Today's organizations, both large and small, are facing increasingly tough competition. Companies at the top of their field have no guarantees of continued, let alone future, success. Companies further down the food chain are increasingly likely to fall behind, contract, fail or be swallowed up. Increased market share, sustainable profits and strong organizational results have never been more important. In "The Competitive Enterprise", author Geoff Bell draws on the experience gained from running the major international quality awards - the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the European Foundation for Quality Management and the Australian Business Excellence Framework - to present 10 concise, sound and universal principles that will make a real difference and guarantee continued success. He has done this because, though the awards point to what an organization should look like, they do not explain how to put into practice the steps needed to get there. In simple terms, Geoff Bell fills the gap and presents and easy-to-understand and easy-to-implement plan for ensuring business success in 10 basic and integrated steps. Clearly written and incorporating useful examples of good and bad practices, the book explains: the benefits of each principle; how each principle can be put into practice; and how primary stakeholders (shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers and the community) might respond.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Introduction The 10 Business Excellence Principles How do we know the Principles work? How to use this book Business Health Assessment questionnaire Principle 1 Senior Executives as Role models 1.1 Create a climate of trust 1.2 Measure employees' perception 1.3 Employee survey results 1.4 CEO leads improvement 1.5 All executives are role models 1.6 Plan to increase Business Excellence scores 1.7 Measure progress with Business Excellence Principles 1.8 Reward executives for business excellence 1.9 Create a supportive environment 1.10 Executives understand Business Excellence Summary What would your stakeholders say? Principle 2 Focus on achievement of goals 2.1 Have clearly defined goals 2.2 Strategic plan addresses stakeholder needs 2.3 Business Excellence Principles as a framework for strategy 2.4 Plan your steps to reach your targets 2.5 Plan to change 2.6 Let people know what is expected of them 2.7 Everyone is enabled 2.8 Measure progress towards goals 2.9 Measure extent of implementation 2.10 Get better at planning Summary What would your stakeholders say? Principle 3 Customer perception of value 3.1 Value is determined by the customer 3.2 Know what your customers don't like 3.3 Treat customer complaints as gifts 3.4 Perception of product includes everything 3.5 Company designed to provide customer value 3.6 Make customer access easy 3.7 Customer contact staff are enabled 3.8 Customers need 'relationships' 3.9 Customer information systems 3.10 Customer measurements Summary What would your stakeholders say? Principle 4 To improve the outcome, improve the system 4.1 Understand process capability 4.2 Set targets 4.3 Plan to reach targets 4.4 For a different result, change the system 4.5 Performance management 4.6 The manager's job 4.7 Rework 4.8 Document your processes 4.9 Measure process outputs 4.10 Your 'improvements' must be real improvements Summary What would your stakeholders say? Principle 5 Improved Decisions 5.1 Manage by fact not by gut-feel 5.2 Don't gather unnecessary junk 5.3 Strategies and decisions are experiments 5.4 Check your assumptions 5.5 Get the facts 5.6 Measure your success 5.7 Make comparisons 5.8 Know what is going on 5.9 Treat knowledge as a resource 5.10 Review your decision making Summary What would your stakeholders say? Principle 6 Variability 6.1 People understand variation but forget it at work 6.2 Managers and staff understand variation 6.3 Data presentation shows variation 6.4 Use control charts 6.5 Reduce special cause variation 6.6 Reduce common cause variation 6.7 Reduce variation to reduce costs 6.8 Measure consistency 6.9 Calculate process capability 6.10 Eliminate early errors Summary What would your stakeholders say? Principle 7 Enthusiastic People 7.1 An environment where people volunteer 7.2 Form a partnership with employees 7.3 Give people space to volunteer 7.4 Let employees knowing what their job is 7.5 Enable your employees 7.6 Provide value to your employees as well as customers 7.7 Pay fairly and well 7.8 Eliminate what employees dislike 7.9 Measure how employees feel 7.10 Measure effectiveness of training and education A conflict resolution model Summary What would your stakeholders say? Principle 8 Learning, innovation and continual improvement 8.1 Create an environment of continuous learning 8.2 Continuously innovate 8.3 Use tools to generate ideas 8.4 Eliminate barriers to innovative ideas 8.5 Change old structures 8.6 Overcome barriers to implementing innovations 8.7 Have a strategic approach to innovation 8.8 Continually learn 8.9 Make time to reflection and practice 8.10 Take a strategic approach to learning Summary What would your stakeholders say? Principle 9 Corporate citizenship 9.1 Operate by acceptable ethical standards 9.2 Add value 9.3 Do no harm 9.4 Reduce harm to the environment 9.5 Reduce waste 9.6 Use environmental performance indicators 9.7 Reduce unintended consequences 9.8 Improve your industry 9.9 Share your knowledge 9.10 Be a good corporate citizen Summary What would your stakeholders say? Principle 10 Value for all stakeholders 10.1 Create value for all stakeholders 10.2 Invest to meet stakeholders' needs 10.3 Negotiate a balance 10.4 Focus on best interest of the company 10.5 Use innovative ways to deliver value 10.6 Measure your investment in each stakeholder group 10.7 Measure success for each stakeholder group 10.8 Measure the balance 10.9 Use leading indicators to predict sustainability 10.10 Keep stakeholders informed Summary What would your stakeholders say? Appendix 1 Employee Questionnaire Appendix 2 Relative importance of questions Appendix 3 Award winners References, resources and recommended reading Index