Analyzing barriers and strategies for implementing Lean Six Sigma in the context of Indian SMEs Sandesh Kanhu Gaikwad and Ananna Paul Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia Md. Abdul Moktadir Institute of Leather Engineering and Technology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh Sanjoy Kumar Paul UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia, and Priyabrata Chowdhury Department of Supply Chain and Logistics Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the barriers for implementing Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and present a framework that provides prioritized strategies to overcome the barriers. Design/methodology/approach – The barriers and strategies are identified via a comprehensive literature review and validated by industry experts. The study uses the fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (fuzzy TOPSIS) to analyze the barriers and strategies for determining the prioritized list of strategies. Findings – The findings reveal that there are sixteen barriers to LSS implementation in Indian SMEs. To overcome these barriers, this study reveals twelve strategies. The analysis shows that “effective management” is the most crucial strategy to overcome the barriers for implementing LSS in Indian SMEs. Research limitations/implications – This research guides SMEs practitioners to efficiently and effectively implement LSS, which, in turn, can enhance the performance of SMEs. Originality/value – This study contributes to the literature by integrating the strategies with the barriers for implementing LSS in Indian SMEs. Besides, this study provides the prioritized list of strategies to overcome the barriers for implementing LSS in Indian SMEs. Keywords Lean Six Sigma, Indian SMEs, Barriers, Strategies, Fuzzy TOPSIS Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction With advancements in technological innovations and capabilities, the competition in the market has increased substantially over the last few decades (Nanda et al., 2019; Moktadir et al., 2019; Ali et al., 2017). To survive in this competition, organizations are simultaneously focusing on producing quality products and services, increasing productivity and achieving greater speed in responding to customers’ requirements (Baliga et al., 2019; Malviya and Kant, 2019; Ray and Sharma, 2019). As a result, companies are increasingly looking for improved approaches to standardizing processes for reducing waste and increasing productivity while maintaining quality (Jasti and Kodali, 2019; Moktadir et al., 2020, 2018a, b). As a means to improve or standardize processes, several technical and management philosophies, such as Lean, total quality management (TQM), Six Sigma, kaizen and just in time, have evolved over the years in multiple fields (Dursun et al., 2020; Dalalah, 2019; Sony, Lean Six Sigma in the context of Indian SMEs The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1463-5771.htm Received 4 November 2019 Revised 9 April 2020 7 May 2020 7 June 2020 Accepted 12 June 2020 Benchmarking: An International Journal © Emerald Publishing Limited 1463-5771 DOI 10.1108/BIJ-11-2019-0484