THE UNDERSTANDING OF LEAN PRACTICES AND WELL-BEING HARMONIZATION IN MALAYSIAN SMEs

Abstract

Lean practices have played an essential role in combating the current and future challenges in the manufacturing and service sectors. Lean is very important in an organization because it wants to ensure organizational sustainability in the long term, especially among Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). Although the SMEs are currently important towards Malaysia’s economy, there is a question of whether the SMEs are offering better well-being packages to their workforces to ensure harmonization in the organization. Therefore, this study will review and understand the lean practices and well-being harmonization for SMEs in Malaysia. The method is demonstrated by using multiple case studies that will focus on SMEs in Malaysia, specifically in the Northern Region. The expected findings are to provide an in-depth understanding of lean practices and well-being harmonization as a guideline for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially B40 households that owned a business. This aligns with the National Agenda in the Eleventh Malaysia Plan to produce a million small and medium enterprise entrepreneurs, including those from the B40 group, in the next five years. This study believes that the Malaysian SMEs will benefit from this new understanding in this thriving economy.