CI Implementation: An Empirical Test of the CI Maturity Model.

There are a number of tools available for organizations wishing to measure and subsequently develop Continuous Improvement (CI). In this article, we review and evaluate a well-accepted CI development model, namely the CI Maturity Model ( Bessant and Caffyn, 1997 ), against data collected from the 2nd Continuous Improvement Network Survey and a number of empirical cases described in the literature. While the CI Maturity Model suggests that CI maturation ought to be a linear process, the findings in this article suggest that there are feasible alternatives for companies to develop CI capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]