ARTICLE DESCRIPTION: It is no longer acceptable to just keep up with the Jones’s, in today’s global economy with global competitors and changing markets. The successful business has got to keep ahead of them.

MORE INFO: Keeping ahead of the Jones's It is no longer acceptable to just keep up with the Jones’s, in today’s global economy with global competitors and changing markets. The successful business has got to keep ahead of them. The Figure below is a representation of the classic argument for introducing Continuous Improvement (CI). Without CI, gradually over time your processes will become worse, machines will begin to wear out because they are not being serviced properly, old systems will grind down the productivity of the business, cash will continue to be a problem and gradually the business will get worse. Very quickly in the process, your competitors will overtake you in the market. The second option shown in the Figure is to partially implement CI. This gradual improvement maintains your position within the market by compensating for the natural decline that would occur without any CI. This has the effect of making the business ‘tread water’ and again, there comes a time when your competitors will overtake you.

PUBLISHER: Institute of Operations Management

Page number: Page: 12 Word count: Words: 700

Vol 26 - No 09 - November 2000

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Business Performance Improvement