Integrating the Many Facets of Six Sigma

We seek to provide a unified characterization of Six Sigma by studying the phenomenon from the perspectives of business economics, organizational theory, competitive strategy and industrial statistics, and we pinpoint its core methodological principles. We describe Six Sigma as a prescriptive framework for the routinization of incremental product and process innovation, organized as a decentralized project organization. The methodological basis of Six Sigma consists of principles borrowed from methodology for empirical inquiry, and facilitated by techniques from quality engineering, problem solving and marketing.

Keywords: competitive strategy; DMAIC; evolutionary economics; quality improvement; six sigma