Modern‐day lean construction principles

Purpose – Lean construction looks into the possibility of bringing successful lean production theories into the construction industry. It was believed that lean production principles could also be influenced by the essence of military strategies, specifically that of Sun Tzu's Art of War (ST) when these were introduced many years ago. This study looks into the practices of lean construction in the industry and the similarities in the two sets of statements from lean construction principles and Sun Tzu's strategic principles.Design/methodology/approach – Surveys and interviews of 40 project managers in the construction industry were conducted.Findings – The study suggests that there are some agreements between lean construction principles and Sun Tzu's strategic principles.Research limitations/implications – This study raises the interesting question of whether the origin of lean construction principles can be traced to the strategic principles formulated by Sun Tzu some 2,500 years ago.Practical implicati...

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