| Kaizen has been viewed as the key to Japanese competitive success. Kaizen-suggestion systems have thus drawn heightened research interest. Unfortunately, however, there is a paucity of studies that have evaluated kaizen-suggestion systems. This paper is one step toward increasing understanding of kaizen-suggestion systems. It serves as an exploratory effort to examine the determinants of suggestions made in the kaizen-suggestion system and the impact of adopted suggestions on organizational effectiveness.; In the determinant level, the empirical results provide initial support that accumulative experience in intangible suggestion making (i.e., those suggestions where dollar savings cannot be estimated), management training and top management participative style played crucial roles in determining tangible suggestion (i.e., making those suggestions where dollar savings can be estimated).; In the outcome level, the findings are that there is an accumulative effect of suggestions, successive incremental improvements in productivity, labor efficiency and product quality. A lagged effect exists between suggestion implementation and economic gains. Improvements in productivity, labor efficiency and quality are not only dependent on present volume of suggestions accepted but dependent on past volume of suggestions adopted. However, there is a different pattern of delayed effect over time between tangible and intangible suggestions.; Overall tangible suggestions have longer lag structure than intangible suggestions. That is, economic gains response to tangible suggestions generally last longer than do intangible suggestions. There are also different effects on productivity, labor efficiency and quality between two types of suggestions. Tangible suggestions have a greater effect on productivity gains and high labor efficiency but have a smaller effect on product quality improvement. In contrast, intangible suggestions have a larger effect on product quality improvement but have a smaller effect on both productivity and labor efficiency improvements.; This study has highlighted the continuous and incremental improvement with what Imai (1986) termed "Japanese competitive success." The effects of tangible and intangible suggestions occur gradually and as a continuous incremental process. Although the improvements are subtle in the short term, sustained over time, the improvements are considerable in the long run. |
