Strategy and continuous improvement in small-to-medium Australian manufacturers Chapman, Ross and Hyland, Paul 2000, Strategy and continuous improvement in small-to-medium Australian manufacturers, Integrated manufacturing systems, vol. 11, no. 3, Special issue : Continuous improvement, pp. 171-179, doi: 10.1108/09576060010320399. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads chapman-strategyandcontinuous-post-2000.pdf Author's post print application/pdf 121.49KB 436 Title Strategy and continuous improvement in small-to-medium Australian manufacturers Author(s) Chapman, Ross Hyland, Paul Journal name Integrated manufacturing systems Volume number 11 Issue number 3 Season Special issue : Continuous improvement Start page 171 End page 179 Publisher Emerald Group Publishing Place of publication Bradford, England Publication date 2000 ISSN 1741-038X Keyword(s) continuous improvement strategy small to medium sized enterprises manufacturing case studies Summary While Australian firms have generally recognised the value of continuous improvement (CI) in improving performance, many have yet to develop systems to ensure that the efforts of the CI program are focussed on issues of strategic importance to the company. In fact, as recognised in operations management generally, CI activities can have a significant impact on the development of strategy as well as its implementation. The research reported here uses a CI mapping methodology to chart the relationship between CI and strategy in small- to medium-sized manufacturers. Analysis of the link between the firms’ strategies and CI programs indicates that most firms involved in the study made little attempt to link the two and some appear to be unaware of any need to do so. However, such findings seem to be dependent on company size, the maturity of the CI program and the competitive position of the firm. The paper also includes an examination of the role of operations and shopfloor CI in company strategy, particularly as related to SMEs. Notes This paper was awarded the Theo Williamson Award for Most Outstanding Paper in Integrated Manufacturing Systems for 2000 Reproduced with kind permission of the copyright owner. Language eng DOI 10.1108/09576060010320399 Field of Research 159999 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services not elsewhere classified Socio Economic Objective 970115 Expanding Knowledge in Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services HERDC Research category C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2000, MCB University Press Free to Read? Yes Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30032497 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Business and Law Deakin Business School Open Access Collection Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (restricted access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. Versions Version Filter Type Wed, 02 Feb 2011, 15:09:30 EST Tue, 28 Jun 2011, 14:56:20 EST Tue, 28 Jun 2011, 14:57:57 EST Thu, 30 Jun 2011, 10:47:52 EST Tue, 05 Dec 2017, 10:46:28 EST Fri, 07 Sep 2018, 15:15:07 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 0 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 314 Abstract Views, 436 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Wed, 02 Feb 2011, 15:09:30 EST