судя по сети, похоже, что значения могут быть и положит. и отрицат.
в данном случае явно негативный оттенок

While improved financial technology can enable improvement; the volatility of demand, risk of customer default, ***leaner and less flexible supply chains ***, the physical distance created by shared service centers as well as sheer geographical spread of businesses today mean that managers need to be smarter and more integrated to release cash in a sustainable way

а это не равно "leaner supply chains and less flexible supply chains"?

Тады, имхо, никакого негативного оттенка в leaner нет. Leaner supply chain = Lean supply chain.

"Defining the lean supply chain
The primary goal of the supply chain is to move necessary resources and products where they need to be and when they need to be there. The goal of a lean supply chain is the efficient transportation of goods to
the end customer while minimizing waste. What’s important, though, is not just the efficient shipment of goods to the final customer, but that all of the transportation of goods throughout the whole of the supply
chain is performed as efficiently as possible with as little waste as possible.
What is lean? The lean approach typically refers to optimizing the flow of products throughout the manufacturing process. In service industries (and in supply chains), it can refer to the most efficient flow of any resource or product (even intangibles, such as the flow of information)."

спасибо!