Continuous improvement (CI) is still one of the strongest ways for companies to achieve process excellence in order to survive in nowadays’ competitive environments. Yet, it is still very difficult to implement and sustain CI systems, mainly because of the difficulty in engaging people in these activities. Based on an exhaustive literature review, followed by a three-round Delphi study with Spanish experts, this paper helps to assess what the main elements are with respect to the CI system that could motivate employees’ intention to participate in CI activities. Main results show 44 elements grouped into 10 factors that could affect employees’ intention to participate. These factors were structured into a more comprehensive model following an interpretive structural modelling approach.

One of the most important enablers of continuous improvement sustainability is ease of communication, and doing so in a way that can be understood by all employees and allows information to flow rapidly throughout the company. Visual Management (VM) provides significant benefits in communication and standardisation which boosts the effectiveness of improvement systems. This article presents an in-depth literature review about the concept of VM and its benefits, and provides results from an exploratory study carried out in the Basque Country that aims to ascertain the usage of VM in 52 companies. Based on a literature review, 20 different VM elements were identified for improving the workplace. The implementation of these elements was studied, as was the relationship of VM with employee participation systems. The results of this study show a general moderate implementation of VM tools in companies with implementation levels differing according to company size. Some of the lowest scores are detected in the areas of visual control of quality, the displaying of indicators and process visibility. Moreover, statistical differences were identified between the implementation of suggestion systems and improvement teams and the implementation level of VM tools.

Purpose: For the past 20 years, Latin American countries have gone from being a low-cost region to significant players in the world economy, with five of its countries ranked among the world’s 50th largest by gross domestic product. This paper aims to study the contribution of Latin American researchers in the field of supply chain management (SCM) to aid an understanding of the Latin American impact within global supply chains (SCs).Design/methodology/approach: The authors present a study which includes a bibliometric analysis of the papers authored by Latin American researchers in the SCM field and which were exclusively published in journals included in the Journal Citation Reports. In addition, the authors conducted a survey to Latin American researchers and consultants to gain greater understanding of the main difficulties, which in their opinion, have negatively affected the SCM area in Latin America within the past five years, and identify possible misalignment between Latin American research and the challenges for SC in the region.Findings: The results show that Latin American research on SCM in the past nine years is not significant for the field considering the number of papers, citations and the papers published in top journals. Another interesting finding is the lack of collaboration among researchers from different Latin American countries, as well as with corporate. Finally, survey results reveal significant differences regarding the main difficulties each country perceived as relevant.Practical implications: Comparing results from both analyses, relevant misalignments stand out between published research and the main difficulties detected. These suggest a challenging opportunity for Latin America, emphasizing the need to increase research contribution of the scientific community, through collaboration and alignment toward overcoming the most troublesome difficulties for Latin America. Therefore, the authors suggest future regional research directions which could also help global companies to tackle the challenges faced and optimize performance of their Latin American SCs.Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous research on the quality and impact of Latin American research in SCM has been conducted. Also, misalignments between researchers and practitioners in the region, which allow identifying weaknesses of Latin American SCs, have not been studied before.

Purpose: – The purpose of this article is to create a list of supply chain (SC)-related difficulties based on the existing SC literature. It also presents an exploratory survey concerning the main difficulties which Uruguayan managers consider to have the most negative impact on their SCs. Design/methodology/approach: – The survey was carried out within small- and medium-sized manufacturing and retailing companies in Uruguay, yielding 99 valid responses. A statistical analysis of the survey is introduced including a ranking of the difficulties and a grouping of those using factorial analysis. A difficulty, as understood throughout this paper, is any factor that significantly impacts, or has impacted in recent years, the performance of SCs. Findings: – Eighteen main difficulties hindering SC performance were identified. Moreover, an exploratory analysis of the survey showed that the main concerns to SC managers are related to workforce availability and government policies. Practical implications: – Difficulties encountered by SCs would not only be of interest to scholars but also to the managers who face the challenge of the day-to-day managing of a SC. Once the difficulties over the SCs are identified, strategies can be designed and implemented to attain desired benefits. Today’s intense competition requires firms to be more aware of their SC and to achieve excellence in many areas, especially at small- and medium-sized enterprises. Originality/value: – There is a growing body of literature concerning isolated issues that SCs have to face; however, an exhaustive list of difficulties is hardly available. Moreover, first-hand information of Uruguayan managers was ascertained to rank each one using a Likert scale.

Implementing continuous improvement (CI) systems is one of the most effective ways to increase operational excellence. One pillar that determines the success of a CI strategy is a climate of commitment and participation among workers. Recent work has focused on identifying organisational factors that directly influence worker participation. However, when analysing these elements, the importance that middle managers have when creating a work environment that enhances employee involvement stands out. The aim of this paper is to identify specific middle manager trustworthy behaviours that impact the level of commitment and participation in a group of line workers in a specific CI environment. To accomplish this, we present a list of specific behaviours based on a concept mapping conducted among a representative group of industrial supervisors and operators in the north of Spain. These identified behaviours define managerial practices that could directly enhance the level of worker commitment and participation.

Purpose: – Continuous improvement (CI) is regarded as a powerful approach to achieve business excellence. However, the implementation is not simple as it involves managing a considerable amount of tangible and intangible factors throughout the whole organization. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap by presenting first-hand information about how companies really implement and organize their CI processes. Design/methodology/approach: – The study was based on semi-structured interviews in ten high performing companies in the Basque Country, a region in northern Spain well known for its business quality. The objective was to analyze the state of their CI processes, putting special focus on how the organizational structure integrates with the CI processes and what are the characteristics of the corresponding measurement system. Findings: – The study shows a lack of company-wide focus on CI, little written evidence of previous improvement activities, unclear improvement process owner, and poor use of adequate measurement systems to monitor CI. Practical implications: – Managers should understand that is not enough to guarantee their own commitment and provide the structure, since in order to become learning organization, a different holistic approach towards the CI process must be adopted. Originality/value: – While most previous work on this field have focused primarily on how to implement different techniques in order to achieve better productive performance, this study presents empirical research from a more holistic approach, assessing the characteristics affecting CI by considering strategy, structure, and the measurement system.