Designing a Lean and Green organisational sustainability model: A South African Ecotourism case study

Abstract

It is widely recognised that the Covid-19 pandemic greatly affected the ecotourism industry, highlighting the need for improved or revised management strategies to address the changing circumstances post-pandemic. Additionally, the increased focus on achieving true sustainability in terms of the triple bottom line of organisational sustainability, social, environmental, and economic sustainability. This research examines the applicability of Lean-Green management to organisational sustainability. Thus, the problem identified focuses on organisational sustainability in nature-based ecotourism organisations in the post-pandemic climate. A case study method is identified as the basis for the research, with data collection through focus groups and a systematic literature review. The focus groups are conducted to record the different organisational elements of a specific nature-based ecotourism organisation in South Africa and to provide industry insight. Additionally, the systematic literature review examines the use of the Lean-Green framework in the context of tourism, specifically the ecotourism industry. This research presents a threedimensional matrix, developed using the Zwicky Box morphological analysis, that shows the balance between Lean and Green for organisational sustainability in the intricate ecotourism industry. This will not only reveal the specific use of Lean and Green within ecotourism but also highlight the inherent relationship between Lean and Green and long-term success through organisational sustainability. This research contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and addresses organisational sustainability in the complex environment of ecotourism. This study can be used to achieve organisational sustainability in a personalised experience format for tourism organisations, as well as to inform the expansion of Lean-Green as a research field. Future work stemming from this research may include Lean-Green as a management approach for organisational sustainability in other sectors, as well as industrial engineering in the field of ecotourism.