Continuous improvement activity : are there any differences between firms?

Continuous improvement has proved to be a useful way of business investing in people-centred low cost, high return improvements in firms both large and small. An important area of research has examined the adoption and use of tools and techniques to support and enhance continuous improvement (CI). Bessant and Caffyn (1997) have put forward a CI maturity index that maintains that firms vary in their CI maturity and high maturity firms will use more sophisticated tools and techniques than less mature firms. While this model is widely accepted it has not been widely tested empirically. This paper presents an initial analysis of CI maturity in Queensland manufacturing firms.