Kaizen (改善), Kaikaku (改革) and Innovation Management

Kaizen’s philosophy is continuous improvement in small steps. But in reality, improvement is not uniform, but discontinuous, sometimes faster and sometimes slower. With Kaizen, we sometimes face major obstacles and get stuck. In this case, we have to change the system, the framework conditions, in order to be able to improve further. A concentrated effort is required to make a breakthrough for Kaizen. This method is referred to as Kaikaku and helps improve quality in production (Japanese 改革, Reformation, Transformation). Kaikaku is called “breakthrough kaizen” or “kaizen lightning”. Kaikaku means “revolution in thought and action” and “improvement of great significance” (Radenkovic et al., 2013). With a concentrated use of force, it temporarily accelerates the speed and scope of Kaizen. Kaizen is the continuous improvement of an activity with the purpose of increasing the performance in a production system, usually less than 20 or 30% in a given period of time (Radharmanan et al., 1996). Opposite of Kaizen is Kaikaku, which represents drastic change or radical improvement that is usually a result of big investments in technology and/or equipment (Imai, 1986). This way of making improvements can be considered impossible to constantly improve the process, so based on that, there is a need to conduct radical change in the company (Pfeffer, 1998). Kaikaku is not like Kaizen, which is started by all employees; Kaikaku usually starts from the top management of the company and then goes to lower levels of workers (Yamamoto, 2013). This is because Kaikaku represents crucial strategic changes. Table 2.1 compares Kaizen and Kaikaku (Helmold, 2021) and shows the differences between the two methods.