290 Int. J. Technology Management, Vol. 37, Nos. 3/4, 2007 What challenges lie ahead for improvement programmes in the UK? Lessons from the CINet Continuous Improvement Survey 2003 Jeff Readman* Centre for Research in Innovation Management University of Brighton, The Freeman Centre Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QE, UK Fax: +44 (0)1273 877 977 E-mail: J.A.Readman@bton.ac.uk *Corresponding author John Bessant Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK Fax: +44 (0)20 7823 7685 E-mail: j.bessant@imperial.ac.uk Abstract: The results of the UK Continuous Improvement (CI) Survey 2003 are presented in this paper. Key findings underscore performance improvements and the most effective enabling tools and techniques, which support CI initiatives. The paper concludes that more explorative research is required to, first, distinguish CI from other process improvement activities and, second, to distinguish the different applications of CI in production and non-production activities. Keywords: Continuous Improvement (CI); survey; process innovation. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Readman, J. and Bessant, J. (2007) ‘What challenges lie ahead for improvement programmes in the UK? Lessons from the CINet Continuous Improvement Survey 2003’, Int. J. Technology Management, Vol. 37, Nos. 3/4, pp.290–305. Biographical notes: Jeff Readman is a research fellow at Centre for Research in Innovation Management (CENTRIM). His research interests include strategic management, globalisation and international upgrading performance. Professor Bessant is the co-Director of the EPSRC/AIM collaborative programme with Cambridge, Cranfield, Loughborough and Liverpool Universities – the Innovation and Productivity Grand Challenge. His areas of research interest include the management of discontinuous innovation, strategies for developing high involvement innovation and the use of learning networks to facilitate diffusion of innovation. Copyright © 2007 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.