Key factors for a continuous improvement process

The goal of this work was to examine the content of continuous improvement strategies, taking into account the important role they play in building competitiveness. This paper argues that several specific issues must be taken into account in order to reach successful outcomes.This work starts with a literature review on the matter. On this basis, we designed a survey administered to a group of 30 large companies, each of which is renowned leader in Argentina. Finally, we compared the development of continuous improvement process in companies with very effective results and with scarce results. Differences that emerged from this comparison enabled us to identify critical factors for achieving a successful improvement process.As there are no recent researches on continuous improvement programs in Argentina, this paper contributes to recognizing and systematizing what has been done, comparing it with theoretical framework and uncovering research gaps for future studies. However, further research must confirm these findings and move forward on the analysis of intangible factors, like: internal communications, climate, culture, self reflexion, consensus, etc