Difference between Kaizen and Innovation
Last updated: October 20, 2025 Read in fullscreen view
Recommended for you
- 02 Nov 2023
Unlocking Success with The Amoeba Management Model: Key Lessons, Pros & Cons, and Finding the Perfect Fit 160/687 - 10 Nov 2021 5S methodology - the SECRET to Japanese SUCCESS 134/1726
- 09 Sep 2022 Kaizen, Kaikaku and Kakushin – what’s the difference? 82/2897
- 24 Nov 2022 Genba Genbutsu Genjitsu (3Gs), (Go to the Genba & see for yourself!) 69/2904
- 01 Dec 2023 What is Amoeba Management? 59/897
- 01 Apr 2022 Ishikawa (fishbone) diagram in software project management 37/3034
- 10 Apr 2022 Agile self-organizing teams: What are they? How do they work? 28/435
- 01 May 2023 Understanding Business as Usual (BAU) and How to Transition 22/843
- 18 Oct 2020 How to use the "Knowns" and "Unknowns" technique to manage assumptions 21/989
- 21 May 2022 "Fail Fast, Fail Often, Fail Forward" is the answer to Agile practices of software success 18/941
- 17 Mar 2023 Reduce waste in software development with 3M model: Muda, Mura, Muri 17/860
- 15 Apr 2022 Total Quality Management (TQM) - Japanese-style management approach to quality improvement. 17/628
- 04 Mar 2024 Tree Ring Management: Take the Long Term View and Grow Your Business Slowly 15/374
- 27 Aug 2022 Kaizen - Culture of Continuous Improvement and Lean Thinking 13/705
- 01 Oct 2020 Fail fast, learn faster with Agile methodology 13/973
- 09 Sep 2022 What is 5 Whys (Five Whys)? 12/861
- 13 Jul 2022 Applying the business mantra "HORENSO" to Achieve 360-degree Communication 12/813
- 02 Feb 2022 Yokoten: Best Practice Sharing from a success 12/1284
- 03 Jan 2024 What is the Ringi process? 12/876
- 01 Mar 2022 The Toyota Way Management Principles 10/682
- 12 Dec 2024 Danshari: A Japanese Minimalist Philosophy for Cleaner Code and Leaner IT Operations 10/22
- 21 Sep 2023 Abraham Wald and the Missing Bullet Holes 9/598
- 15 Jul 2022 Hansei Methodology: Continuously Engaging People in Improvement 8/646
- 19 Oct 2021 Is gold plating good or bad in project management? 7/754
- 10 Nov 2022 Poor Code Indicators and How to Improve Your Code? 7/213
- 06 Feb 2021 Why fail fast and learn fast? 6/375
- 20 Jan 2022 TIGO Self-Organization Practice: Change Management Workflow 6/430
- 01 Mar 2023 Bug Prioritization - What are the 5 levels of priority? 6/207
- 19 Sep 2022 Jidoka in Software Development and Odoo ERP/MRP 5/466
- 16 Jun 2022 Rapid Application Development (RAD): Pros and Cons 5/800
- 20 Nov 2022 Agile working method in software and football 5/323
- 14 Oct 2021 Advantages and Disadvantages of Time and Material Contract (T&M) 4/789
- 06 Jun 2022 HEIJUNKA: The art of leveling production 4/481
- 01 Jan 2024 The pros and cons of the Centralized Enterprise Automation Operating model 4/165
- 18 Aug 2022 What are the consequences of poor requirements with software development projects? 3/242
- 08 Oct 2022 KPI - The New Leadership 3/557
- 20 Jan 2021 Fail early, fail often, fail cheap, fail safe but always fail forward 3/688
- 31 Oct 2021 Tips to Fail Fast With Outsourcing 3/375
- 03 May 2024 The Iceberg of Ignorance 3/336
- 26 Sep 2024 Successful Project Management Techniques You Need to Look Out For 2/368
- 07 Mar 2023 Japan’s Unusual Farming Strategy: Renting Land and Leaving It Fallow for 5 Years — Here’s the Truth… 2/31
- 23 Sep 2021 INFOGRAPHIC: Top 9 Software Outsourcing Mistakes 2/411
- 17 Feb 2022 Prioritizing Software Requirements with Kano Analysis 2/280
- 11 Nov 2021 What is an IT Self-service Portal? Why is it Important to Your Business? 2/364
- 02 Nov 2021 [Case Study] Streamlined Data Reporting using Tableau 2/276
- 13 Dec 2020 Move fast, fail fast, fail-safe 2/292
- 28 Dec 2021 8 types of pricing models in software development outsourcing 2/417
- 12 Oct 2020 The Agile Manifesto - Principle #8 2/447
- 07 Oct 2020 How To Manage Expectations at Work (and Why It's Important) 2/266
- 01 Jan 2023 How To Use Poka-Yoke (Mistake Proofing) Technique To Improve Software Quality 2/589
- 19 Jul 2022 The 12 Principles of Continuous Process Improvement 2/456
- 10 Dec 2023 Pain points of User Acceptance Testing (UAT) 2/416
- 02 Dec 2022 Success Story: Satsuki - Sales Management Software, back office app for School Subscription Management 2/219
- 03 Jul 2022 Manifesto for Agile Software Development 2/240
- 11 Jul 2022 Lean software development - the game-changer in the digital age 1/229
- 26 Dec 2023 Improving Meeting Effectiveness Through the Six Thinking Hats 1/205
- 05 Jan 2024 Easy ASANA tips & tricks for you and your team 1/180
- 11 Jan 2024 What are the Benefits and Limitations of Augmented Intelligence? 1/434
- 11 Jan 2022 Lean Thinking and Lean Transformation 1/241
- 13 Feb 2021 Why is TIGOSOFT a software house for Enterprise Application Development? 1/336
- 19 Apr 2021 7 Most Common Time-Wasters For Software Development 1/525
- 03 Apr 2021 How digital asset management streamlines your content workflow? 1/312
- 01 Jun 2022 How Your Agile Development Team is Just Like a Football Team? /206
- 01 Jun 2020 Japan Business Review (JBR) /277
- 09 Oct 2022 Key Advantages and Disadvantages of Agile Methodology /666
- 10 Oct 2022 Should Your Business Go Agile? (Infographic) /108
- 02 Nov 2022 Frequently Asked Questions about Agile and Scrum /372
- 03 Sep 2022 The secret of software success: Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication /186
- 16 Jul 2022 What are disadvantages of Agile Methodology? How to mitigate the disadvantages ? /353
- 21 Jun 2021 6 Useful Tips To Streamline Business Processes and Workflows /515
- 27 Oct 2020 8 principles of Agile Testing /1196
- 21 Oct 2022 Virtual meeting - How does TIGO save cost, reduce complexity and improve quality by remote communication? /166
- 06 Nov 2019 How to Access Software Project Size? /236
- 12 Mar 2022 The u-Japan concept /234
- 28 Nov 2023 Scrum Team Failure — Scrum Anti-Patterns Taxonomy (3) /228
- 01 Mar 2022 Why Does Scrum Fail in Large Companies? /243
- 06 Nov 2023 How do you streamline requirement analysis and modeling? /184
- 01 Dec 2022 Difference between Set-based development and Point-based development /298
- 14 Mar 2024 Why should you opt for software localization from a professional agency? /117
- 12 Mar 2024 How do you create FOMO in software prospects? /127
- 05 Oct 2021 Shiny Object Syndrome: Why Your Business Isn't "Going Digital" /303
- 09 Sep 2024 How AI Rewriting Can Improve Your Content’s SEO Performance /140
- 12 Sep 2024 Be Water, My Friend: Fluidity, Flow & Going With the Flow /149
Kaizen is a Japanese word that roughly translates to Continuous Improvement or Continual Improvement. This is in contrast to Innovation which focuses on large improvements in Productivity or Quality through a drastic change either in the product or process.
While Kaizen and innovation both bring improvements in the company’s products and/or services, processes, and business models, they have big differences, especially in the way they are implemented and the results they are bringing to the company.
As a small business owner, you will always work on different types of improvements in your company. It doesn’t matter if you want to improve your products and services, or process. If you want to stay ahead of your competitors you will always work on improvements. Because of that, it is important to know about the difference between Kaizen and innovation.
Kaizen is characterized by the Kaizen mindset which believes that:
- The existing operations always have a lot of room for improvement
- The existing facilities and methods can always be improved by spending some efforts
- The accumulation of small improvements makes a big difference
- Kaizen is a broad concept under which many other concepts, tools and techniques fit in. Tools such as 5S, Quality circles, the PDCA Cycle, 5Ws and 1H, 3Ms, Poka-Yoke, SMED, Kanban (Just – in –Time), 7QC Tools, etc. came under the umbrella of Kaizen.
Kaizen versus Innovation
Kaizen, on the other hand, can lead to an excellent performance from old products, processes and machines sometimes even beyond that of new ones. In some cases, the need to go in for new products, processes and machines can be eliminated or delayed if such performance is not required by the market. In today’s world, most companies adopt a combination of both Kaizen and Innovation depending on the requirements of the market.
Masaaki Imai, the author of the Kaizen concept, differentiates two major management components: maintenance and improvement.
Maintenance requires activities such as maintaining the company’s current operations to technological, managerial, and operational standards. On the other hand, improvement can be broken down into Kaizen and innovation. It is logical because both concepts will lead to different improvements. Innovation is something totally new, while improvement is something existing that will give better results.
Combination of Kaizen and Innovation
Both concepts are important for your small business. The KAIZEN is something that you can make on an everyday basis. In such a way your company will be better each day. You will decrease costs, increase productivity, profitability, etc.
But still, after some period of time, you will need to implement innovation processes to bring high-rate improvement in your business operations. For example, you will need to innovate new processes, buy new modernized equipment, bring new products onto the market, etc.
So, combining the KAIZEN concept with innovation will be important for your success as an entrepreneur and your business overall.
As you can see, both concepts are important for your small business. The KAIZEN is something that you can make on an everyday basis. In such a way your company will be better each day. You will decrease costs, increase productivity, profitability, etc.
But still, after some period of time, you will need to implement innovation processes to bring high-rate improvement in your business operations. For example, you will need to innovate new processes, buy new modernized equipment, bring new products onto the market, etc.
So, combining the KAIZEN concept with innovation will be important for your success as an entrepreneur and your business overall.
Explore more on these topics
Guest Blogging: The Definitive Guide
Top Trending Topics
Share This
Link copied!