This research was undertaken to investigate how Business Excellence (BE) Custodians (BECs) within a country or region, promote BE. A review of the literature revealed a gap in the understanding of ...how BECs promote BE and that there is limited data on the popularity of BE worldwide. To address these issues a survey and structured interview was designed in collaboration with the Global Excellence Model (GEM) Council and 65 BECs were encouraged to participate in the research. In total, 29 BECs from 26 countries completed the survey whilst 13 also participated in optional structured interviews. BECs perceived that on average 11%-20% of CEOs and organisational heads were aware of BE and that awareness had slightly increased in the last three years, however, another key finding was that there is a lack of BE awareness data and lack in the rigour of data collection by the BECs. The promotional activity considered to be the most important to focus on and improve for the next few years and most impactful on awareness was 'marketing of BE to CEO's/senior managers/board of directors'. Best practices were identified such as collaborating with assessors to promote BE to their networks, making on-site presentations to explain BE frameworks, and carrying out BE impression surveys to estimate BE awareness levels. This research collected data directly from the BECs worldwide and investigated how they promote BE in their country/region. It provides recommendations on how BECs could improve their BE promotional activities to raise BE awareness levels.
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate how business excellence (BE) custodians (BECs) design, develop and modify their BE frameworks (BEFs) and to provide a general framework for reviewing BEFs. The ...design process is important to understand as these BEFs are used to help organisations understand the components of BE to guide them towards world-class performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The first step was to identify all the BE awards (BEAs) worldwide and their BEFs by conducting a review of publicly available sources. This research was then limited to only those BEAs that were held no more than two years ago. Of these, 29 BECs (with active BEAs) in 26 countries agreed to participate in the research. Data was collected with the help of a survey and 13 BECs also undertook optional follow-up interviews.
Findings
In total, 56 countries and regions have 65 active BEAs with another 17 countries having BE initiatives. The EFQM excellence model and the Baldrige excellence framework are used by 37.7% and 14.5% of BECs worldwide, respectively. In total, 58.3% of the BECs review their BEFs once every three years or sooner, 100% of the BECs are confident in their BEFs’ fundamental concepts and 96.5% in their categories. There are fewer active BEAs now and the use of BE is potentially decreasing which suggests that more effort is required by the BECs in promoting BE.
Originality/value
This research collects data directly from the BECs on how BECs design and develop BEFs and provides a general framework for reviewing BEFs.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how companies can achieve business excellence in a highly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. Within the literature about ...business excellence, there is a lack of understanding of the impact of today’s high VUCA on achieving business excellence. A new business concept, business excellence in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment (BEVUCA), will be illustrated so as to bridge this gap by considering the overall VUCA influence and the influences of each specific term individually.
Design/methodology/approach
The research incorporated a systematic literature review for three knowledge areas, namely: VUCA, business excellence and the management integration of quality and risk. The later knowledge area was reviewed because such diverse management thinking can help to achieve BEVUCA.
Findings
The research provided a definition for a new business concept and the systematic literature review identified 18 critical success factors so as to manage and excel under a high VUCA business environment. Finally a conceptual framework was developed for integrating quality management and risk management thinking so as to achieve BEVUCA.
Originality/value
BEVUCA can be used to close the current gap in the body of literature by providing a link between VUCA and business excellence, and hence advancing the discussion in these areas. Additionally, the BEVUCA conceptual framework can be used as guidance in integrating quality management and risk management to achieve the identified critical success factors.
Total quality management (TQM) is a widely used management philosophy across many sectors. Organisations implement TQM in order to gain competitive advantage in terms of quality, productivity, ...customer satisfaction, and profitability. However, the literature seems inconclusive about the positive effect of TQM on organisational performance. The effect of national culture on TQM implementation is gaining importance; thus, several studies argue that the effect of TQM practices on organisational performance needs to be evaluated in different social, cultural, and economic settings. Furthermore, this study also contributes in the important debate in the operations management literature related to convergence versus divergence argument in TQM implementation. Therefore, this study provides empirical evidence from a developing country in South Asia. Data were collected from the member companies of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association by using a questionnaire. The questionnaires were sent to 210 textile companies and the respondents were quality or production managers. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the effect of TQM practices on organisational performance. The findings of this study indicate that TQM has a highly positive effect on organisational performance. These findings support the divergence argument, which indicates that the positive effect of TQM on organisational performance is not limited only to companies located in developed nations, but can also be equally achieved in other parts of the world.
This paper aims to introduce a new sustainable business excellence model, called Knowledge Management Excellence Model 21 (KMEM21), a theoretical framework that combines Knowledge Management and ...Business Excellence Models (BEMs), proposing an approach applicable to organizations to directly contribute towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper through a qualitative-exploratory methodology makes an analysis and benchmarking, emphasizes the integration of Knowledge Management and three specific Business Excellence Models (Management Excellence Model (MEG) from Brazil, Baldrige Excellence Framework, and EFQM). This integration uncovers relationships between organizational concepts associated with Knowledge Management and BEMs, which contributes to new insights in the literature regarding these concepts' interplay. BEMs are presented as tools that can catalyze the power of Knowledge Management towards achieving SDGs. However, it's noted that the existing BEMs might not be adequate, as the goal extends beyond organizational improvement and excellence to encompass sustainable development aligned with SDGs. The article suggests that specific organizational concepts, identified through a literature review and aligned with Knowledge Management and BEMs, can be selected as indicators associated with the constructed KMEM21 and the SDGs. These indicators are intended to form a bridge between the new model and the SDGs. However, given the comprehensive nature of the theory, model development, application, result acquisition, and analysis, the article's primary contribution will be in its focus on elaborating the instrument and technique, demonstrating the creation of a theoretical framework for the SDGs. Future works will showcase the application of the proposed KMEM21 method in five Brazilian organizations, members of Global Compact, to compare the achieved objectives and the results obtained with the organizations' performance and their sustainability reports.
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•There is a visible relationship between knowledge management and business excellence models, aided by shared organizational concepts.•Achieving the SDGs in organizations can be done by using the traits incorporated into knowledge management and business excellence models.•The Knowledge Management Excellence Model 21 represents an original approach, acting as a new sustainable business excellence model.•A comprehensive model can be constructed using a methodology that incorporates an instrument, a technique, and a method.•KMEM21 presents a strategic path that aligns with business excellence principles and the sustainable development objectives, offering a framework for organizational success.
Business Excellence Models (BEMs) are used by organisations to assess and improve their work practices and performance. The authors' research identified that there are currently 94 national ...Quality/Business Excellence (BE) Awards used in 83 countries. While the use of BEMs is widespread, it was identified that many organisations wanted guidance in terms of which improvement initiatives to implement to assist them on their BE journey. This paper discusses how the BEM can be used as an overarching framework for managing and/or aligning multiple improvement initiatives within the organisation. A new model is developed showing some of the main improvement initiatives that can be adopted towards achieving BE, which are arranged according to the common enabling criteria of BEMs and levels of BE maturity. This proposed model can be used as a pathway/roadmap to BE. In developing this model, a literature review, a document review and several semi-structured interviews were conducted. Sixteen quality and BE experts were interviewed in New Zealand, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Quality Management is considered to be suitable as support for the integration of sustainability considerations in areas such as product development. The purpose of this paper is to review research ...in which Quality Management methods, tools or practices have been used in conjunction with sustainable development initiatives. We have identified four themes that synthesize the research on Quality Management and its support to approaches for sustainable development: (I) supporting sustainability through integration of management systems, (II) Quality Management as support to the implementation of Environmental Management Systems and to the management of sustainability, (III) supporting integration of sustainability considerations in daily work, and (IV) supporting stakeholder management and customer focus. By far the most research has been conducted within the first two themes. This paper also contributes with proposals for future research, such as the need to move beyond existing standards and management systems to enable more radical improvements, and the need for empirical evidence of the effect of integrated management systems on environmental performance. We also highlight the point that Quality Management practices and tools must be developed and adapted in order to support sustainability considerations.
•Quality Management is supportive of sustainable development initiatives.•Integrated management systems support sustainable development initiatives.•Quality Management supports environmental management system implementation.•Quality Management supports integration of sustainability considerations.•Adaptation of Quality Management tools is needed to better support sustainability.
Learning-oriented organizations, which give precedence to acquiring, sharing, and applying knowledge, assume a pivotal role in assisting enterprises in managing it through this ever-changing ...landscape. This study investigates the link between learning organizations, business excellence, and organizational performance in India’s information technology (IT) sector. This study is a descriptive one and based on primary data collected from 384 employees working in IT companies in Bangalore. The findings revealed significant correlations between learning organization and business excellence (r = 0.922) and suggest that organizations with a strong learning culture tend to excel in business performance. Additionally, the study highlights variations in perceptions based on employees’ tenure, management level, annual revenue, and workforce size. The study revealed that learning organization significantly impacts the excellence of businesses (r2 = 0.851). The paper underscores the importance of fostering learning organizations in achieving business excellence and offers valuable insights for IT companies seeking to enhance their competitive edge. Further research in diverse contexts and industries is recommended to enhance the comprehension of the relationship between organizational learning and performance.
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