Managing environmental sustainability tensions in leagile manufacturing within the furniture manufacturing industry

Developing sustainable supply chains that seek economic viability without harming the environment remains a challenge. Lean manufacturing practices can facilitate the transition from traditional supply chains to sustainable supply chains. However, firms often adopt a combination of lean and agile practices. Empirical evidence so far is limited in articulating the emergent tensions between environmental sustainability and lean/agile manufacturing. This research adopts a multiple case study approach to explore such tensions and to investigate different mechanisms to manage them. The paper develops three design propositions that articulate three types of tensions and the corresponding managerial interventions to develop sustainable supply chains.