Changing competitive forces in Europe continuous improvement in a sample of French, German and British companies

For a company seeking to implement a continuous improvement (CI) strategy, research has pointed to two pertinent policy suggestions. First, it is possible to take the essence of a CI philosophy (i.e. one where the emphasis is on creating an improvement‐based learning culture in the company) and apply it in any environment, however underdeveloped in terms of the tools of quality management it may be. But the key to success lies in the second factor for success. It is suggested that in order for a CI programme to be sustainable it has to be viewed as long term and company wide. The tools and infrastructure of quality management have to be supported by strategy, culture and process in a way that allows the organization to learn and, hence, improve itself.