 1
International Journal of Evaluation and Research in
Education 1
Journal Title

International Journal of Business Excellence 1

International Journal of Academic Research in Business
and Social Sciences 1

Int. J. Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage 1

Int. J. Productivity and Quality Management 1

IEEE Access 1

Computers & Industrial Engineering 1

Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering
Systems Journal 1

Total Quality Management & Business Excellence 2

International Journal of Supply Chain Management 2

International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences 2

International Journal of Productivity and Performance
Management 2
International Journal of Quality & Reliability
Management 3

The TQM Journal 4

International Journal of Lean Six Sigma 6

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Papers/Journal

The reviewed literature was analysed using the research methodology stated in the
methodology section except for the papers from the telecommunication, oil and gas
industry, food, construction, healthcare, education, and SMEs business sectors. These
papers are either single or insufficient to use for the Pareto technique. Therefore, the
CSFs extracted from the reviewed literature for the telecommunication, oil and gas
10 A.M. Ubaid and L.A. Al-Juboori

industry, food, construction, healthcare, education, and SMEs business sectors were
analysed, duplicated CSFs unified (based on the CSFs’ provided definitions), and the
occurrences numbers recorded for each business sector. Then, the CSFs prioritised and
listed from the highest to the lowest priority based on the accumulated occurrences from
all business sectors. The results are shown in Appendix 1.

Figure 4 Papers numbers/research methodology (see online version for colours)

Thematic
analysis, 1, 3%

Literature
analysis, 10, 23%
Survey analysis,
15, 35%

Mixed methods,
13, 30%

Qualitative
methods, 4, 9%

Table 2 Gaps in the reviewed papers’ methodologies

Business Research Gaps in the reviewed papers

NO# Reference
sector methodology methodologies
1 Antony et al. (2012) Education Literature Focus on the education
analysis sector only
2 Abu Bakar et al. Generic Literature 1 Covers five years of
(2015) analysis literature only and reviewed
only 13 papers.
2 Do not specify which CSFs
belong to which business
sector.
3 The methodology used for
conducting LR and paper
selection is not explained.
3 Lande et al. (2016) SMEs Literature Focus on the SMEs sector only
analysis
4 Stankalla et al. SMEs Literature Focus on the SMEs sector only
(2018) analysis
5 Juliani and Oliveira Service Literature Focus on the service sector only
(2019) analysis
6 Shofia et al. (2020) Service Literature Focus on the service sector only
analysis
7 Xin et al. (2021) Education Literature Focus on the education sector
analysis only
 The critical success factors of the Lean Six Sigma implementation 11

Table 2 Gaps in the reviewed papers’ methodologies (continued)

Business Research Gaps in the reviewed papers

NO# Reference
sector methodology methodologies
8 Patel and Patel Generic Literature 1 Limited conference paper,
(2021) analysis which needs to be extended.
2 Only 22 papers were selected
between 2005 and 2019.
3 The exact scope/business
sector of CSFs usage was not
explained.
4 One level of Pareto analysis
was used.
9 Antony et al. (2022) Generic Literature 1 Twenty-six articles only were
analysis included.
2 The authors discussed the
CSFs for integrating LSS and
I4.0 topics. They stated that
“there is no conceptual or
empirical study yet which
clearly explicates the list of
CSFs or readiness factors for
LSS 4.0. Nevertheless, there is
a lack of literature around
CSFs and challenges for LSS
and I4.0 integration, as the
topic is still emerging and there
are only handful papers
available in the existing
literature” (Antony et al.,
2022).
10 Francescatto et al. Generic Literature 1 The study considered five
(2022) analysis years of publications only.
2 The research only analyses the
papers created based on the
case studies approach.
3 The CSFs were prioritised
based on the occurrences
numbers only without using
any technique for prioritisation.
11 Jeyaraman and Service Mixed They focus on the electronic
Kee Teo (2010) methods manufacturing service (EMS)
industries only.
12 Halim-Lim et al. Food Qualitative They focus on the food sector only.
(2021) sector methods

Regarding the LSS CSFs of the service sector, 61 CSFs were extracted from the seven
papers. After thoroughly reviewing the CSFs’ details and experts’ discussion, the CSFs
with the same concepts were merged and unified into one factor. Then, the occurrences
related to these factors were recorded, and the CSFs were prioritised using the Pareto
analysis. The vital few LSS CSFs for the service sector are shown in Appendix 2. On the
12 A.M. Ubaid and L.A. Al-Juboori

other hand, seven papers were focused on identifying and prioritising the LSS CSFs in
the manufacturing sector. The analysis of these papers revealed the identification of 99
CSFs. However, after following the research methodology steps, the identified vital few
LSS CSFs for the manufacturing sector were 20 CSFs, which are shown in Appendix 3.
Among the 43 reviewed papers, 14 focused on identifying generic LSS CSFs based
on the data collected from many business sectors. 148 CSFs, determined from the 14
papers, were analysed, the factors with the same concept were unified, the occurrences
recorded, and the Pareto analysis was conducted. 19 LSS CSFs were selected as a vital
few generic LSS CSFs, as shown in Appendix 4. However, this list will not be the final
unified LSS CSFs. The final list will be generated after comparing all lists generated in
this paragraph and the previous paragraphs, unifying the CSFs with the same concept and
generating the Vital few and useful many CSFs as stated in the methodology section.
Table 3 The unified LSS CSFs (vital few and useful many)

No# CSFs code Unified LSS CSFs

1 CSF-1 Management involvement and leadership
2 CSF-2 Training and education
3 CSF-3 LSS approach integration in business strategy
4 CSF-4 Project management, prioritisation, selection, reviews, and tracking
5 CSF-5 Effective and clear communication
6 CSF-6 Development of a positive, supportive, and quality-driven organisational
culture for LSS adoption
7 CSF-7 Performance benchmarking, best practices, and CI
8 CSF-8 Staff empowerment, engagement, involvement, and support
9 CSF-9 Gathered opinions from customers and staff and analysis regularly
10 CSF-10 Develop, retention, rewards, and recognition system
11 CSF-11 Multidisciplinary team creation
12 CSF-12 Organisational structure/infrastructure
13 CSF-13 Create a clear OP metric and develop a measurement system
14 CSF-14 Develop the necessary knowledge and expertise in LSS tools and
techniques
15 CSF-15 Team members and staff coordination
16 CSF-16 Development and maintaining a trustworthy supplier relation
17 CSF-17 Develop the needed capabilities and competencies
18 CSF-18 Develop clear guidelines, continues monitoring, and regular audit of the
LSS adaptation process
19 CSF-19 Staff performance regular review
20 CSF-20 LSS approach consideration and awareness in the organisation
21 CSF-21 Linking Six Sigma to human resources
22 CSF-22 Adoption of the information technology systems
23 CSF-23 Resources availability and their efficient utilisation
24 CSF-24 Clear and specific goal-based objective
25 CSF-25 Project success stories and financial return
26 CSF-26 Disposal and reuse approach
 The critical success factors of the Lean Six Sigma implementation 13

Table 3 The unified LSS CSFs (vital few and useful many) (continued)

No# CSFs code Unified LSS CSFs

27 CSF-27 Accurate time and cost estimation for LSS implementation
28 CSF-28 Stakeholder engagement and participation
29 CSF-29 Sustainability planning
30 CSF-30 Employee working mentality and satisfaction
31 CSF-31 Governmental regulation
32 CSF-32 Change management
33 CSF-33 Product design
34 CSF-34 Inventory control
35 CSF-35 Interdepartmental cooperation
36 CSF-36 Social and environmental responsibility
37 CSF-37 Effective and active executive sponsorship

Following the steps stated in the methodology section, the focus group thoroughly
reviewed, analysed, and discussed the vital few LSS CSFs lists shown in Appendices to
generate the unified list of the LSS CSFs. As a result, the focus group discussion resulted
in listing 37 CSFs that represent the unified list of the LSS CSFs. The 37 factors were
coded as CSF-1 to CSF-37. The occurrences of the combined CSFs from each business
sector recorded opposite to these factors. Then, the accumulated occurrences for each
CSF were calculated and added to the list. Finally, the Pareto analysis was conducted
again to extract the vital few and useful many CSFs. Based on the analysis, the vital few
LSS CSFs are factors between CSF-1 and CSF-17, and the rest are useful many LSS
CSFs. The unified list of the LSS CSFs (the vital few and useful many) is shown in
Table 3, and the Pareto analysis graph is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 Pareto analysis graph of the LSS CSFs unified list (see online version for colours)

Chart Title

40 120%
36
35 33
99% 99%100%100%
100%
95% 96% 98%
94%
30 91%
27 88%
81%83% 80%
Occurrences Numbers

79%
25 23 76%
22 74%
21 71%
68%
Axis Title

19 65%
20 61% 60%
57%
16 53%
15
14 14
15 13
11 40%
10
9 9 9
10 8 8 8 8
6
5 20%
4 4
5
2 2 2 2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1 1
0 0%

CSFs-Code
14 A.M. Ubaid and L.A. Al-Juboori

3.4 Literature review results presentation and discussion

The outcomes of the analysis section will be used in this section to answer the research
questions. The first research question was, ‘Does the current research approach novel?’.
The analysis revealed that the LSS CSFs research scope is still attractive. Many scientific
journals, databases, and researchers are still keen to publish papers in this research scope
and for many business sectors. The analysis of the methodologies used in the reviewed
literature sample showed, specifically the papers that used a methodology similar to the
methodology used in the current research, that the LSS CSFs were generated based on the
experts’ and practitioners’ practical experiences, which ensures high-quality research
results. Therefore, the LSS CSFs extracted are realistic, authenticated, and can be applied
by organisations from the related business sectors. However, the LSS CSFs’ research
efforts are scattered and need to be systematically reviewed, analysed, and prioritised to
generate a unified LSS CSFs list. Hence, the research approach is novel and attractive
and will add value to the LSS CSFs literature.
The second research question was, ‘What are the literature’s strengths, weaknesses,
and future research agenda on the LSS CSFs research scope?’. The analysis proved that,
except for the manufacturing, service, and SMEs sectors, the efforts to identify the LSS
CSFs in other business sectors were minor and needed to be enhanced. Moreover, more
efforts were required to apply thematic and qualitative research methods to the LSS CSFs
research scope.
The third research question was, ‘What is the unified list of the LSS CSFs?’. The
analysis revealed that the majority of the research efforts, 33%, were focused on the
generic LSS CSFs, followed by manufacturing (16%), service (16%), and SMEs (12%)
sectors, respectively. However, as shown in Table 1, many other business sectors need
more research and lack a unified list of LSS CSFs. The research methodology underwent
two stages to extract the unified LSS CSFs list. First, each business sector was analysed
individually. Because the research efforts to identify the LSS CSFs of the
telecommunication, oil and gas industry, food, construction, healthcare, education, and
SMEs business sectors were minor. These business sectors were analysed, duplicated
CSFs unified, and the occurrences numbers were recorded for each business sector. Then,
the CSFs prioritised and listed from the highest to the lowest priority based on the
accumulated occurrences. The results are shown in Appendix 1.
The vital few LSS CSFs of the service, manufacturing, and generic sectors are also
generated. The analysis and prioritisation analysis identified 17 LSS CSFs for the service
sector, 20 LSS CSFs for the manufacturing industry, and 19 LSS CSFs as generic CSFs.
These are the vital few CSFs. The vital few CSFs of these sectors are shown in
Appendix 2, Appendix 3, and Appendix 4, respectively.
Second, the above-stated LSS CSFs lists were thoroughly reviewed, analysed, and
discussed by the focus group to generate a unified list of the LSS CSFs. The focus group
discussion resulted in identifying 37 CSFs that represent the unified list of the LSS CSFs.
The 37 factors were coded as CSF-1 to CSF-37. Using the second layer of Pareto
analysis, the vital few and useful many CSFs were extracted from the 37 LSS CSFs.
Based on the analysis, the vital few LSS CSFs are factors between CSF-1 and CSF-17,
and the rest are useful for many LSS CSFs. The CSFs were listed from the highest
importance CSFs to the lowest. See Table 3 and Figure 5. The top three LSS CSFs were
management involvement and leadership, training and education, and LSS approach
Integration in business strategy. Then the rest will follow.
 The critical success factors of the Lean Six Sigma implementation 15

4 Conclusions

The aggressive competition is driving organisations to implement best practices

methodologies to reach and sustain an excellent performance level. LSS is one of these
methodologies. However, the literature analysis proved that many LSS initiatives failed
because the organisations did not focus on the areas/factors critical for these initiatives’
success. Therefore, the organisations should focus on the areas/factors critical for LSS’s
successful implementation. These areas/factors are known in the literature as the CSFs.
The literature analysis proved that previous research efforts were scattered despite the
tremendous efforts on the LSS CSFs research scope. It lacks an SLR process to generate
a unified list of the LSS CSFs. Therefore, the current research aims to highlight the
strengths and weaknesses of the previous research efforts, propose future research
agendas, and generate unified LSS CSFs.
An SLR methodology, focused group discussion, and two layers of Pareto analysis
were used to fulfil the above-stated objectives. The main research outcomes were
generating the vital few LSS CSFs of the service (17 LSS CSFs), manufacturing (20 LSS
CSFs), and generic (19 LSS CSFs) sectors. Then, the focus group discussion resulted in
listing 37 CSFs that represent the unified list of the LSS CSFs. Using the second layer of
Pareto analysis, the vital few and useful many CSFs were extracted from the 37 LSS
CSFs. The top three LSS CSFs were management involvement and leadership, training
and education, and LSS approach integration in business strategy. Then the rest will
follow.
The analysis proved that, except for the manufacturing, service, and SMEs sectors,
the efforts to identify the LSS CSFs in other business sectors were minor and needed to
be enhanced. The proposed vital few and useful many LSS CSFs need to be tested on
case studies from different geographical locations, business sectors, and organisations’
sizes.
The proposed LSS CSFs lists (either for a specific business sector or the generic
CSFs) represent an added value to the knowledge body. It synthesises the previous
research efforts, highlights their strengths and weaknesses, and opens the door for future
research directions. The proposed LSS CSFs lists represent a valuable source of
information for managers, leaders, and practitioners keen on LSS initiatives’ success in
their organisations. Regarding the research limitations, although the reviewed literature
was selected based on an SLR process, the literature sample size is the main limitation. A
larger sample selection could enrich the generated lists with many other factors.

References
Abu Bakar, F.A., Subari, K. and Mohd Daril, M.A. (2015) ‘Critical success factors of Lean Six
Sigma deployment: a current review’, International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol. 6, No. 4,
pp.339–348, DOI: 10.1108/IJLSS-04-2015-0011.
Ahmad, M.F. et al. (2019) ‘Critical success factors of lean six sigma and its relation on operational
performance of SMEs manufacturing companies: a survey result’, International Journal of
Supply Chain Management, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp.64–69.
Akinbowale, O.E., Klingelhöfer, H.E. and Zerihun, M.F. (2022) ‘Analytical hierarchy processes
and Pareto analysis for mitigating cybercrime in the financial sector’, Journal of Financial
Crime, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp.984–1008, DOI: 10.1108/JFC-04-2021-0086.
16 A.M. Ubaid and L.A. Al-Juboori

Ali, A. (2021) ‘Implementing Six Sigma DMAIC methodology for increasing the competitiveness
of SMEs in Ethiopia’, International Journal of Research in Industrial Engineering, Vol. 10,
No. 1, pp.1–8.
Ali, K. and Johl, S.K. (2022) ‘Critical success factors of total quality management practices using
Pareto analysis’, International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, Vol. 36,
No. 3, p.353, DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2022.124704.
Ali, N.N.K., Choong, C.W. and Jayaraman, K. (2016) ‘Critical success factors of Lean Six Sigma
practices on business performance in Malaysia’, International Journal of Productivity and
Quality Management, Vol. 17, No. 4, p.456, DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2016.075251.
Aljazzazen, S. and Schmuck, R. (2022) ‘Critical success factors for successful Lean Six Sigma
implementation in the service organizations’, Quality – Access to Success, Vol. 23, No. 188,
pp.76–85, DOI: 10.47750/QAS/23.188.11.
Alnadi, M. and McLaughlin, P. (2021) ‘Critical success factors of Lean Six Sigma from leaders’
perspective’, International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol. 12, No. 5, pp.1073–1088, DOI:
10.1108/IJLSS-06-2020-0079.
Anass, C. et al. (2016) ‘Critical success factors of implementing green lean six sigma for
developing a specific framework’, in Proceedings of the International Conference on
Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, pp.1467–1474.
Antony, J. et al. (2012) ‘Lean Six Sigma for higher education institutions (HEIs)’, International
Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 61, No. 8, pp.940–948, DOI:
10.1108/17410401211277165.
Antony, J. et al. (2021) ‘Mapping the terrain for Lean Six Sigma 4.0’, in IFIP Advances in
Information and Communication Technology, pp.193–204, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-92934-
3_20.
Antony, J. et al. (2022) ‘The evolution and future of lean Six Sigma 4.0’, The TQM Journal, DOI:
10.1108/TQM-04-2022-0135.
Blijleven, V. et al. (2019) ‘Critical success factors for Lean implementation in IT outsourcing
relationships’, Information Technology & People, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp.715–730, DOI: 10.1108/
ITP-01-2016-0002.
Brook, C. (2014) ‘What Is a Pareto Analysis?’, Business News Daily, pp.1–5 [online]
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6154-pareto-analysis.html (accessed 20 March 2023).
Cocks, G. (2009) ‘High performers down under: lessons from Australia’s winning companies’,
Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp.17–22, DOI: 10.1108/02756660910972613.
Cooper, H. and Hedges, L.V. (1994) ‘Research Synthesis as a scientific enterprise’, in Harris, C.
and Hedges, L.V. (Eds.): The Handbook of Research Synthesis, p.14,
Russell Sage Foundation, New York [online] https://www.russellsage.org/sites/all/files/
cooper_1st_chap1.pdf (accessed 15 November 2021).
Deshmukh, V.K. and Mukti, S.K. (2022) ‘Impact of Lean Six Sigma implementation success factor
on growth-rate of e-service based organization’, International Journal of Mechanical
Engineering and Technology, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp.852–865.
Fadly Habidin, N. and Mohd Yusof, S. (2013) ‘Critical success factors of Lean Six Sigma for the
Malaysian automotive industry’, International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol. 4,No. 1,
pp.60–82, DOI: 10.1108/20401461311310526.
Felicetti, A.M. et al. (2022) ‘Total quality management and corporate social responsibility: a
systematic review of the literature and implications of the COVID-19 pandemics’,
Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, pp.1–20, DOI: 10.1080/
14783363.2022.2049443.
Finney, S. and Corbett, M. (2007) ‘ERP implementation: a compilation and analysis of critical
success factors’, Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp.329–347, DOI:
10.1108/14637150710752272.
 The critical success factors of the Lean Six Sigma implementation 17

Francescatto, M. et al. (2022) ‘Lean Six Sigma case studies literature overview: critical success
factors and difficulties’, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management,
No. 88887, DOI: 10.1108/IJPPM-12-2021-0681.
Gastelum-Acosta, C. et al. (2022) ‘Assessing the adoption of critical success factors for lean six
sigma implementation’, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 33, No. 1,
pp.124–145, DOI: 10.1108/JMTM-12-2020-0488.
Ghafoor, S. et al. (2022) ‘A bibliometric and thematic review of business excellence journal papers
from 1990 to 2020’, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 33, Nos. 3–4,
pp.355–387, DOI: 10.1080/14783363.2020.1847638.
Ghosh, S., Mandal, M.C. and Ray, A. (2023) ‘Investigating the key performance parameters of
green supply chain management for sustainability in tea processing firms using Pareto
analysis’, Journal of The Institution of Engineers (India): Series C. Springer India, Vol. 104,
No. 1, pp.113–122, DOI: 10.1007/s40032-022-00888-8.
Guest, G., MacQueen, K. and Namey, E. (2012) ‘Introduction to applied thematic analysis’, in
Applied Thematic Analysis, pp.3–20, SAGE Publications, Inc., 2455 Teller Road, Thousand
Oaks California 91320 USA, DOI: 10.4135/9781483384436.n1.
Hackett, G. (1981) ‘Survey research methods’, The Personnel and Guidance Journal, Vol. 59,
No. 9, pp.599–604, DOI: 10.1002/j.2164-4918.1981.tb00626.x.
Haerizadeh, M. and Vijaya Sunder, M. (2022) ‘Bridging organizational performance gaps using the
EFQM excellence model’, Quality Management Journal, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp.248–266, DOI:
10.1080/10686967.2022.2112926.
Halim-Lim, S.A. et al. (2021) ‘Lean Six Sigma Implementation in the food sector: nexus between
readiness-critical success factors’, Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems
Journal, Vol. 6, No. 6, pp.12–21, DOI: 10.25046/aj060603.
Heijink, A., van den Heuvel, J. and Schoonhoven, M. (2022) ‘Increasing efficiency in healthcare: a
showcase in an orthopedic outpatient clinic’, International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol.
13, No. 1, pp.33–45, DOI: 10.1108/IJLSS-01-2021-0017.
Ho, Y-S. et al. (2023) ‘Publication performance and trends in total quality management research: a
bibliometric analysis’, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 34, Nos. 1–2,
pp.97–130, DOI: 10.1080/14783363.2022.2031962.
Jeyaraman, K. and Kee Teo, L. (2010) ‘A conceptual framework for critical success factors of lean
Six Sigma’, International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp.191–215, DOI:
10.1108/20401461011075008.
Juliani, F. and de Oliveira, O.J. (2019) ‘Synergies between critical success factors of Lean Six
Sigma and public values’, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 30,
Nos. 15–16, pp.1563–1577, Taylor & Francis, DOI: 10.1080/14783363.2017.1383153.
Karuppusami, G. and Gandhinathan, R. (2006) ‘Pareto analysis of critical success factors of total
quality management’, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp.372–385, DOI: 10.1108/
09544780610671048.
Kowang, T.O. et al. (2022) ‘Critical success factors for Lean Six Sigma in business school: a view
from the lecturers’, International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE),
Vol. 11, No. 1, p.280, DOI: 10.11591/ijere.v11i1.21813.
Kumar, R., Singh, K. and Jain, S.K. (2019) ‘Agile manufacturing: a literature review and Pareto
analysis’, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 37, No. 2,
pp.207–222, DOI: 10.1108/IJQRM-12-2018-0349.
Lande, M., Seth, D. and Shrivastava, R.L. (2022) ‘Application of graph-theoretic approach for the
evaluation of lean-six-sigma (LSS) critical-success-factors (CSFs) facilitating quality-audits in
Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs)’, International Journal of Quality & Reliability
Management, Vol. 39, No. 8, pp.1845–1868, DOI: 10.1108/IJQRM-05-2019-0166.
Lande, M., Shrivastava, R.L. and Seth, D. (2016) ‘Critical success factors for Lean Six Sigma in
SMEs (small and medium enterprises)’, The TQM Journal, Vol. 28, No. 4, pp.613–635, DOI:
10.1108/TQM-12-2014-0107.
18 A.M. Ubaid and L.A. Al-Juboori

Laureani, A. and Antony, J. (2012) ‘Critical success factors for the effective implementation of
Lean Sigma’, in Setijono, D. (Ed.), International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol. 3, No. 4,
pp.274–283, DOI: 10.1108/20401461211284743.
Laureani, A. and Antony, J. (2018) ‘Leadership – a critical success factor for the effective
implementation of Lean Six Sigma’, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence,
Vol. 29, Nos. 5–6, pp.502–523., Taylor & Francis, DOI: 10.1080/14783363.2016.1211480.
Lestyánszka Škůrková, K. et al. (2023) ‘Quality improvement of the forging process using Pareto
analysis and 8D methodology in automotive manufacturing: a case study’, Standards, Vol. 3,
No. 1, pp.84–94, DOI: 10.3390/standards3010008.
Livingstone, G. (1992) ‘Measuring customer service in distribution’, International Journal of
Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp.4–6, DOI: 10.1108/
EUM0000000000415.
Mabrouk, N. Ben, Ibrahim, S. and Eddaly, M. (2021) ‘Success factors of Lean Six Sigma
implementation in manufacturing’, Uncertain Supply Chain Management, Vol. 8, No. 4,
pp.205–216, DOI: 10.5267/j.uscm.2020.7.008.
Manville, G. et al. (2012) ‘Critical success factors for Lean Six Sigma programmes: a view from
middle management’, in Antony, J. (Ed.): International Journal of Quality & Reliability
Management, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp.7–20, DOI: 10.1108/02656711211190846.
Mashinini-Dlamini, N.F. and Van Waveren, C.C. (2013) ‘Exploring critical success factors for the
reintegration of Lean Six Sigma Black Belts into line function roles in the technology
environment’, in 2013 Proceedings of PICMET 2013: Technology Management in the
IT-Driven Services. PICMET, pp.1990–1997.
Mishra, M.N. (2022) ‘Identify critical success factors to implement integrated green and Lean Six
Sigma’, International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp.765–777, DOI:
10.1108/IJLSS-07-2017-0076.
Narottam, N.A., Mathiyazhagan, K. and Kumar, K. (2020) ‘Modelling the common critical success
factors for the adoption of Lean Six Sigma in Indian industries’, International Journal of
Business Excellence, Vol. 20, No. 3, p.375, DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2020.106382.
Näslund, D. (2013) ‘Lean and six sigma – critical success factors revisited’, in Park, S.M.D. (Ed.):
International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp.86–100, DOI:
10.1108/17566691311316266.
Orji, I.J. and U-Dominic, C.M. (2022) ‘Organizational change towards Lean Six Sigma
implementation in the manufacturing supply chain: an integrated approach’, Business Process
Management Journal, Vol. 28, Nos. 5/6, pp.1301–1342, DOI: 10.1108/BPMJ-04-2022-0169.
Page, M.J. et al. (2021) ‘The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting
systematic reviews’, International Journal of Surgery, March, Vol. 88, p.105906, DOI:
10.1016/j.ijsu.2021.105906.
Parast, M.M. and Safari, A. (2022) ‘Do quality and business excellence models improve quality
and operational results in educational organizations? A repeated cross-sectional analysis’,
Operations Management Research, Springer US, DOI: 10.1007/s12063-022-00332-1.
Patel, A.S. and Patel, K.M. (2021) ‘Prioritization of Lean Six Sigma Success factors using Pareto
analysis’, IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, Vol. 1070, No. 1,
p.012133, DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/1070/1/012133.
Patel, A.S. and Patel, K.M. (2022) ‘Status of Lean Six Sigma implementation in Indian industries: a
cross-sectional national survey’, International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, DOI: 10.1108/
IJLSS-05-2022-0107.
Perera, A.D. et al. (2021) ‘The application of machine learning to consolidate critical success
factors of Lean Six Sigma’, IEEE Access, Vol. 9, pp.112411–112424, IEEE, DOI: 10.1109/
ACCESS.2021.3103931.
Radson, D. and Boyd, A.H. (1997) ‘The Pareto principle and rate analysis’, Quality Engineering,
Vol. 10, No. 2, pp.223–229, DOI: 10.1080/08982119708919129.
 The critical success factors of the Lean Six Sigma implementation 19

Rajput, S. et al. (2022) ‘City gas distribution incident analysis in India using Pareto principle: a
comprehensive analysis’, Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention, Vol. 22, No. 3,
pp.899–911, Springer US, DOI: 10.1007/s11668-022-01422-9.
Raval, S.J., Kant, R. and Shankar, R. (2021) ‘Analyzing the critical success factors influencing
Lean Six Sigma implementation: fuzzy DEMATEL approach’, Journal of Modelling in
Management, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp.728–764, DOI: 10.1108/JM2-07-2019-0155.
Ren, Y. et al. (2022) ‘Six Sigma for improving tensile strength: a case study in the impregnating
resin manufacturing company’, International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol. 13, No. 6,
pp.1346–1366, DOI: 10.1108/IJLSS-08-2021-0136.
Salih, O. and Dolah, R. (2022) ‘Implementing business excellence models in Saudi nonprofit
organizations and the impact of human resources availability’, Measuring Business
Excellence, DOI: 10.1108/MBE-01-2022-0008.
Selvaraju, M. et al. (2019) ‘The influence of critical success factors of Lean Six Sigma towards
supply chain performance in telecommunication industry, Malaysia’, International Journal of
Supply Chain Management, Vol. 8, No. 6, pp.1062–1068.
Shofia, A., Bakhtiar, A. and Prastawa, H. (2020) ‘The impact of critical success factor of lean six
sigma implementation towards the improvement of business performance on low-cost hotel
industry: a literature review’, in AIP Conference Proceedings, p.030072, DOI: 10.1063/
5.0000707.
Silva, B.B. et al. (2019) ‘Critical success factors of Six Sigma implementations in companies in
Brazil’, International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp.143–160, DOI:
10.1108/IJLSS-01-2018-0008.
Sodhi, H.S., Singh, D. and Singh, B.J. (2019) ‘An empirical analysis of critical success factors of
Lean Six Sigma in Indian SMEs’, International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive
Advantage, Vol. 11, No. 4, p.227, DOI: 10.1504/IJSSCA.2019.103556.
Sohal, A. et al. (2022) ‘Success factors for lean six sigma projects in healthcare’, Journal of
Management Control, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp.215–240, DOI: 10.1007/s00187-022-00336-9.
Soraya, U. et al. (2022) ‘Key success factors for Lean Six Sigma implementation on light rail
transit station construction project’, Teknika: Jurnal Sains dan Teknologi, Vol. 18, No. 1, p.56,
DOI: 10.36055/tjst.v18i1.15632.
Stankalla, R., Koval, O. and Chromjakova, F. (2018) ‘A review of critical success factors for the
successful implementation of Lean Six Sigma and Six Sigma in manufacturing small and
medium sized enterprises’, Quality Engineering, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp.453–468, Taylor &
Francis, DOI: 10.1080/08982112.2018.1448933.
Swarnakar, V. and Vinodh, S. (2016) ‘Deploying Lean Six Sigma framework in an automotive
component manufacturing organization’, International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol. 7,
No. 3, pp.267–293, DOI: 10.1108/IJLSS-06-2015-0023.
Swarnakar, V. et al. (2020) ‘A multiple integrated approach for modelling critical success factors in
sustainable LSS implementation’, Computers & Industrial Engineering, August, Vol. 150,
p.106865, Elsevier Ltd., DOI: 10.1016/j.cie.2020.106865.
Swarnakar, V., Bagherian, A. and Singh, A.R. (2022a) ‘Modeling critical success factors for
sustainable LSS implementation in hospitals: an empirical study’, International Journal of
Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 39, No. 5, pp.1249–1280, DOI: 10.1108/IJQRM-04-
2021-0099.
Swarnakar, V., Bagherian, A. and Singh, A.R. (2022b) ‘Prioritization of critical success factors for
sustainable Lean Six Sigma implementation in Indian healthcare organizations using
best-worst-method’, The TQM Journal, DOI: 10.1108/TQM-07-2021-0199.
Teixeira, P. et al. (2022) ‘Combining lean and green practices to achieve a superior performance:
the contribution for a sustainable development and competitiveness – an empirical study on
the Portuguese context’, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management,
Vol. 29, No. 4, pp.887–903, DOI: 10.1002/csr.2242.
20 A.M. Ubaid and L.A. Al-Juboori

Tissir, S. et al. (2023) ‘Lean Six Sigma and Industry 4.0 combination: scoping review and
perspectives’, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 34, Nos. 3–4,
pp.261–290, DOI: 10.1080/14783363.2022.2043740.
Trakulsunti, Y. et al. (2023) ‘The application of operational excellence methodologies in logistics:
a systematic review and directions for future research’, Total Quality Management & Business
Excellence, Vol. 34, Nos. 5–6, pp.538–557, DOI: 10.1080/14783363.2022.2071695.
Vedel, I. et al. (2019) ‘Why and how to use mixed methods in primary health care research’,
Family Practice, Vol. 36, No. 3, pp.365–368, DOI: 10.1093/fampra/cmy127.
Vouzas, F., Psychogios, A. and Tsironis, L. (2014) ‘The road towards Lean Six Sigma: sustainable
success factors in service industry’, Nang Yan Business Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.31–38,
DOI: 10.2478/nybj-2014-0023.
Watkins, D.C. (2012) ‘Qualitative research: the importance of conducting research that
doesn’t ‘count’, Health Promotion Practice, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp.153–158, DOI: 10.1177/
1524839912437370.
Xin, T.J., Kowang, T.O. and Kian, T.P. (2021) ‘Critical success factors of Lean Six Sigma in
higher education institutions’, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and
Social Sciences, Vol. 11, No. 7, DOI: 10.6007/IJARBSS/v11-i7/10435.
Yadav, N., Shankar, R. and Singh, S.P. (2021) ‘Critical success factors for lean six sigma in quality
4.0’, International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, Vol. 13, No. 1,
pp.123–156, DOI: 10.1108/IJQSS-06-2020-0099.
Yazdi, A.K., Hanne, T. and Osorio Gómez, J.C. (2021) ‘A hybrid model for ranking critical
successful factors of Lean Six Sigma in the oil and gas industry’, The TQM Journal, Vol. 33,
No. 8, pp.1825–1844, DOI: 10.1108/TQM-02-2020-0030.
Zellner, G. (2011) ‘A structured evaluation of business process improvement approaches’,
Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp.203–237, DOI: 10.1108/
14637151111122329.
 The critical success factors of the Lean Six Sigma implementation 21

Appendix 1

Table A1 CSFs of the telecommunication, oil and gas industry, food, construction, healthcare,
education, and SMEs business sectors

Occurrences numbers/business sector

Telecommunication
Accumulated

Construction
occurrences

Food sector
Oil and gas
Healthcare

industry
No# Unified LSS CSFs from all

SMEs
business
sectors

1 Training and education 3 1 1 1 0 5 11

2 Management involvement and 3 0 1 1 1 4 10
leadership
3 Performance benchmarking, 4 1 1 0 0 1 7
best practices, and CI
4 Project management, 0 1 1 1 0 4 7
prioritisation, selection,
reviews, and tracking.
5 Develop clear guidelines, 3 1 0 0 0 2 6
continuous monitoring, and
regular audit of the LSS
adaptation process.
6 Staff empowerment, 2 0 1 1 0 2 6
engagement, involvement, and
support.
7 Develop, retention, rewards, 2 0 1 1 0 1 5
and recognition system.
8 Create a clear OP metric and 2 0 1 0 1 1 5
develop a measurement
system.
9 Resources availability and their 2 0 1 1 0 1 5
efficient utilisation
10 LSS approach integration in 1 0 1 1 0 2 5
business strategy.
11 Effective and clear 1 1 0 1 0 2 5
communication
12 Develop the necessary 1 0 0 1 0 3 5
knowledge and expertise in
LSS tools and techniques.
13 Gathered opinions from 1 0 0 1 0 3 5
customers and staff and
analysis regularly.
14 Clear and specific 3 0 0 0 1 0 4
goal-based objective
15 Project success stories and 2 1 1 0 0 0 4
financial return
22 A.M. Ubaid and L.A. Al-Juboori

Table A1 CSFs of the telecommunication, oil and gas industry, food, construction, healthcare,
education, and SMEs business sectors (continued)

Occurrences numbers/business sector

Telecommunication
Accumulated

Construction
occurrences

Food sector
Oil and gas
Healthcare

industry
No# Unified LSS CSFs from all

SMEs
business
sectors

16 Multidisciplinary team 2 0 0 1 0 1 4
creation
17 Development of a positive and 1 0 1 0 0 2 4
supportive organisational
culture for LSS adoption.
18 Organisational structure 0 0 1 0 0 3 4
19 Team members and staff 2 0 1 0 0 0 3
coordination
20 Staff performance regular 2 0 1 0 0 0 3
review
21 Development and maintaining 1 0 0 0 0 2 3
a trustworthy supplier relation.
22 Disposal and reuse approach 2 0 0 0 0 0 2
23 LSS approach consideration 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
and awareness in the
organisation.
24 Accurate time and cost 1 0 0 0 1 0 2
estimation for LSS
implementation.
25 Adoption of the information 1 0 1 0 0 0 2
technology systems
26 Stakeholder engagement and 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
participation
27 Sustainability planning 1 0 0 0 0 1 2
28 Employee working mentality 0 0 1 0 0 1 2
and satisfaction
29 Governmental regulation 0 0 1 0 0 1 2
30 Product design 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
31 Inventory control 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
32 Interdepartmental cooperation 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
33 Social and environmental 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
responsibility
34 Effective and active executive 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
sponsorship
35 Develop the needed 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
capabilities and competencies.
 The critical success factors of the Lean Six Sigma implementation 23

Appendix 2

Table A2 The vital few CSFs for the service sector

NO# Unified LSS CSFs for the service sector Remarks

1 Leadership and top management Leadership merged with top management’s
commitment, involvement and support commitment CSF based on the findings of
some references (Juliani and Oliveira, 2019;
Deshmukh and Mukti, 2022)
6 Training and education
2 Linking LSS to business strategy
4 Understanding the tools and techniques
5 Project management, selection, and
prioritisation
7 Quality-driven organisational culture
3 Linking LSS to the customer
16 Communication
18 Organisational infrastructure
8 Teamwork in problem-solving
11 Financial capability of the organisation
14 Awareness of the importance of LSS
17 Choosing the most talented people

Appendix 3

Table A3 The vital few CSFs for the manufacturing sector

NO# Unified LSS CSFs for the manufacturing sector

1 Effective LSS training program
2 Management engagement and commitment
3 Quality management systems, standards, and quality information and analysis (QIA)
4 Linking LSS to business/organisation strategy and objectives
5 Organisational belief and culture
6 Reward and recognition system
7 Company financial and other resources capability
8 Project management, prioritisation, selection, reviews, and tracking
9 Teamwork
10 Employee empowerment
11 Linking Six Sigma to suppliers
12 AI, Automation, and adoption of information technology system
13 Linking Six Sigma to the customer
14 Focus on the metric (FM)
15 Communication
16 Leadership (LP)
 24 A.M. Ubaid and L.A. Al-Juboori

Table A3 The vital few CSFs for the manufacturing sector (continued)

NO# Unified LSS CSFs for the manufacturing sector

17 Competency of master Black belt/black belt
18 Develop a clear guideline to perform implementation work
19 Organisation infrastructure
20 Linking Six Sigma to human resources

Appendix 4

Table A4 The vital few generic LSS CSFs

NO# Generic vital few LSS CSFs Remarks

1 Top management commitment and leadership Leadership merged with top
management’s commitment CSF
based on the findings of some
references (Abu Bakar et al., 2015;
Perera et al., 2021)
2 Linking LSS to business strategy and goals
3 Effective communication
4 Resource and skills to facilitate implementation Industry 4.0 was added to this point
(integrating Lean practices with I4.0 technologies) to avoid excluding it because the
topic is new. It will be excluded if
we depend on the occurrences
numbers because it does not have
enough occurrences (Antony et al.,
2021, 2022).
5 Project management, selection, and prioritisation
6 Organisational culture
7 Training and education
8 Empowerment of people
9 Qualified people for LSS application
10 CI management and deployment
11 Mentoring by master black belt (MBB) in
improvement project
12 Rewards and recognition system to motivate people
13 Advanced knowledge of the benefits of LSS
integration
14 Organisational infrastructure
15 Focus on measurement and results
16 Linking LSS to customer
17 Organisational readiness to implement green LSS
18 Extending LSS to the supply chain and suppliers
19 Change management

View publication stats