La relazione tra strumenti di miglioramento e innovazione. Una verifica nel settore produttivo jonico

The research is the result of the observation that to raise the quality of organizations one of the most effective approaches is that involving improvement. Continuous improvement, a way of organising actions and/or resources to achieve objectives, is in fact a management instrument and specifically a strategic and competitive management tool; it is an essential condition for any necessary competition. However, many companies often seem to follow different approaches that do not involve improvement as a priority, but instead involve innovation-oriented methods, induced by the consideration that the current competitive context, globalized and dynamic, characterized by rapid and radical changes as well as by high competition, requires more and more rapid reaction capabilities, effective and efficient responses to market demands. The paper aims to examine the relationship between tools and methods of improvement and innovation. Specifically, the work examines which tools for improvement can create innovation in a company and whether new strategies and applications of improvement for business models can be creative and innovative, i.e. capable of managing change. The work also focuses on a survey aimed at companies in the productive sector of the Ionian territory certified with a quality management system, in order to verify how companies within the province of Taranto implement tools to manage change and innovation.