In agree with dear Nageswara thar any era Kaizen will always be relevant

The Sino-Japanese word "kaizen" simply means "good change", with no inherent meaning of either "continuous" or "philosophy" in Japanese dictionaries or in everyday use.

Many well known Japanese companies such as Toyota and Canon use Kaizen, with a group approach which includes everyone from CEOs to janitors on the factory floor. This group approach has been adopted successfully in other regions of the world as well, but Japanese workers have refined it to an art form. It is Kaizen mindset and process-oriented thinking, as opposed to the result-oriented thinking favored by most Western firms, that has enabled Japanese industry to attain its competitive edge in the world markets.

It has been suggested that Kaizen works particularly well because Japan is a collective culture, and Kaizen relies on collective values. People in more individualistic cultures may struggle with some of the basic principles of Kaizen.

Kaizen also suggests that everything constantly has room for refinement and improvement. Under the Kaizen philosophy, perfection can never be truly reached, and this value is contrary to the beliefs of many Westerners. The Western philosophy places a high value on the achievement and maintenance of perfection.

Definitely yes, kaizen really have created a big impact to most of the company that adopted it, companies became motivated to continuously improve.

Yes, Kaizen is still a relevant approach to organizational life, to all organizations applying it, either in Japan or outside Japan.

In any era Kaizen will always be relevant. It is small and incremental improvement in all walks of life as well as organizations. There are many people applying it in all types of work places and finding improvements. You may see some good responses to the following thread.

https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_benefits_have_you_seen_applying_Kaizen_as_a_continuous_improvement_tool_in_your_organization?_tpcectx=profile_questions

I very much agree with Nageswara's answer. So much so, that would also invite you to recall some of our wise family ancestors who, not only taught us that life SHOULD be a continuous improvement of ourselves but, they went as far as to show to the whole family that they could do it. Of course, they never heard the word Kaizen. 

Yes still implemented specially in manufacturing companies.

Please allow me, if I may, to look at kaizan as a way of life for both individuals and firms.It is, of course, your own right to look at it as a new concept, phylosophy, methodology or anything that fits your perspective and purposes. However, an academic researcher needs to be skeptical of most miracle (solve it all) managerial tools. 

In agree with dear Nageswara thar any era Kaizen will always be relevant

The Sino-Japanese word "kaizen" simply means "good change", with no inherent meaning of either "continuous" or "philosophy" in Japanese dictionaries or in everyday use.

Many well known Japanese companies such as Toyota and Canon use Kaizen, with a group approach which includes everyone from CEOs to janitors on the factory floor. This group approach has been adopted successfully in other regions of the world as well, but Japanese workers have refined it to an art form. It is Kaizen mindset and process-oriented thinking, as opposed to the result-oriented thinking favored by most Western firms, that has enabled Japanese industry to attain its competitive edge in the world markets.

It has been suggested that Kaizen works particularly well because Japan is a collective culture, and Kaizen relies on collective values. People in more individualistic cultures may struggle with some of the basic principles of Kaizen.

Kaizen also suggests that everything constantly has room for refinement and improvement. Under the Kaizen philosophy, perfection can never be truly reached, and this value is contrary to the beliefs of many Westerners. The Western philosophy places a high value on the achievement and maintenance of perfection.

Yes, Kaizen still relevant for manufacturing company but the main issue is organization culture.

Dear colleagues,

As you know, the cycle of kaizen activity can be defined as:

• Standardize an operation and activities,
• Measure the operation (find cycle time and amount of in-process inventory).
• Gauge measurements against requirements.
• Innovate to meet requirements and increase productivity.
• Standardize the new, improved operations.
• Continue cycle ad infinitum.

This is also known as the Shewhart cycle, Deming cycle, or PDCA.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen

So, I believe that if we can establish mentioned concepts in our Living, Organization  or scientific programs we can upgrade our activities as high quality level. In fact, it would be high productivity!

The value of Kaizen is evident in its implementation during times of economic constraints. Many organizations utilize Kaizen to streamline production processes with minimal financial risk or investment. This approach to organizational life allows western companies to reap the benefits of the philosophical underpinnings of Japanese culture without compromising worker engagement and autonomy. 

The 'lacklustre' performance of the Japanese economy doesn't have anything to do with kaizen.....

Thank you for all your opinions and insight. It is very motivating to hear such positive feedback especially when others are questioning kaizen.

Most noteworthy, and something that divides the kaizen camp is that some see kaizen primarily as an underpinning philosophy, and a 'way' to organisational life, with explicit outcomes; and those that view kaizen as tools and methodologies for quick profit.