By Saad Ghafoor and Dr. Robin Mann, Centre for Organisational Excellence Research, January 2021.
The Centre for Organisational Excellence Research (COER) recently updated its research on the number of active Business Excellence (BE) awards in the world with inclusion of two BE awards in Russia.
| The research revealed that 57 countries and 4 regions have active BE awards as of January 2021. In addition to these, 17 countries do not have an award but are running initiatives to encourage organisations on a BE journey. Therefore, in total 74 countries are promoting BE. |
Eligibility of an award to be considered as an active BE award
BE awards were considered as “active” if:
- they were based on a holistic BE framework and use similar assessment methods to internationally recognised frameworks such as the EFQM Excellence Model and the Baldrige Excellence Framework;
- the award was run/held in 2018 or 2019 or planned for 2020 or 2021.
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Figure 1: The current EFQM Excellence Model
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Figure 2: The current Baldrige Excellence Framework
To review the countries that have BE awards or initiatives. click here Please inform us if our information on your country’s award is incorrect or missing.
The graph below shows the most common BE models for BE awards. Whilst there are 57 countries with active awards there are 69 BE awards in total, some countries have more than one national award and there are also four international awards covering more than one country, these are Africa (Africa Excellence Award), Asia Pacific Quality Organisation (APQO), EFQM Excellence Award, and Iberoamerican Excellence Award (FUNDIBEC).
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The graph shows that the EFQM Excellence Model is the most popular with 26 BE awards using it. Another 5 BE awards use unique BE models that resemble the EFQM Excellence Model. The Baldrige Excellence Framework is used by 10 BE awards with another 11 using BE frameworks that resemble the Baldrige Excellence Framework. The Government Excellence Model (GEM) was developed in the UAE and used at the Federal level for BE awards for Ministries and in Abu Dhabi and Dubai for awards to government entities, it is also used in Egypt. Thirteen BE awards use a unique BE model/ framework.
The latest update in the list of active BE awards is the inclusion of two BE awards from Russia. The Russian Government Quality Award is an annual award with up to 12 prizes. Up to three prizes are awarded to organisations with 250 or fewer employees, up to three prizes for organisations with 250 to 1000 employees, and up to six prizes for organisations with more than 1000 employees. The award recipients are recognised through non-monetary prizes and diplomas from the Government of the Russian Federation as the examples of the best business process management practices in the country. The second BE award in Russia is the EFQM Excellence Award which is governed by the All-Russian Quality Organisation, who is the national partner of the EFQM in Russia.
The research on BE awards is part of a research study titled Excellence Without Borders (EWB) which was launched by COER in July 2018 and is supported by the Global Excellence Model Council. This research is investigating the current state of and best practices in designing BE frameworks/ models and promoting, facilitating, awarding, supporting, and measuring BE on a national/ regional and sectoral level.
A total of 26 countries (and 29 BE custodian organisations) have participated in the project. BE custodians are organisations responsible for designing BEFs, and for promoting facilitating BE and BE awards in their countries. Some countries had more than one BE custodian organisation participating in the project such as the Dubai Government Excellence Program (DGEP), Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award (SKEA), and the Dubai Economy Department (DED) in the United Arab Emirates.
Initial EWB research findings are available here. Further findings are being made available through a series of academic research papers. It is envisaged that the research findings will lead to an improved understanding of BE and help BE Custodians to raise the profile and use of BE worldwide.