Capability for continuous improvement: Analysis of companies from automotive and capital goods industries

Abstract

Purpose

The current state of the art on continuous improvement takes into consideration that capabilities and organizational behaviors are more important elements for conduction and sustainability than the technical aspects. This set of capabilities and behaviors, initially addressed by Bessant and Caffyn in the 1990s, essentially considers that organizations should build an environment focussed on continuous learning. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the development of capabilities that support continuous improvement programs in two distinct productive environments: the automotive sector and the custom made capital goods sector.

Design/methodology/approach

From a theoretical reference on the subject, a set of capabilities that are related to the practice of continuous improvement is raised and, through a qualitative approach, four companies of the two sectors considered are analyzed using a case study strategy.

Findings

The research results suggest that the companies researched in the automotive sector have a higher level of employee engagement in relation to continuous improvement programs compared to the companies in the capital goods sector, which is justified by the strategy adopted by the organizations.

Research limitations/implications

As any qualitative approach, this research presents restrictions regarding the generalization of the results for the studied sectors.

Originality/value

The contribution of this paper can be divided into two parts. The first one refers to the identification of a current framework of capabilities that support continuous improvement, and the second one is the evaluation of the development of these capabilities in two sectors with different productive contexts (automotive and custom made capital goods).

Citation

Gonzalez, R.V.D. and Martins, M.F. (2016), "Capability for continuous improvement: Analysis of companies from automotive and capital goods industries", The TQM Journal, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 250-274. https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-07-2014-0059