The Influence of Internal Environment and Continuous Improvements on Firms Competitiveness and Performance

This paper investigates the organizational internal environment, climate and continuous improvement implementations on competitiveness of firms in a developing country environment. The results indicated that of the ten Ekvall s creative climate factors examined only four had some positive influence on firms competitiveness. Continuous improvements implemented by the firms were also found to have a significant positive influence on the firms competitiveness. Furthermore, the firms internal environment was found to have significant positive influence on the competitiveness of the firms. Finally, the firms competitiveness in turn was found to significantly influence the firms performance. Some managerial implications of the findings are also provided.