ABSTRACT

The previous chapters focused on the state-of-the-art of CI in the individual countries involved in the EuroCINet survey. The objective of the present chapter is to identify whether, and then explain why, location (i.e. country and/or continent) and CI maturity have impact on CI practices and outcomes, and also whether there is any link between location and CI maturity. In order to facilitate the analysis, the companies were clustered into four categories, based on the level of CI maturity (also referred to as stage of CI development) reported by the companies themselves. These categories, innovators, early adopters, late adopters and laggards, are rather generally accepted in innovation theories (see e.g. Rogers, 1983) to denote the rate of diffusion of innovations, in this case Continuous Improvement.