Factors Affecting the Successful Implementation of Kaizen in Ethiopia

Kaizen has been chosen by the Ethiopian government as a strategic change tool necessary to improve the competitiveness of business organizations in the country. However, besides government's effort and temporal hype, business entities are not successfully implementing the change and able to benefit from its advantages. The aim of this study is to investigate factors affecting the successful implementation of kaizen In Ethiopia. After reviewing prior literature, we have identified six factors as determinants of the successful implementation of kaizen i.e. proper communication, top management support and commitment, training, teamwork organizational culture and education. A survey data from sample of 214 employees from125 Technique, Vocational, and Enterprise Development Office (TVEDOs) employees was collected using a questionnaire. After checking for the reliability and validity of the data, Structural Equation Modeling Technique was used to test the developed hypotheses. We have found that top management commitment support, education level, teamwork, and organization culture have positive and statistically significant relationship with successful implementation of kaizen. On the other hand, communication found to be insignificant determinant of the successful implementation of Kaizen in Ethiopia. Training was a significant mediator of the relationship between identified factors and implementation of Kaizen. Ethiopian Kaizen Institute as well as implementing organizations should focus on these factors that are found to be significant determinants of successful implementation of Kaizen.