The doctoral research and case study: questions and answers

Question 1

What research question did the case study address?

Accepted Answer

Research Question 3 asked how regional institutional contexts influence organisational capability development for Digital Green Lean, and what mechanisms facilitate this while maintaining operational excellence.

Question 2

Which companies were studied in the thesis?

Accepted Answer

The comparative case study examined two multinational aluminium producers: one operating under European regulatory-driven institutional conditions and one within the Gulf Cooperation Council's leadership-driven environment. Their identities are anonymised.

Question 3

Why aluminium?

Accepted Answer

Aluminium offers a productive paradox: it is 100% recyclable without quality loss, yet primary production accounts for approximately 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions according to the International Aluminium Institute. The gap between circular potential and linear operational reality is described as an organisational problem more than a technical one.

Also asked as: Why did you choose the aluminium industry? · ¿Por qué se eligió el aluminio?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 166

Question 4

How many interviews were done?

Accepted Answer

Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted, six in Europe and five in the Middle East, with a senior executive, sustainability managers, operations and plant managers, Lean specialists and supervisors. They took place between May 2021 and August 2022, lasting 65 to 120 minutes (mean 83 minutes), and were triangulated with sustainability reports (2019–2024), site observations and internal presentations.

Also asked as: What was the data collection of the case study? · ¿Cuántas entrevistas se hicieron?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 172

Question 5

How was the data analysed?

Accepted Answer

The study used the Gioia methodology with abductive analysis. Analysis went from 68 first-order codes preserving informants' language, to second-order themes through constant comparison with theory, to four aggregate dimensions, supported by MaxQDA 2024. A second researcher reviewed 20% of first-order codes and five informants checked the constructs.

Also asked as: What is the Gioia methodology? · ¿Cómo se analizaron los datos?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 173

Question 6

What are the four dimensions found in the case study?

Accepted Answer

The four aggregate dimensions are: regional institutional contexts; organisational capability development; stakeholder-driven transformation; and cultural adaptation processes. Together they trace the pathway from external institutional conditions to internal organisational transformation.

Question 7

How did the European company develop circular capabilities?

Accepted Answer

Through compliance-oriented processes structured by regulatory requirements and stakeholder accountability. Decades of regulatory pressure, such as landfill taxes from the 1980s, produced embedded monitoring and accountability capabilities, plant-level energy programmes with annual targets and digital monitoring infrastructure, which then feed recognisably Lean improvement processes.

Also asked as: What is regulatory-driven implementation? · ¿Cómo desarrolló capacidades circulares la empresa europea?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 176

Question 8

How did the Middle Eastern company develop circular capabilities?

Accepted Answer

Through close alignment with national transformation goals: government and top management act as strategic partners, teams are formed immediately, resources mobilised and implementation follows. The capability profile is breakthrough innovation and rapid mobilisation, illustrated by becoming the first company to make metal out of solar energy.

Question 9

Do institutional contexts determine outcomes?

Accepted Answer

No. The thesis concludes that institutional context significantly shapes implementation pathways but does not determine outcomes. Organisations that engage proactively with their institutional environments develop more comprehensive capability sets, and different contexts produce different yet equally viable organisational responses.

Also asked as: How does institutional context shape DGL? · ¿Determina el contexto institucional los resultados?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 14

Question 10

Do operations people see a conflict between Lean and circularity?

Accepted Answer

In both case companies, operational participants largely rejected the efficiency-versus-circular-economy conflict at the level of culture and capability: 'I do not see a conflict, why should there be conflict?' as one participant put it. The thesis adds that the tension is real at the level of specific operational decisions, such as scrap reintegration.

Question 11

How do Lean tools extend to circular economy?

Accepted Answer

The thesis shows that Value Stream Mapping extends naturally to environmental impact at each process step, kaizen events extend to material recovery when leadership frames them that way, and 5-Why root-cause analysis applies to tracing material losses as well as quality defects. In the European case, value stream mapping now includes environmental impact assessments.

Question 12

Do gemba walks include environmental observation?

Accepted Answer

Site observations checked whether daily management boards had begun incorporating environmental KPIs alongside throughput metrics, whether gemba walks included environmental observation and whether A3 problem solving was being applied to material recovery. In the European case, environmental KPIs appeared on the same daily management boards as throughput and quality metrics, and the placement proved as important as the data.

Also asked as: How do daily management boards change in DGL? · ¿Se incluye lo ambiental en los gemba walks?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 172 · Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 180

Question 13

How does management of change include sustainability?

Accepted Answer

In the European case, new machinery triggers a management of change that is 'not only for safety, but also for sustainability'. The same company deployed circular technologies such as briquetting machines for swarf recovery. The thesis reads this as Lean measurement discipline repurposed for environmental performance.

Question 14

What did a plant manager say about people and machines?

Accepted Answer

A European plant manager said 'we always say 70% people and 30% machines… involve people and engage people, and the rest will fly'. In the Middle Eastern case the whole language of the organisation began to change, including a campaign against plastics. The thesis reads both as Lean's cultural infrastructure being reused for circular transformation.

Also asked as: Why are people central in the case study? · ¿Qué papel tienen las personas en el caso?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 178

Question 15

How do stakeholders shape the transformation?

Accepted Answer

European operations face external stakeholder dominance: regulators, customers asking for certified sustainable products, ESG rating platforms and unions. Middle Eastern operations face internal stakeholder primacy, where top management and government act as collaborative transformation agents. Each configuration builds different organisational competences.

Also asked as: What stakeholders drive circular change in Europe versus the Middle East? · ¿Cómo influyen los grupos de interés?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 178

Question 16

How do corporate and plant strategies align?

Accepted Answer

Both companies used tiered governance to keep site-level circular capability coherent with global direction. The European company used a world roadmap, a European roadmap and a tailor-made plan for every plant. The Middle Eastern executive framed sustainability as adding 'one more string to our bow', an extension of performance priorities rather than a substitution.

Also asked as: What are tiered governance roadmaps? · ¿Cómo se alinean las estrategias corporativas y de planta?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 179

Question 17

What circular results did the European case show?

Accepted Answer

The European case developed recycled aluminium products with 75% post-consumer content and carbon footprints 88% below industry average, with closed-loop customer systems (for example a light pole returned to the cast house for a new one). The circular loop is commercially viable and embedded as a business model. These are the case company's reported results, not guaranteed outcomes for others.

Also asked as: What are examples of circular outcomes in the case study? · ¿Qué resultados circulares obtuvo el caso europeo?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 179

Question 18

What circular results did the Middle Eastern case show?

Accepted Answer

The Middle Eastern case achieved 100% diversion of production by-products to local cement manufacturers, eliminating landfilling. As one participant said, 'Our waste becomes somebody else's feed material', which is a redefinition of what the organisation produces, not only a logistics arrangement.

Question 19

How does circularity become part of culture?

Accepted Answer

The case study shows that circular principles gain legitimacy when connected to performance metrics the organisation already values, and through language. Early initiatives felt like additions to normal work; over time circular vocabulary and logic appeared in procurement decisions, equipment replacement cycles, customer conversations and talent development. The Lean foundation appears to make that direction sustainable.

Also asked as: How do circular practices become embedded in organisations? · ¿Cómo se integra la circularidad en la cultura?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 180

Question 20

What theories frame the thesis?

Accepted Answer

The thesis uses three lenses: dynamic capabilities theory (Teece, 2007) for how organisations build integrated DGL capabilities, institutional theory (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983) for how contexts shape pathways, and paradox theory (Smith and Lewis, 2011) for how organisations navigate the tensions. Resource-based view, sociotechnical systems theory and complexity theory were considered and set aside, with reasons.

Also asked as: Which theoretical lenses does the thesis use? · ¿Qué teorías usa la tesis?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 232 · Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 233

Question 21

Why paradox theory?

Accepted Answer

Complexity theory would explain why the tensions persist but, as the thesis argues, it gives leaders little guidance. Paradox theory directly addresses leadership practices and routines for working with competing demands rather than resolving them, so analytical insight translates into managerial guidance.

Also asked as: Why not complexity theory for the tensions? · ¿Por qué la teoría de paradojas?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 233

Question 22

What are the limitations of the thesis?

Accepted Answer

The studies carry inherent limits: the literature review depends on published knowledge, the maturity model was built on conceptual logic and expert validation rather than large-scale testing, and the case study covers two organisations, which limits statistical generalisation. Participation concentrated at managerial levels, with limited frontline perspectives. The findings are theoretically informed, empirically grounded propositions, not large-sample conclusions.

Also asked as: What are the weaknesses of the research? · ¿Cuáles son las limitaciones de la tesis?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 231 · Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 232

Question 23

Does the thesis apply to SMEs or other industries?

Accepted Answer

The research focused on process manufacturing, specifically aluminium, in large multinationals in European and Middle Eastern contexts. Discrete manufacturing, services and other process industries may behave differently; SMEs may find the higher maturity levels unrealistic without external support. The conceptual frameworks (tensions, capability categories, institutional mechanisms) transfer better than implementation details and level descriptions.

Question 24

What is abductive analysis?

Accepted Answer

The propositions were not tested deductively. They were developed from theory before fieldwork to structure what to look for, and the abductive analysis let the data confirm, qualify, extend and in some cases revise theoretical predictions. The study aims at analytical generalisation to theory, not statistical representativeness.

Question 25

Was the thesis funded?

Accepted Answer

The doctoral research was conducted without any funding from grants, scholarships or commercial entities. The University of Oviedo provided the institutional framework for the doctoral programme and Zayed University in Abu Dhabi hosted the international research period required for the International Doctorate mention.

Also asked as: Who sponsored the research? · ¿Quién financió la tesis?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 12

Question 26

Who supervised the thesis?

Accepted Answer

Professor Lucía Avella Camarero of the University of Oviedo supervised the research. Dr. Waseem Abaza hosted the international research stay at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi.

Question 27

Who is the thesis useful for?

Accepted Answer

Chapter 8 draws implications for manufacturing executives and senior leaders, operations and plant managers, policymakers and regulators, and consultants and technology providers. For practitioners it provides an empirically examined self-assessment tool and evidence-based guidelines.

Question 28

What should executives do to implement DGL?

Accepted Answer

Position DGL explicitly as an integrated transformation, not three parallel programmes with separate champions, budgets and metrics. Name the tensions openly. The most useful mechanisms are cross-functional steering committees with real decision authority, integrated dashboards that make trade-offs visible, escalation processes between paradigm logics, and resource allocation that funds integrated initiatives. Executives should join gemba walks that examine digital and physical processes.

Also asked as: What are the recommendations for senior leaders? · ¿Qué deben hacer los directivos?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 228

Question 29

What should plant managers do?

Accepted Answer

Extend the Lean capabilities already present: use A3 problem solving on circular material flow challenges, apply daily management to digital and circular metrics alongside operational ones, and let gemba walks examine digital systems and circularity performance. Display operational, digital and circular metrics together on team boards and document what works and what does not.

Also asked as: How can plant leaders start with DGL? · ¿Qué deben hacer los directores de planta?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 229

Question 30

How should leaders manage different time horizons?

Accepted Answer

Lean improvements deliver visible results in weeks, Industry 4.0 investments mature over months to years, and circular transformations over years, sometimes benefiting the value chain more than the implementing company. The thesis calls for structural protection of long-term DGL investments from quarterly pressure, and treats temporal governance as a necessary condition for sustained transformation.

Also asked as: What is temporal governance? · ¿Qué es la gobernanza temporal?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 228 · Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 229

Question 31

What does the thesis say to policymakers?

Accepted Answer

Regulatory clarity and stability matter more than stringency in driving deep capability development: the European company benefited from predictability across planning horizons. Organisations that took part in shaping regulation developed more sophisticated capabilities faster, and investments in knowledge infrastructure such as research programmes, industry associations and workforce development generate more benefit than regulatory pressure alone.

Also asked as: Does regulation drive capability development? · ¿Qué recomienda la tesis a los reguladores?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 229 · Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 230

Question 32

What does the thesis say about consultants and technology providers?

Accepted Answer

The most valuable partners engaged with the specific organisational context rather than generic frameworks, built client capability rather than dependency, and were honest about what their solutions could and could not deliver. Implementations that embedded capability in the client outlasted those requiring ongoing external management. Selling digital solutions into unstable, weak-Lean areas generates data without insight.

Question 33

Where did DGL progress fastest?

Accepted Answer

Both case companies found DGL progress was fastest in operational areas where Lean disciplines were already well established. The Lean foundation is not a prerequisite to complete before DGL begins, but its strength in any given area directly determines how quickly Industry 4.0 and Circular Economy capabilities can develop on top of it.

Also asked as: Does Lean maturity speed up digital and circular capability? · ¿Dónde avanzó más rápido DGL?

Sources: Doctoral thesis — Digital Green Lean (2026) · PDF page 229

Question 34

What mediates between integration and performance?

Accepted Answer

According to the thesis abstract, organisational learning and stakeholder engagement systems mediate the relationship between the integration of Lean, Industry 4.0 and Circular Economy and sustainable performance.

Question 35

Can the tensions be solved permanently?

Accepted Answer

The tensions are managed, not resolved. They persist even as organisations mature, and their effective management is a leadership competency in its own right. Organisations that make real DGL progress are not those that eliminate the tensions but those that learn to hold and work them productively.