Title: Continuous improvement practice and the stages of service operations competitiveness: a hospital case study

Authors: André L. Teixeira; Dário H. Alliprandini; Claudia A. De Mattos

Addresses: Department of Production Engineering, FEI University, Av. Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco, 3972-B, Assunção, São Bernardo do Campo – SP, 09850-901, Brazil ' Department of Production Engineering, FEI University, Av. Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco, 3972-B, Assunção, São Bernardo do Campo – SP, 09850-901, Brazil ' Department of Production Engineering, FEI University, Av. Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco, 3972-B, Assunção, São Bernardo do Campo – SP, 09850-901, Brazil

Abstract: This paper aims to study the relationship between the continuous improvement maturity level and the stages of service operations competitiveness, relating the abilities of each continuous improvement maturity level to the aspects that are inherent to each stage of service operations competitiveness in the hospital sector. This paper was developed by means of exploratory field research using a case study method in three hospitals. The findings of this study are innovative in the research field, as this research proposes a theoretical model that seeks to identify the relationship between service operations competitiveness and its continuous improvement maturity level. As implications, the results of this study suggest that hospitals that decided to implement continuous improvement programs have better capabilities to offer services that are more competitive and continuously improve their processes to serve their patients better.

Keywords: continuous improvement; service operations competitiveness; health care service operations; hospital service operations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2022.126006

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2022 Vol.37 No.1, pp.20 - 35

Received: 09 Dec 2019
Accepted: 06 Jan 2021
Published online: 06 Oct 2022 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article