Kaizen in Swedish Business

Paper Summary:

The paper presents a research proposal that intends to demonstrate the influence the Japanese management practice of Kaizen, or continuous improvement, has on Swedish companies today. The proposed research will also attempt to show which practices of continuous improvement are most successfully used and which ones do not work in Swedish businesses. The paper explains that the research will also explore whether other management techniques have a similar or even greater influence. The paper relates the method and resources to be used.

Outline:
Background
Research Objectives
Method
Resources

From the Paper:

"In the beginning of the 1990s, the Swedish economy experienced a recession period. According to Styhre (2002), continuous improvement (Japanese: Kaizen), as a result, became more and more important as a management practice for Swedish companies. Some researchers, like Worm (1997) and also Styhre (2002) claimed that the Japanese management practice appeared to be easy applicable since the Japanese and Swedish culture share certain similarities, such as a high degree of consensus. However, other cultural studies, such as the one conducted by Hofstede (Rothlauf, 1999), have shown that there are also considerable differences when it comes to e.g. the collectivistic thinking in Japan and the individual thinking of Sweden."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Styhre, Alexander (2002) Constructing the image of the other: a post-colonial critique of the adaptation of Japanese human resource management practices, Management Decision available from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0010400307.pdf
• Hansson, Jonas & Eriksson, Henrik (2002) The impact of TQM on financial performance, Measuring Business Excellence available from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?Filename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/2670060407.html
• Nilsson-Witell, Lars et al. (2005) Continuous improvement in product development: Improvement programs and quality principles, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management available from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?Filename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/0400220801.html
• Worm,Verner; (1997)Vikings and Mandarins- Sino-Scandinavian Business Cooperation in Cross-Cultural Settings;, Copenhagen: Handelshojskolens Forlag
• Rothlauf, Jurgen (2004) Total Quality Management in Theorie und Praxis : zum ganzheitlichen Unternehmensverstandnis, Oldenbourg Verlag, 2nd ed., Munchen

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