• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.358-368
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• 2006

The significance of intellectual property in the knowledge-based society has been increasing and as a result, the patent customer's demand for a top quality patent administration service has increased as well. Therefore, Korean Intellectual Property Office(KIPO) adopted 6 sigma as a tool for KIPO's innovation to improve the quality of patent administration and enhance customer satisfaction. KIPO's steadfast promotion of 6 sigma resulted in many successful outcomes such as improvement of policy and service process from customer's point view, streamlining the administrative procedures, increased work efficiency, capability enhancement of core personnel, and so on. Since 6 sigma has proved itself to be equipped with features suitable for innovation in public sector, it can be used as an extensible innovation tool to meet the challenges in rapidly changing administration environment and to achieve a competitive edge.