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A PROJECT-BASED VIEW OF THE LINK BETWEEN STRATEGY, STRUCTURE AND LEAN CONSTRUCTION
Antonio N. de Miranda Filho1, Luiz F. M. Heineck2 and Jorge Moreira da Costa3 ABSTRACT Currently, there is a good understanding that companies do not obtain satisfactory results when lean practices are implemented alone. The benefits can only be realized by making a substantial number of organizational changes, which in turn need to be coherent with the business strategy. However, contextual factors drive companies to adopt different business strategies, organizational structures and bundles of production practices. Consequently, the sequence and content of business development projects aimed to implement and test lean construction practices can vary according to each firm’s internal characteristics and conjunctural needs. This paper argues that lean implementation is not an isolated event, but part of an effort to create a strategy-structure alignment. Moreover, because lean implementation is conducted through different internal projects, it is also argued that projects constitute the link between business strategy, organizational structure and lean processes. A model is proposed to explain the role that projects play in interlinking strategy, structure and processes. In doing so, the authors hope to bring awareness to the bigger changes behind lean implementation and to the challenges of building “finely-tuned” organizations for specific missions. KEY WORDS Project-based view, organization structure, lean implementation.

INTRODUCTION Contextual factors drive companies to find multiple, equally effective ways to compete within a particular industry. However, in free-market economies, the top competitors in each market sector are the organizations showing the best environmental and internal fit (e.g., Christiansen et al. 2003). Such companies are aware of the tangible and intangible attributes that impact the workings of a production system and the emergence of its competences.