Open Access

Background. The application of lean management is standard in many companies all over the world. It is used to continuously optimise existing production processes and to reduce the complexity of administrative processes. Unfortunately, in higher education, the awareness of lean management as a highly effective methodology is quite low. Research aims. The research aim is to show how the lean strategy can be applied in university environments. Finally, this paper addresses the question why it is so difficult to implement lean in a university environment and how an institution of higher education can move forward towards becoming a lean university. Methodology. Based on a literature review, five key lean principles are presented and examples of their implementation are discussed using short case studies from our own institution. We also compare our findings with those in the literature. Key findings. Lean offers the chance to improve the management of higher education institutions. This requires a commitment on the part of the university top management aiming at convincing all stakeholders that a culture of lean helps the institution to be able to adapt to the rapidly changing environment of higher education.

Companies are increasingly faced with new challenges and have to adapt to rapidly changing conditions. Agility and digitalization can help companies to overcome problems and offer a wide range of options for implementation. Furthermore, HR departments in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been facing further challenges for years, such as the shortage of skilled workers and trainees and changing stakeholder requirements. In light of these enduring complexities, it is pertinent to inquire into the efficacy and constraints of leveraging agility and digitalization within SMEs, particularly concerning HR practices. This study endeavors to explore the nuanced interplay between agility, and digitalization within the SME context. The ensuing qualitative study endeavors to dissect this intricate nexus, culminating in the articulation of a hypothesis model aimed at illuminating the intricate dynamics at play.

In the evolving field of legal information systems, Claude 3 and other advanced conversational agents (CAs) are emerging as transformative forces. This interdisciplinary study combines quantitative methods, legal analysis, and digital transformation approaches to evaluate the efficacy of leading commercially available CAs in the German legal environment. Employing a corpus of 200 unique legal tasks, the research benchmarks Claude 3 against notable systems such as Google Gemini and ChatGPT versions 4 and 3.5. Through automated evaluations of 1,600 responses generated by these CAs, Claude 3 is demonstrated to be the most effective system, capable of successfully addressing realistic legal challenges and passing a German business law examination with an overall score of 60%—significantly surpassing the 50% score of the previous performance leader ChatGPT-4. Despite its superior performance, Claude 3, along with other evaluated systems, exhibits considerable limitations that can be difficult to identify. Based on these insights, it is recommended that legal professionals thoroughly verify all CA-generated content before use. Additionally, caution is advised for novices utilizing CA-generated legal advice, due to the specialized knowledge required for proper evaluation. This study contributes to the ongoing study of digital transformation in the legal domain, offering insights for both academic and industry stakeholders.