| Attribute | Lean Paradigm | Green Paradigm |
| General Purpose | Maximize profits through cost reduction | Reducing environmental risks and impacts while improving ecological efficiency of organizations and their partners |
| Focus | Focus on cost reduction and increased flexibility through continuous elimination of waste or NVA across the supply chain | Focus on sustainable development and the reduction of ecological impact of industrial activities through elimination of resource waste and pollution |
| Customers | Economic customer (d) driven by costs | Profit, People and the Planet (triple bottom line) |
| Waste Reduction Techniques | Vision and strategy, Innovation, Partnerships, Operations, Support functions ` Wastes: Elimination of waste in all operational processes, internally and externally, that arise from overproduction, waiting, transportation, inappropriate processing, defects and unnecessary inventory and motion | Product Redesign, Process Redesign, Substitution, Prolong Use, Disassembly, Remanufacturing, Reduce, Consume by-products internally, Returnable Packaging, Waste Segregation, Recycling, Spreading Risks, Creating Markets, Alliances |
| Principal Tool | Value Stream Mapping: deep understanding of all the processes required to bring a product to market | Life-Cycle Assessment: deep understanding of all the processes required to bring a product to market considering product design, product use and end-of-life management |
| Business Results | Quality, Cost, Delivery (QCD), Customer Satisfaction, Profitability | Quality, Cost, Delivery (QCD), Customer Satisfaction, Market Position, Reputation, Product Design, Process Waste |
| Tools/Practices | VSM Inventory minimization, Higher resources utilization rate, Information spreading through the network, JIT, Shorter lead times | Sustainable VSM Efficiency of resource consumption, Reduction of redundant and unnecessary materials, Waste (energy, water, raw materials and non-product output) minimization, Reduction of transportation lead time, Reduction of replenishment frequency, Integration of the reverse material and information flow in the SC, Environmental risk sharing |