Article: The kaizen philosophy, a management approach for continuous improvement in times of COVID-19. A case study Journal: International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies (IJEPEE) 2025 Vol.21 No.3 pp.265 - 286 Abstract: Studying the application of the kaizen philosophy in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic represents a great opportunity to observe the changes that are happening in people's daily work. In particular, in the health sector it has represented a challenge of extraordinary dimensions. Certain public hospitals in Mexico have taken into consideration this Japanese philosophy as a way of dealing with the new way of working to organise and improve it. An exploratory case study was conducted. The processes of healthcare for suspected and contaminated COVID-19 patients improved in terms of employee safety, elimination of MUDA and quality of service. Four kaizen techniques were applied before and after COVID-19 in the public hospital such as: kaizen teams, standardisation, genba walk management and <i>senpai-kohai</i> relationship. As a result of this research some drivers emerge during the case study analysis. Participative leadership from middle management, management by walking around, learning by doing among other drivers, they have helped the public hospital to solve its daily problems in addition to coping with the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of operational efficiency and safety of health employees. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: The kaizen philosophy, a management approach for continuous improvement in times of COVID-19. A case study

Authors: Manuel F. Suárez-Barraza; Manuel Francisco Morales-Contreras

Addresses: Department of International Business Management, Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), Puebla, México ' Department of Management, ICADE, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Spain

Abstract: Studying the application of the kaizen philosophy in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic represents a great opportunity to observe the changes that are happening in people's daily work. In particular, in the health sector it has represented a challenge of extraordinary dimensions. Certain public hospitals in Mexico have taken into consideration this Japanese philosophy as a way of dealing with the new way of working to organise and improve it. An exploratory case study was conducted. The processes of healthcare for suspected and contaminated COVID-19 patients improved in terms of employee safety, elimination of MUDA and quality of service. Four kaizen techniques were applied before and after COVID-19 in the public hospital such as: kaizen teams, standardisation, genba walk management and senpai-kohai relationship. As a result of this research some drivers emerge during the case study analysis. Participative leadership from middle management, management by walking around, learning by doing among other drivers, they have helped the public hospital to solve its daily problems in addition to coping with the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of operational efficiency and safety of health employees.

Keywords: kaizen philosophy; healthcare; kaizen teams; standardisation; problem solving; Mexico; senpai-kohai relationship; case study; kaizen applied during COVID-19.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEPEE.2025.146570

International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, 2025 Vol.21 No.3, pp.265 - 286

Received: 11 Dec 2020
Accepted: 01 Mar 2021
Published online: 05 Jun 2025 *

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Title: The kaizen philosophy, a management approach for continuous improvement in times of COVID-19. A case study

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