Overview

Abstract

Productivity and quality are critical to success in international markets and, in particular, to entering global value chains. Yet, despite a growing body of research on managerial capital, we still do not fully understand how to improve productivity and quality in the private and public sectors in developing countries. Kaizen is a widely adopted practice developed in Japan to improve productivity and quality, but empirical studies analyzing its effectiveness in developing countries—especially in Africa and South East Asia—are limited. This book presents a collection of essays on efforts to introduce Kaizen to developing countries and use it to enhance productivity and quality in both small and large firms. Our objective is to give readers some new insights into how Kaizen can play a role in making developing countries more globally competitive.