Improving Quality and Productivity in SMEs
This Open Access book explores how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the South African automotive industry can strengthen their competitiveness through continuous improvement in quality and productivity. As SMEs are vital drivers of job creation and inclusive economic growth, enhancing firm capabilities through human resource development is essential for industrial upgrading and long-term structural transformation.
Drawing on practical experience and rigorous empirical research, the book demonstrates how Kaizen—a participatory, scientific, and resource-efficient approach to continuous improvement—can transform enterprise performance. Through case studies, impact assessments, and policy analysis, it shows how firms can improve productivity, quality, delivery, and profitability while strengthening organisational capabilities.
More than a management technique, the Kaizen approach fosters teamwork, trust, problem-solving, and continuous learning. At a time when digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) are reshaping manufacturing, the book highlights that sustainable competitiveness ultimately depends on empowering people to innovate and improve workplace productivity.
By bringing together the perspectives of leading researchers and experienced practitioners, this book offers practical insights and evidence-based recommendations for policymakers, business leaders, development practitioners, researchers, and students committed to SME upgrading, industrial development, and sustainable economic transformation in Africa.
Kimiaki Jin is the Chief Advisor/QPI (Kaizen) Policy Formulation/System Development for the Quality and Productivity Improvement (Kaizen) Project, jointly implemented by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) in the Republic of South Africa and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Over four decades, he has obtained extensive experience working in Japan’s development cooperation sector. Between 1998 and 2000, he worked for Japan’s Environment Agency. He also served two terms with JICA in Ethiopia (1990–1993 and 2003–2006) and then went on to serve as JICA’s Chief Representative in the United Kingdom (2009–2013) and Ethiopia (2013–2017). He is the main architect and examiner of the Africa Kaizen Award, organised by the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and JICA. He is also a co-editor and contributor to several books, including Applying the Kaizen in Africa: A New Avenue for Industrial Development (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).
Anthony Black is Professor Emeritus in the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town and a former Director of the School. He is also a Research Associate and former Director of Policy Research in International Services and Manufacturing (PRISM) (www.prism.uct.ac.za). Black holds a PhD from the University of Cape Town and his principal research interests are development economics, industrial policy and regional integration. His latest book is an edited volume, Value Chains in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges of Integration into the Global Economy (Springer, 2019). A former advisor to the South African government on automotive policy, he has also consulted to other African governments andseveral international organisations, including the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Union (AU), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Yuki Higuchiis a Professor of Economics at Sophia University, Japan. He obtained his PhD in Development Economics from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in 2014. He was based at Nagoya City University from 2015 to 2020, after which he joined Sophia University. He has also worked as a consultant at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA). His research primarily focuses on industrial development, using firm-level microdata from South Africa, Tanzania, Argentina, Vietnam and Tajikistan. His work has been published in several academic journals, including Economic Development and Cultural Change, The World Economy and World Development.
Keijiro Otsuka is a Distinguished Honorary Professor and a Research Fellow at the Research Institute of Economics and Business Administration at Kobe University, Japan. He received a PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1979. Before joining Kobe University, he was Professor of Development Economics at the National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies (GRIPS) from 2001 to 2016. Alongside this role, he served as Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the International Rice Research Institute (2004–2007), President of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (2009–2012). He later served as President of the Japanese Association for Development Economics (2019–2025). He has published 151 articles in internationally renowned journals and is the author, co-author or co-editor of 30 books.