PurposeThis study proposes a research model to test whether Six Sigma‐based management activities improve corporate competitiveness in Samsung Group.Design/methodology/approachThe paper's model was validated and its hypotheses tested using structural equation model analysis.FindingsEmpirical results showed that Six Sigma activities do indeed contribute to revitalized process management, improved quality, and, finally, lead to corporate competitiveness.Research limitations/implicationsThe survey data were collected at the individual level, such as GB, BB, MBB, and limited to the affiliated companies of Samsung Group. To obtain more meaningful results, data would be collected at the corporate level and the pool of subjects expanded. However, this paper shows that the four fundamental factors (CEO's will, Communication, Training, and Policy) as well as three substantial factors (Information Utilization, Standardization, and Promotion) are meaningful activities influencing the success of Six Sigma management significantly.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this paper lies in the establishment of a causal relationship among Six Sigma activities, process innovation, quality improvement, and company competitiveness, as well as in the proposed managerial implications for Six Sigma projects.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and why different forms of organizational change have different levels of organizational intensity, which in turn differentiate its impact on commitment to organizational change (COC). Its purpose is to also identify how procedural justice can reduce change-related stress and buffer the strain inducing effects of job demands. Design/methodology/approach The authors tested the hypotheses using data collected from two sources in Korea. First, the authors conducted a survey in several organizations to identify employees’ attitudes and stress during organizational change. Second, the author surveyed MBA students to evaluate the degree of organizational change intensity (severity) across the types of change. Findings There is a hierarchy of the severity of organizational change and the most severe forms of change are the ones that impact employees’ job security and organizational identity. The influence of job demands (represented as organizational change intensity-severity) on COC can depend on the nature of COC. Procedural justice not only facilitates employees to accept values and goals pertaining to organizational change but also adapt themselves to pressures of external change. Buffering effects of job resources (represented as job resources) had significant impacts only on normative commitment to organizational change (NCOC). Research limitations/implications This study contributes to the job demands-resources model by considering organizational change intensity as job demands and procedural justice as job resources and showing the relationships among them. Future studies can further extend the model by identifying other variables related to job demands and resources during organizational change and extending the nomological networks of NCOC and continuance commitment to organizational change. Practical implications The results of this study provide important insights for human resource managers who plan and implement organizational changes. Procedural justice and organizational change intensity-severity should be considered to increase commitment to change. Originality/value This study is one of the few studies to identify the different types of organizational change and quantify them to measure organizational change intensity-severity. A new finding is that the buffering role of job resources (procedural justice in this study) can be marginal when the influence of job demands on employees’ attitudes is strong.

Purpose This paper aims to assess how enterprise resource planning (ERP) performance of Korean small and medium enterprises in manufacturing differs according to different levels of business process reengineering (BPR), information strategic planning (ISP) and ERP customization. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey was carried out in this research. Responses from 96 small and medium manufacturing companies that have adopted ERP systems were analyzed. Findings The results of this study suggest that ISP and BPR implementation are positively correlated to ERP performance. Originality/value While consulting and customization costs have positive impacts on ERP performance, the level of customization does not influence performance. As one of the pioneering studies that investigate the impact of BPR, ISP and ERP customization on small and medium manufacturing companies, this research contributes to both theory and practice.

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