Determination of the Critical Success Factors of Philosophies, Techniques, and Tools for Continuous Improvement Applied in the Service Sector

At the global level, the service industry represents a critical component for the economy and its growth trend is above of the other sectors. This sector alone is responsible for 63% of the gross domestic product and 45.5% of labor occupation worldwide. Despite its role in modern economies, the sector receives very little attention. In the literature, the authors have found the efforts that have been made to increase the efficiency and productivity of this type of organizations: adapting philosophies, tools, and/or techniques that were born to achieve this goal in the manufacturing industry, such as Lean manufacturing, total quality management, six sigma, lean six sigma, among others. The objective of this study is to perform an exhaustive literature review of the critical success factors reported in diverse studies of the implementation of these tools or philosophies in the service sector, as well as their differences, similarities, and results.