Business excellence models: a comparison

A new approach, called “business excellence”, has emerged in the business world and scientific literature in the past decades. Facing an increasingly turbulent and chaotic environment, more and more companies have implemented business excellence strategies and made quality a key element of their business philosophy. Modern measurement frameworks were created and developed by national or international bodies such as the excellence business models. These models provide guidelines and criteria for evaluation and are used by companies across the world as groundwork for continuous improvement. The paper aims to present and compare three well-known business excellence models in the world: Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the Australian Business Excellence Framework and the European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Model. In this respect, the authors have displayed the key elements of each business excellence model, followed by their comparison. In order to achieve the previous goals, the paper uses two methods: analysis and comparison. The information were obtained from multiple secondary sources of data- books and academic journal articles from the domains of total quality management and production economics found in libraries and electronic databases- through a desk research based on a significant literature review. The paper contributes to a better understanding of the business excellence models and may help managers to design and implement business excellence strategies. The paper shows that business excellence models provide a holistic approach to continuous improvement for any type of organization. These models are based on sound values, concepts and principles and have proved their viability during the time. Consequently, they gave birth to frameworks that allow organizations to benchmark their performances and demonstrate best practices in their field of activity. Also, the research findings indicate that the American model constituted a landmark for other business excellence models around the world.