An integrative view on Lean innovation management

This study proposes the Lean philosophy, which integrates a firm's "hard" and "soft" processes, as a promising way to enhance firm innovativeness. Five Lean principles that are specific to the innovation management context, namely, coaching leadership, learning culture, employee appreciation, learning routines, and collaborative networks, are discussed. Based on survey data obtained from 243 Dutch firms, the impact of these five principles on firm innovativeness is investigated. The results indicate that the Lean philosophy can be considered an inter-related socio-technical system, where coaching leadership enables the correct functioning of the hard and soft factors needed to achieve higher innovativeness.