Kaizen (Ky’zen), the Key to Japan’s Competitive Success The Key to Japanese Competitive Success by Imai Masaaki (z-lib.org)

About the Author

A/asaaki Imai has helped more than 200
non-Japanese and joint-venture companies rethink their organiza-
tions and introduce Japanese management approaches. Mr. Imai is
Chairman of the Cambridge Corporation, an international manage-
ment consulting and executive recruiting firm which he founded in
1962 and is based in Tokyo.

For five years in the 1950s, Mr. Imai, a graduate of the Uni-

versity of Tokyo who majored in American Studies, lived in the

United States, working for the Japan Productivity Center in Wash-
ington, D.C. (His principal responsibility: escorting groups of
Japanese businessmen through major U.S. plants so they could
study "the secret of American productivity.")

Today, Mr. Imai writes and teaches the Japanese business phi-
losophy that step-by-step improvement in the nature of "refinements"
or "enhancements" are equally as important as "break-through"

innovations. His seminars are presented under the KAIZEN serv-
ice mark. He is the author of Never Take Yes for an Answer and

16 Ways to Avoid Saying No.



A Note on the Type

The text of this book was set in a computer
version of a type face called Times Roman, designed by Stanley

Morison (1889-1967) for The Times (London) and first introduced
by that newspaper in 1932.

Among typographers and designers of the twentieth century,

Stanley Morison was a strong forming influence— as a typographi-
cal advisor to The Monotype Corporation, as a director of two dis-
tinguished English publishing houses, and as a writer of sensibility,
erudition, and keen practical sense.

M RText /jacket design : . . P. Design

Composition: Arkotype Inc.
Production Managers: Delia Mancuso and Valerie Sawyer
Printer /binder: Halliday Lithographers















In KAIZEN: The Key to Japan's Competitive
Success, Mr. Imai shows ....

.... how introducing KAIZEN practices into
the workplace, may easily increase productivity

by 30%, 50%, even 100% or more without major
capital investment ....

.... how KAIZEN can lower the break-even

point ....

.... how KAIZEN enables a company to seize

—competitive opportunities quickly in either a

slow-growth or fast-growth economy ....

.... and why KAIZEN can work in any culture

(not just Japan).

MASAAKI IMAI

Masaaki Imai has helped more than 200 non-
Japanese and joint-venture companies rethink their
organizations and introduce Japanese management
approaches. Mr. Imai is Chairman of the Cam-
bridge Corporation, an international management
consulting and executive recruiting firm which he
founded in 1962 and is based in Tokyo.

For five years in the 1950s, Mr. Imai, a graduate

of the University of Tokyo who majored in Amer-

ican Studies, lived in the United States, working
for the Japan Productivity Center in Washington,
D.C. (His principal responsibility: escorting groups
of Japanese businessmen through major U.S.
plants so they could study "the secret of American
productivity.")

Today, Mr. Imai writes and teaches the Japanese
business philosophy that step-by-step improvement
in the nature of "refinements " or "enhancements"
are equally as important as " break-through " in-
novations. His seminars are presented under the

Kaizen service mark. He is the author of "Never
Take Yes for An Answer' ' and "16 Ways to Avoid
Saying No".

Jacket design by M.R.P. Design.

"KAIZEN is unlike any book on Japanese management I've read. It

Ais profoundly practical. remarkable book!"

Thomas R. Horton

Chief Executive Officer

American Management Association

"KAIZEN is the opposite of complacency. This book is a superb

source for people seeking to institutionalize an ongoing process of

self-renewal in the enterprises they lead."

John A. Young
President and Chief Executive Officer
Hewlett • Packard Company

ISBN D-D7-5SM33E-X
90000

9'780075 M 543329