Differences in Kaizen implementation between countries and industry types in multinational supply chain

Abstract

Previous research shows that Kaizen's benefits are multiple and evident, but its practices in the supply chain have been sufficiently examined now. Conversely, we are witnessing numerous issues in contemporary global supply networks. In this survey, after conducting a literature review, three research questions regarding Kaizen modes of usage were formulated and tested on the sample of 195 enterprises that are part of the global supply chain, located in 31 countries, and active in two different types of industries - aircraft, and transportation. A combined approach containing descriptive statistics, reliability, factor analysis, and statistical hypothesis testing by Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA and Mann-Whitney U tests were used. Results show significant differences between Kaizen practices applied in countries such as Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, the USA, Japan, and China, where national and corporate cultures differ. Kaizen implementation significantly differs between companies operating in the aircraft and transportation sectors, which is unsurprising since aircraft industry has a higher formalization level. The goal to determine the differences in Kaizen practices around the globe was fulfilled since statistically significant differences indicate the importance of the contextual factors and connect adverse and Kaizen events.