Abstract
This article is the first part of a qualitative research process which aims to respond to the following question: How can sustainable Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) be achieved in government departments? In this initial approach, we concentrate on presenting a conceptual and empirical analysis of the application and evolution of CPI at the local governments assessed. This reveals a group of evolutional stages and actions for improvement which arise upon application of CPI. Each of these stages involves a number of basic, strengthening and inhibiting factors
