Lorenzo Pirrone
Last Name
Pirrone
First name
Lorenzo
Email
lorenzo.pirrone@unisg.ch
Phone
+41 71 224 72 74
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Item type:Publication, Riding the bell curve of lean and digitalisation programme alignment – a social capital perspective(Informa UK Limited, 2025-09-24); ; ; With the rise of digital technologies, manufacturing companies pursue new performance gains. While digitalisation programmes often aim to complement lean programmes, many firms struggle to realise expected benefits when managing both simultaneously. Drawing on social capital theory, this paper focuses on the perspective of lean and digitalization program managers (L&DPMs), their alignment challenges and strategies. We conducted a multiple case study over a 1.5-year period analysing 10 pharmaceutical manufacturing companies. Primary data was collected through 29 semi-structured interviews, follow-up discussions and workshop observations. The robustness of our findings was enhanced through triangulation with 650 pages of company presentations documenting lean and digitalisation programmes. We found that L&DPM’s alignment follows a bell-shaped challenge trajectory across three distinct stages: loose, evolving, and close alignment. In the loose alignment stage, challenges are limited but begin to multiply rapidly, reaching their peak during evolving alignment. As L&DPMs transition into close alignment, the continuous refinement of alignment strategies leads to a gradual reduction of challenges. The extent to which these strategies take root is largely determined by the strength of social capital relationships. Our findings add nuanced understanding to the interrelated socio-technical management of lean and digitalisation and open new research avenues.Type:journal articleJournal:International Journal of Production Research