Within the Canadian boundaries: a close look at Canadian industries implementing continuous improvement

Abstract

This paper summarises the results of a survey of how Canadian firms are implementing continuous improvement (CI) programs, where CI is defined as a set of activities intended to achieve ongoing improvement in customer satisfaction, productivity, and quality. The paper first summarizes and compares certain market and organisational characteristics of survey respondents from the auto and auto parts, electronics, metals and metal‐processing, and food‐processing industries. Next, the study examines the extent to which specific CI practices are being implemented within each industry. Conclusions are presented, based on statistical analysis, on similarities and contrasts among the four industries in the extent to which they implement particular CI practices. Finally, the authors seek to provide insights into why each industry establishes its CI practices at specific levels, by relating the adoption of CI practices to the market and organisational characteristics of firms in that industry.

Citation

Jha, S., Michela, J. and Noori, H. (1999), "Within the Canadian boundaries: a close look at Canadian industries implementing continuous improvement", The TQM Magazine, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 188-197. https://doi.org/10.1108/09544789910214836