BUSINESS EXCELLENCE TO ACHIEVE WORLD CLASS STATUS

30-1-2013 Dr Rajendra K Gupta (India)

PART of PhD Thesis (2013) -Jaipur National University Jaipur India, School of
Business & Management

Published in “Asian Journal of Research in Business Economics and

Management” May 2013 Edition pp132-149

Any use of contents herein should be properly cited and referenced in name of
author

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Introduction
Business excellence is a journey where organizations continually develop and strengthen their
management systems and processes in order to deliver superior results for their stakeholders.

For this, organization has to move with times, technology and competitors. The old adage that
‘customer is in the centre of business’, is often casually handled in production oriented
organizations. The modern metrics of performance are not only financial, but, customer
satisfaction, employee satisfaction, social accountability and sensitivity to environment. Today
we talk of ‘what next’ instead of ‘what best’. The organization achieves excellence only when it
delivers superior results repeatedly with sustainable growth irrespective of macro-economic
conditions and competition.

Improvement of Business performance is indeed difficult to manage and Business Excellence

and Innovation have become critical instruments for managers to secure survival and growth. It
has become important to reach world-class status for the companies in India. This is measured by
a set of commonly accepted global benchmarks i.e. World-class performance parameters.

Two well known Business excellence models in world are Malcolm Baldrige quality award
instituted in USA and EQA by EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management).Of
course, there is Deming Quality award, too. The foundation of these awards lies in TQM. There
are several excellence awards in other countries like New Zealand, Africa, Singapore, China, and
India. These are meant for recognizing the excellence achieved by companies and the models
have an elaborate assessment and complicated procedures to be followed. CII-EXIM in India
gives such recognitions in three stages- the certificate, the prize, and finally the award. Lately,
innovation has been given emphasis in excellence models, for example, CII-Innovation model.
Some private models are also used, for example, Xerox Business Excellence Framework, Tata
Business Excellence Model of Tata group of Companies in India and Gopal Kanji Model of
excellence (2001). FACT model has also been proposed by Chen & Jang (2012).

Business Excellence can only be achieved by ensuring three main elements- Deep commitment
by Top Management, Right attitude towards delivering value and satisfaction to the customers,
and remaining in forefront of respective industry by adopting latest management practices and
state-of-the–art technology. Since most businesses are composed of 80 odd business practices
which interact uniquely to create business model of a firm (Fisher, 2002), a process based
business excellence model has been designed.

In fact major shortcoming of the excellence models is that these are subject to different
interpretations and the organizations find these cumbersome, expensive and time consuming.
The causality of out puts and inputs are not fairly established (Kanji, Gopal 2002). Since
business processes focus is ignored while self evaluating against the model, very few
organizations have claimed benefits.

This model is therefore, based on key business processes that are applicable across industries,
and benchmarks that give direction to organization for improvement in unambiguous terms. The
easy to use model has been validated by testing in Indian industry with top performing listed
companies in India.

A detailed study, first of its kind, was taken up to in-depth analyze functioning of a sample of 75
top performing listed companies from 2009 to 2012. Between October 2011 and March 2012
data were collected through field visits and an 18 page questionnaire extracting information on
more than 350 questions. The pilot survey was carried out in Chennai.

This model has been developed by creating a conceptual framework of excellence and is a
working model, simple to use and aimed at an organization becoming world class and not just for
winning excellence award. It provides route for attaining business excellence giving clear action
plan in various functions of management. It cuts down lengthy and complicated processes laid
down in various national excellence models. This is major contribution of this study based on
conceptual framework. The best global practices followed in MNCs have been used for
benchmarking.

Objectives of Research
This excellence model was one of the outcomes of research project in business excellence:

1. To identify best practices adopted globally by world-class organizations and study of

processes and practices followed by them through which they sustain world-class status.
2. To study as to what extent various factors have been adopted in selected Indian organizations
who are outperformers in their industry.

3. To develop an Index of preparedness for organizations to assess their current status for
progressing towards business excellence and world class status

4. To indentify commonly shared practices across industries (manufacturing and services), which
may be used as road map or model for transformation to world-class status in India.

5. To assess impact of attaining business excellence by Indian companies on their business

performance

What makes a world-class organization?

It means being successful in the chosen market against any competition-regardless of size,
country of origin or size of resources. It means matching or exceeding any competitor on various
criteria including customer service and innovation1.

Broadly, world class organizations are best amongst the players in their product/service category
normally coming in top four or five of rank, have strong brand equity (in many cases these are
Mega brands), latest technology, value addition in products, continued innovations and high
level of customer satisfaction. They are thus, immune to emerging competition and vagaries of
business cycles and market uncertainties. It should be noted that merely good market share does
not mean an organization is world class, since world class connotes best practices as well as
quality of products, services, and overall management. It should excite both customers and the
society in general.

This cannot be achieved without strong core values, dynamic and visionary leadership at helm of
affairs (Devero, 2007); a trained and motivated work force that can operate globally and finally
successful strategies especially, the HRM (Human Resource Management) strategies.

According to Gunn (1987), World-Class manufacturing rests on ‘three pillars’: Computer-

integrated manufacturing (CIM), Total quality control (TQC) and just-in-time (JIT) production
methods. TQM itself is built on customer and employee focus.

According to Maskell (1991), World-Class manufacturing (WCM) generally includes the

following:
-A new approach to product quality
-Just in time (JIT) production techniques
-Change in the way the workforce is managed, and
-A flexible approach to customer requirements (that includes the modular product technology).
In Performance Measurements for world class manufacturing organization, he emphasizes
clearly on human side and job and knowledge enrichment of workers and employees.

1
The Seven Keys to World Class manufacturing; White paper by INFOR, Feb 2007
The case for Business Excellence:

Several studies have been commissioned by government, Associations, and private organizations
about effect of excellence practices and models on the business performance and stock market
performance. Studies have also been conducted on effects on the States that adopted quality
awards. This has been done in last 20 years period. The first survey was done on behalf of
American General Accounting office, and focused on the first Baldrige award winners. The
research concluded that Baldrige winning organizations were likely to experience higher
customer and staff satisfaction, while at the same time reducing defects and costs.
Research also indicates that business excellence delivers competitive advantage. Many
researchers have shown a link between quality activities and organizational performance. It has
been noted that an excellence approach is not guarantee of success. When the benefit is delivered
is another talking point, with some research suggesting that it is not delivered until World-class
status is achieved. Other researchers, however, believe that the level of benefit increases as the
maturity of the approaches increases.

Some important studies conducted in past are reproduced here:

1983 Study on benefits of Deming Prize JUSE (1983) Referenced in

GAO (1991)

1991 US government sponsored study

On performance improvement of
Bald ridge winners GAO (1991)
1995 Share price performance of NIST (2002), Also Helton
(1995)
Baldrige winners
1995 Survey of firms to see what Powell (1995)
Benefits are delivered through
Business excellence
1997 First major study on usage of the ECfor BE (1997)
EFQM model across Europe
1999 Survey of 4000 firms to determine Terziovski & Samson (1999)
the benefits from business excellence
2000 Review into the effectiveness of business excellence
within automotive industry Curkovic et.al. (2000)
2000 Analysis of share price performance of
Award winners in USA of company
And independent awards Hendricks & Singhal
(2000/2001)
2001 Investigation into economic impact Fisher et.al. (2001)
Of quality awards in USA
2001 Investigation into the impact of Hillman & Kein (2001)
Stakeholder management & social
Initiative participation on share
 Holder returns
2002 Another stock performance study but Przasnyski & Tai (2002)
This stuffy is not as positive in results
as other studies

Besides above studies Asia Pacific organization and trade associations of various countries have
also commissioned studies on aspects of business excellence and its impact.
Two more prominent works were also referred by us. One, from Harvard Business School called
Blue Ocean Strategy (Chan and Reene, 2004) and the famous 10 year Ever Green Success
project (Noharia, et.al 2003) resulting into 4+2 Formula .While the former draws a blueprint for
developing new markets/demand called Blue Oceans the latter study tried to find out what makes
some companies (<5% in number) give superior returns at the end of 10 year period of study
(1986 to 1996). Four primary management practices are from—strategy, execution, culture, and
structure. And these supplemented the great skill in those areas with a mastery of any two out of
four secondary management practices-talent, innovation, leadership, and mergers and
partnerships.

In yet other major study, Jim Collins focused on best performing organizations in USA in order
to find how great originations are built to last and what drives organizations for becoming Good
to Great (Jim Collins, 2001 & 2004). Not much work has been done in India. One study worth
noting has been conducted by Ghoshal and Gita Pirmal (2001). In another study conducted in
India the qualities of CEOs for success was found, for Public Sector Units by Spencer &
Tharuma (2007). In yet another study Nirmalya Kumar (2009) studied the strategies being
used by Indian companies for taking on global leaders in international markets that includes
innovation and branding and moving up the value Chain.

Mack Hanan (1991) emphasized in his book ‘Tomorrows Competition’ that organizations will
not deal with more than two suppliers for each of main inputs and midi organizations will take
on the Mega Corporations by collaborating together. This is already happening in many sectors
like Mobile telephones and electronics. In a report prepared by American Management
Association, AMA (2007) ‘How to build a high performance organization’ there is clear
emphasis on exceeding customer expectations besides importance of values, strategy and
processes. It concluded that achieving business excellence is multi-dimensional effort.

The model developed in our study aims at incorporating a metric of world class benchmarks that
should be simultaneously achieved with progress in implementing business excellence and
toning up various suggested business processes. Because not only improving business practices
but retaining the benefits is also important to achieve process maturity and eventually world class
status to benefit from the entire exercise.

In a ‘World-class Diamond Model’, the authors Dawei Lu, et.al (2011) emphasize on four parts-
Operational excellences, Strategic fit, Capability to adapt and Unique Voice or Signature
practices of a world class organization.
Though there has been criticism of Business excellence models and self assessment approach
both on several grounds, still self-assessment approach if executed with clear understanding of
objectives and done by trained executives is most appropriate method for improvement (Nilsson
& Samuelson 2000; Hoang Lien 2010).

This model takes process based excellence route and clearly identifies 168 core practices where
the organization can set its own benchmarks with knowledge of global standards being followed
and also identified 33 basic world class status benchmarks so as to assess impact of various
changes made. The model promotes flexible and non–bureaucratic management style, outside-in
systems thinking, human resource and customer focus, to bring excellence and competitive
advantage.

The Business excellence Model

Based on literature review, existing models and various benchmarks used globally and inputs
from top companies in India, the following components of model were developed for testing.
This model has basically three segments. One is a bunch of universal practices that are used as
enablers. The other segment is continuous monitoring of the world class status of an organization
which shows where organization stands and third is performance output indicators that define
excellence.

The Enabler variables:

B.E Functional Groups 9: Total (Business Excellence Practices):168

Table: 1

Leadership & Strategy- 30

Human Resource-25
Planning-5
Customer Focus-16
Suppliers Relations -13
Process Management-19
Technology & Innovation-17
Operations Structure & Resources-15
Operations Strategies-28

The Excellence results measurement variables:

Business performance indicators in eight groups of measures (PI):29

Table: 2
Profit Performance-4 PI1,PI12,PI22,PI29
Quality Performance-2 PI3, PI14
Human Resource Performance-3 PI20, PI21,PI23
Market Leadership Performance-3 PI4, PI10, PI26
Innovation Performance-2 PI2, PI13
Operations capability Performance-4 PI7, PI8, PI25, PI27
Customer Focus Performance-5 PI11,PI6, PI7, PI18, PI19
Competitiveness Performance-6 PI5, PI6, PI9, PI10, PI15, PI24

Detailed Business Excellence Practices variables (BE): 168

Leadership & Strategy

(5 point Likert Scale: Strongly disagree, agree, neutral, agree, & strongly agree)

L3 We have clear Vision and Mission statements that are communicated and well understood up
to shop floor level employees
L4 We have developed Distinct and Operational Core values and Corporate work culture
understood by, accepted by and committed to by key employees
L5 Organization is led by a prominent and visionary personality at top
L6 Organization has been able to attract and retain at least a few best industry and technical
talent at senior managerial positions
L7 Organization has paid attention to and has been able to expand requisite human resource
simultaneously along with Inorganic and Organic growth.
L8 Organization is keen on ambition to beat previous key performance levels and attain/retain
industry leadership in Target market
L9 Organization has been proactively engaged with increasing productivity of employees and of
operational facilities
L10 Organization has been able to form and operate Work Teams and cross cultural,
multinational teams (if applicable)
L11 Organization has been able to establish distinct channels of communication with employees
informing about company goals, opportunities and threats from environment.
L12 The organization has main objective of internal communication as employee engagement
L13 The Top Management clearly communicates where the teams are now and where they need
to be. They give very stretching goals but also ensure employees have all the support they need
L14 The top management of the company has adopted the culture of trust, active participation
and self devotion in seeking Business Excellence
L15 Top management supports continuous change effectively for achieving business excellence
objective and motivates the employees accordingly
L16 The management has embarked upon self assessment and commitment to achieving
independent Business excellence model
L17 The organization has identifiable core competencies and focuses on this to drive profitably
and growth
L18 The Company has always believed in remaining in area of its Core technology/Competency
for sustainability, growth and leadership.
L19 The top management has deep and manifest commitment to Total Quality Management
L20 The Top Management has acted as catalyst for change management
L21 Top management adopts a management style based on interactive continuous improvement
rather than one exercised through momentary interventions and crisis management
L22 We have managed to create a flexible fast response organization structure
L23 The managers make effective and generous use of Information technology analytical tools
and ITES for decision making and customers and suppliers interface
L24 The Top Management has focused intensively in recent years on Research and Innovation
L25 We have developed elaborate system and staffing for Information Management and business
environment scanning.
L26 The Top Management have policies for environment protection
L27 The Top management has active policies for effective corporate governance and CSR and
we have won award/recognition in this
L28 The Organization involves customers and suppliers in growth plans product development
activities
L29 Our organization has achieved status of a customer driven organization
L30 We have strategically used M &A for achieving major company goals

L31 Top management has boldly undertaken radical changes in recent years to attain global
competitiveness and technological leadership
L32 Our top leadership has built a culture of trust & shared vision

(Note: L1 and L2 belong to some other part of the study)

Human Resource

H1 The company has adequate provisions for Employees training

H2 Our Managers are continually trying to improve their skills
H3 The Employees are trained for multi functional roles
H4 Our Employees have good degree of inter personal skills
H5 The company has designed career plans for its key employees
H6 The company measures Employee satisfaction regularly and acts on employee feedback
H7 The Top management allows self goal setting and carrying experiments to its employees
and create various projects
H8 The Company have compensation plan for its key employees comparable to the best in
Industry
H9 The management provides environment for creativity and innovation
H10 Our managers continually try to bring best out of other employees
H 11 Employee work performance is measured regularly and evaluated
H12 The Company has been able to create environment of Mutual Trust and open
communication
H13 The company has policy to induct fresh and new talent regularly
H14 The company encourages suggestions and Ideas from employees and Implements these if
relevant and practical
H15 The company recognizes and awards Top performers
H16 The employees identify themselves with company and respect the strong culture of
disciplined working
H17 Our employees have been encouraged to have customer focus and are empowered to take
customer and quality related decisions
H18 The top management view the employees as its biggest asset
H19 Our managers have high integrity and believe in our work ethics
H20 The company has created safe workplace with various amenities
H21 Our employees believe in and practice continuous improvements
H22 Our managers also make use of expertise based organic leadership
H23 Company has been able to create work environment charged with employee enthusiasm
and participation.
H24 Company has managed to successfully develop but keep in check, the internal competitive
environment.
H25 More than 50% of our current executive (Technical & non technical) staff has less than 7
years continuous tenure with us
Planning Section

P1 The company has both short term and long term plans prepared in consultation with key
managers
P2 The company practices balanced score card system
P3 We use our benchmarking and self assessment results in developing our plans
P4 Company has developed capability of forecasting customer activities and preferences,
macro environment changes and technology
P5 Company works towards developing long term partnership with key Stake holders like
customers, suppliers and channel partners

Customer Focus section

C1 Company has serious and elaborate system for customer feedback and handling customer
complaints
C2 Company values customer loyalty and runs customer loyalty programs
C3 Company has automated customer related processes
C4 Our senior managers frequently contact key customers and every one knows the key
customers
C5 Company has elaborate system for inviting customer suggestions
C6 The marketing plans are designed with customer delight in mind
C7 The Company ensures personal touch in customer and channel partners interface
C8 The Supply Chain management and operations are aligned for minimizing delivery period
to various customers
C9 The Company spends considerable efforts and resources to develop customer
communication and Product and Service related literature
C10 The company has policy to compensate customer for service failure
C11 The company designs products and services to offer high quality and good service
experience better than nearest competitors
C12 Customer satisfaction is measured regularly for effecting improvement
C13 We have elaborate Know-Your-Customer system in place
C14 The Company works toward creating value based Products for customers.
C15 Evaluating our brand image and preference is a regular activity
C16 Our sales Network mandatorily counsels a prospective customer about Key product
features, product limitations, requirements from customer-end, product demo where applicable,
and warranties, as a rule.

Suppliers Relations Section

S1 We have set up real time and on-line data and production schedule sharing capability with
our main inputs suppliers
S2 We have policy to maintain minimum number of suppliers for key Inputs.

S3 Our key suppliers have capability to execute DOL delivery of items

S4 Our suppliers have stood behind us and have time tested relationship
S5 Our key suppliers can make ‘Kanban’ deliveries to us
S6 We carry out periodic quality audit of our suppliers and the independent quality system
certification
S7 The company senior mangers and the suppliers management share growth plans and business
outlook with each other
S8 Our suppliers have been growing steadily and have capability to meet our growth plans
S9 Our company has invested adequate efforts in supporting and developing our key vendors
S10 Our suppliers are well aware of and accept our policies and work ethics
S11 We cooperate with our main suppliers in the form of strategic collaborations
S12 Company has been able to globalize its procurement sources
S13 Company has been able to achieve not more than 2 suppliers per input norm

Process management section:

Pr1 We have ‘internal customer’ principle in place and all employees understand it
Pr2 Our Company have well defined and operational Process standardization manuals and
process control system in practice
Pr3 Our Business processes are derived from Industry best practices and State-of-art
technologies available
Pr4 Our managers use Activity Based Costing
Pr5 Every one in the company believes that quality is his/her responsibility
Pr6 Critical business Processes are identified and kept under control
Pr7 We have written standard procedures for defining and applying continuous improvement
projects
Pr8 We share continuous improvement projects and their results with all employees
Pr 9 We have deployed quality testing apparatus and standards at critical points through out the
supply chain
Pr10 Our customer service executives are well aware of product features, product selection
criteria and are well skilled in product servicing.
Pr11 Our Service engineers are in sufficient numbers and use community groups for exchanging
service encounters and service experiences
Pr 12 The company review and upgrade its technology and facilities every three years or lesser
period
Pr 13 Our back office employees are customer friendly and well trained in speedy disposal of
customer service activities
Pr 14 Company gives considerable attention to measure employee productivity at salient stages
of operations and marketing processes
Pr 15 Company gives attention on energy conservation through out the System and selects
energy efficient devices and technology
Pr 16 Company believes that less polluting and energy efficient equipment has direct association
with better quality and productivity output
Pr 17 Company avoids localized cost reductions without making associated business Process
changes
Pr 18 Customer Quotation requests take less than 10 days
Pr 19 Customer complaints received are acknowledged within 72 Hrs

Technology and Innovation Section

I1 Our Company is keen to implement new ideas frequently

I2 It is important to have an appropriate environment for innovation in our firm
I3 Our Company always searches for new methods for managing business
I4 Our Company puts emphasis on new product and service development.
I5 Enough resource is allocated for developing new products and services
I6 R&D collaboration with universities and/or research centers is performed
I7 Open innovation sources are utilized
I8 We manage several innovation projects simultaneously and encourage employees to
undertake projects
I9 Our core manufacturing technology allows us to compete in the market
I10 Our procedures are well defined for monitoring and developing technology
I11 Our employees’ job description includes function of gathering & tracking information on
technological developments
I12 Technology absorption process is managed by a team consisting of personnel coming from
different functions.
I13 We use all the potential of our manufacturing technology
I14 We are always at forefront of technological capability in our Industry
I15 We are known as pioneers in using new technologies & research
I16 We have achieved integration of company-wide information and data
I17 R&D activities is very significant contributor to business results
Operations structure and resources

O1 The capability we demonstrate in our manufacturing activities constitutes the basis of our
success in the market
O2 We focus on producing high number of different products/Services
O3 We operate in markets that have different competitive priorities
O4 There are a large number of different technologies we need to develop and support
O5 We pay attention to the design of our new products to be in line with our manufacturing and
other capabilities
O6 We pay attention to accept only those production orders from our customers such that their
design is in harmony with our manufacturing and other capabilities
O7 We apply Total Productive Maintenance extensively in our manufacturing facility
O8 We develop our core competencies based on a plan and with the necessary funds secured.
O9 We make our production plans in order to secure JIT production
O10 Recycling ratio is a primary criterion for us when designing new products or modifying
existing ones
O11 Value addition activities are focused at salient stages of manufacturing
O12 Flexible manufacturing has been achieved by the company to meet varied production
demands from customers
O13 Company has fully equipped Research centre with own budget
O14 Company Manages independent fully equipped Training Centre
O15 Data acquisition & management is focused to improve Performance visibility

Operations Strategies Section

(5-Level of Priority responses-very low, low, neutral, high, & very high)
OS1 Improving product and service quality as perceived by customers
OS2 Improving product and service quality relative to our competitors
OS3 Reducing customer complaints
OS4 Reducing the number of defects
OS5 Reducing product return rates from customers
OS6 Reducing input costs
OS7 Improving personnel productivity
OS8 Reducing energy and fuel costs
OS9 Reducing waste and reworking
OS10 Reducing cost of incoming and outgoing logistic processes
OS11 Improving flexibility in manufacturing systems
OS12 Increasing the flexibility of changing task priorities according to customer order
OS13 Reducing the frequency of rejecting non-standard product Orders
OS14 Increasing the ability of using existing equipment and employees in a flexible way for the
production of non-standard products
OS15 Shortening the time between receiving the order and making the delivery
OS16 Shortening manufacturing time
OS17 Increasing the delivery speed of finished goods
OS18 Increasing the ability of keeping delivery promises
OS19 Increasing just in time delivery
OS20 Reducing the difficulties about distribution and delivery
OS21 Reducing outbound logistics costs & ECR
OS22 Reducing distribution (channel) costs
OS23 Outsourcing non core and non critical processes
OS24 Exceeding customer expectations that is difficult to meet by competitors
OS25 We aim at becoming preferred suppliers to our key customers
OS26 Designing products to appeal to international markets
OS27 Continuous consumer research & feedback for innovations
OS28 Reducing organization inertia to promote innovation

Measurement Variables:

World Class status comparison variables (WCC): 33

These are fully applicable only for manufacturing companies.

The World class status measurement variables were picked from most trusted professional
forums-Industry Week USA and BPIC (Business Performance Improvement Consultancy, UK).
These are more useful for manufacturing organizations since in services it is not possible to
make commonly applicable benchmarks due to different nature of services and heterogeneity.
These total 33 benchmarks were used for self scoring by companies on a scale of 0-10 each.
Where not applicable, NA was marked by sample respondent.
1 Ship 99% OTIF (On time in full/ Ex stock)
2 Everyone knows the key customers
3 Empowered staff (Customer Relation Management)
4a Can make Kanban shipment
4b 90% Manufacturing (by value) controlled by Kanban
4c 75% purchases (by value) on Kanban
5 No Central stores
6 Flow layout
7 Batch size reduction
8 Education in WCM (And 7 tools of quality)
9 Employees can Move to point of need
10 Reduce waste (non-value added)
11 Reduce supplier base – qualified
12 TQ culture
13 Self inspection within limits (Process control)
14 Line stop authority to employees
15 Fool proofing (Poka-Yoke)
16 Self maintenance & TPM
17 Housekeeping policies
18 DFM (Design for Manufacturability) Practice
19 CI (continuous improvement) in customer service
20 Suggestions implemented 90 %
21 20% New Products/Variants/Upgrades/Service ideas every year
22 The value addition component in manufacturing time of a product (including assembly and
packing) is more than 30 % of total
23 Can solve/meet customer’s new needs/problems in 90% cases
24 Cycle time reduction achieved by at least 10% in last 3 years
25 New Products Time To Market reduced by 25 % in last 5 yrs
26 Achieving at least 80% O.E.E (TPM)
27 Ability to reschedule production in short time
28. Av Employee Training minimum 20 Hrs/Annum
29 Capacity utilization (facilities prior to 2010) in last 3 years >80%
30 Customer returns less than 300 parts per million/Customer complaints in total customer
transactions are less than 100 per Million
31 The customer complaint redress time is reduced to < 10 days

Results variables:

Detailed Business Performance Indicators (PI)

(5 point Likert Scale: Strongly disagree, agree, neutral, agree, & strongly agree)
PI1 Gross profit margin is better than largest competitor in India
PI2 New products below 3 years age are more than 25 % in sales
PI3 Product defects/Complaints are < 300/<100 per million
PI4 Market share is higher than largest competitor in India
PI5 Annual Sales growth is more than largest competitor in India.
PI6 Our Employee turnover is lower than largest competitor
PI7 Our ability to make quick changes in Production schedule has improved in last 5 years
PI8 We are able to maintain low inventory up to 7 days requirement
PI9 Our Customers give preference to our product/Service than those of nearest competitor.
PI10 Our leadership rank in our Industry has risen in last 5 years
PI11Our Customer complaint redress time is in reducing trend since last 5 yrs
PI12 Gross profit margin is steady or in rising trend in last 5 years
PI13 New products below 3 years age are in rising trend in last 5 years
PI14 Product defects are in declining trend in last 5 years
PI15 Market share has increasing trend in last 5 years in India
PI16 Our customer retention is in rising trend in last 5 years
PI17 Our new customer acquisition is in rising trend in last 5 years
PI18 Our sales per customer is in rising trend in last 5 years
PI19 Our customer satisfaction is in rising trend in last 5 years
PI20 Our Employee attrition/turnover rate is in declining trend in last 5 years
PI21 Our employee satisfaction is in rising trend in last 5 years
PI22 Our Return on net worth is in rising trend in last 5 years
PI23 Our Revenue per employee is in rising trend in last 5 years
PI24 Our Revenue per employee is higher than largest competitor
PI25 Our Order delivery time has shown declining trend in last 5 years
PI26 Our share of exports is rising in last 5 years in total revenue
PI27 Our raw material cost to revenue is declining in last 5 years
PI28 Our return on Net Worth/Assets(RONW/ROCE) is in rising trend in last 5 yrs
PI29 Our sale is showing rising growth rate in last 5 years

Research methodology:
The Hypotheses tested in course of these investigations:

1. There exist common/shared practices that can be associated with business

excellence.

2. The implementation of business excellence practices has positive Impact on

business performance of organizations

Based on study of current literature and research carried out globally it was decided to undertake
research and develop research problem as under:
 1. Find out suitable sample of best performing companies in India by appropriate
filtering/selection criteria
2. Explore if these financially best performing organization with strong brands have
commonly identified best practices aiming at achieving excellence. Accordingly identify
and isolate such practices
3. Identification of a metric global benchmarks of achievement as used by MNCs and
world class organization
4. Identify performance indicators for measurement of business excellence levels
5. To determine statistically by suitable tools if such business excellence practices are
visible in best organization and if they actually impact upon business performance

Sample Companies sorting criteria:

The sample frame selected was NSE 500 a broad based benchmark index of 500 actively traded
companies of India that represent 95% of market capitalization. The companies were first sorted
out on basis of a 5 point filtering criteria. Then in each major sector and its importance, top
performing companies by financial results were compared and top ones chosen.

Edelweiss score represents fundamental strength of companies on 5 criteria including latest

sales and profit growth. Edelweiss gives score on fundamental strength from 1 (weakest) to 10
(strongest)
Data sorted by 3 years performance of 2008, 2009 and 2010 ending March.
Filtering:
Edelweiss score below 5 removed
Turn over/ employee below 20 lacs removed
EPS below 3 removed ( On FV 10)
EV/EBIDTA <3 and >25 removed
RONW below 15% removed
Sales and profit growth negative values removed
MNCs in India were not included.
Filtered items were finished with internal comparison in each category to select best companies
by RONW (Return on Net Worth) and sales and profit growths, and target was to arrive at 75
numbers
A look on this companies show that these are indeed the best companies of India having strong
brands, financial performance and many of them have appeared in CII excellence
model/certificates and Under billion best companies list. The sample companies adequately
represent Indian corporate sector including large cap, midcap and small cap companies from
across important sectors of economy and private and Public sector. After the research period,
several of these companies have appeared in global innovator list/Forbes list and similar other
ranks. Only, Glodyne Techno serve shares have rapidly fallen due to over mortgaging of
promoters’ shares for an overseas takeover in USA.

The complete list of sample companies is given at Annexure 1.

Fig: 1

Gupta’s Model of Business Excellence

In this process based business excellence model we have defined business excellence by a set of
29 Performance Indicators. The factors or business excellence practices have been identified
through literature study, the responses received from top performing business organizations in
sample and the long term industrial experience of the author. In the model, WCC scores have
also been incorporated. It is important that as organizations improve their business practices, the
assessment is also done simultaneously about their status on various world class operations
measures. If a company improves its business excellence scores, it will automatically improve
WCC score and, vice versa.

While BE and WCC variables strongly correlate with each other, WCC scores have direct
association with only Customer related Performance Indicators (PIs).

The Business excellence practices groups (BEs) have strong association with Performance
indicators (PIs).
The excellence model is easy to understand self-assessment model that takes into account
various important business practices and strategies that drive business excellence of organization.
The model is suitable only for commercial or for-profit organizations. The WCC scores are not
fully applicable for services companies and the users have to add their own industry related
world class norms to the list. For example, the criteria of seat-km utilized and per seat revenue in
airlines.

First of all company has to set their own global standards for each business practice/strategy.
This requires close study of best competitors. Then, each suggestion in score sheet has to be
marked suitably. This model is not to be used with local benchmarking within country.

An ideal world class company can score following maximum scores:

Business excellence practices (BE), 168 in (9 groups) x 5= 840

World Class Company status score (WCC), 33 x 10= 330
Business performance outcomes indicators (PI) 29 x 5= 145
Total: 1315

The company has to watch total in each variable group i.e. Business excellence practices,
Business performance indicators and world class comparison status scores as these are
independent variables Progress made in each is not only inter related but of importance by itself.

As the companies improve their score in various sections of the model with ultimate target of
1315, the company achieves a world class status. Taking even 5% improvement in score every
year may bring tremendous changes in the way organization functions and produced end results
moving it towards world class ranking.

As evident, for each practice score to improve, the company has to make careful and planned
changes in strategies, practices, and resources. The model can be used only by senior and
professionally qualified executives of the company who are aware of benchmarking and latest
management concepts and practices. It is also important to know about nearest global
competitors to decide the preparedness status in each question of the model.

Statistical validation of Model

Mean values for each World class comparison variable
Average value for each WCC variables for manufacturing companies only is calculated in
the following table and put in increasing order. From table, we can say that mostly used
WCC variable is WCC2.

Table: 3 World class Metric scores

Ob Variabl mea
s e n
1 WCC4a 7.14
2 WCC4c 7.26
3 WCC4b 7.44
4 WCC5 7.49
5 WCC17 7.50
6 WCC29 7.52
7 WCC7 7.55
8 WCC18 7.58
9 WCC16 7.65
10 WCC15 7.67
11 WCC1 7.68
12 WCC27 7.70
13 WCC20 7.73
14 WCC10 7.74
15 WCC14 7.74
16 WCC11 7.74
17 WCC19 7.74
18 WCC21 7.78
19 WCC31 7.83
20 WCC9 7.84
21 WCC25 7.90
22 WCC26 7.92
23 WCC8 7.92
24 WCC24 7.93
25 WCC30 7.98
26 WCC13 7.98
27 WCC23 7.98
 Ob Variabl mea
s e n
28 WCC12 8.00
29 WCC28 8.02
30 WCC6 8.03
31 WCC22 8.10
32 WCC3 8.22
33 WCC2 8.22

Mean Values for Business Excellence factors

Table: 4 Score chart for Business excellence practices & performance Indicators

Question M/SD
Obs ID N Mean(M) SD Ratio
1 Pr18 71 4.07 0.39 10.44
2 H17 75 4.71 0.49 9.61
3 H14 74 4.27 0.45 9.49
4 I4 71 4.27 0.45 9.49
5 O7 70 4.07 0.43 9.47
6 O1 73 4.19 0.46 9.11
7 OS24 72 4.64 0.51 9.10
8 O9 70 4.26 0.47 9.06
9 L14 75 4.25 0.47 9.04
10 H3 75 4.15 0.46 9.02
11 PI21 73 4.15 0.46 9.02
12 OS7 73 4.51 0.5 9.02
13 O2 74 4.41 0.49 9.00
14 I3 71 4.14 0.46 9.00
15 I7 74 4.04 0.45 8.98
16 L8 74 4.47 0.5 8.94
17 PI15 74 4.11 0.46 8.93
18 L23 74 4.27 0.48 8.90
19 L32 73 4.27 0.48 8.90
20 I17 73 4.16 0.47 8.85
21 OS5 73 4.6 0.52 8.85
22 H19 75 4.23 0.48 8.81
23 PI23 64 4.14 0.47 8.81
24 L12 74 4.31 0.49 8.80
25 C1 74 4.31 0.49 8.80
26 OS4a 75 4.57 0.52 8.79
27 C8 74 4.3 0.49 8.78
28 P3 75 4.19 0.48 8.73
29 O11 70 4.23 0.49 8.63
30 P5 74 4.14 0.48 8.63
31 L6 74 4.57 0.53 8.62
32 H15 74 4.54 0.53 8.57
33 L30 74 4.26 0.5 8.52
34 O15 70 4.26 0.5 8.52
35 P1 75 4.25 0.5 8.50
36 C11 71 4.25 0.5 8.50
37 O8 70 4.5 0.53 8.49
38 L19 73 4.15 0.49 8.47
39 I9 72 4.15 0.49 8.47
40 L4 75 4.48 0.53 8.45
41 L9 74 4.39 0.52 8.44
42 PI10 74 4.22 0.5 8.44
43 I2 72 4.38 0.52 8.42
44 L27 75 4.29 0.51 8.41
45 OS6 74 4.45 0.53 8.40
46 O10 69 4.28 0.51 8.39
47 OS4b 74 4.43 0.53 8.36
48 OS9a 74 4.31 0.52 8.29
49 OS15 74 4.54 0.55 8.25
50 S12 74 4.19 0.51 8.22
51 PI19 75 4.19 0.51 8.22
52 H9 74 4.18 0.51 8.20
53 H13 72 4.18 0.51 8.20
54 I1 72 4.18 0.51 8.20
55 PI4 74 4.34 0.53 8.19
56 I16 75 4.25 0.52 8.17
57 H20 75 4.33 0.53 8.17
58 I12 73 4.33 0.53 8.17
59 H1 75 4.24 0.52 8.15
60 Pr5 75 4.24 0.52 8.15
61 I14 74 4.24 0.52 8.15
62 PI7 71 4.24 0.52 8.15
63 Pr15 74 4.32 0.53 8.15
64 L7 75 4.39 0.54 8.13
65 OS22 73 4.47 0.55 8.13
66 H21 73 4.14 0.51 8.12
67 S7 74 4.14 0.51 8.12
68 S13 74 4.14 0.51 8.12
69 C9 74 4.38 0.54 8.11
70 PI1 74 4.2 0.52 8.08
71 L13 75 4.36 0.54 8.07
72 L3 75 4.44 0.55 8.07
73 L11 75 4.44 0.55 8.07
74 L17 74 4.27 0.53 8.06
75 Pr10 74 4.27 0.53 8.06
76 I15 74 4.27 0.53 8.06
77 OS2 74 4.51 0.56 8.05
78 OS17 73 4.42 0.55 8.04
79 L15 75 4.41 0.55 8.02
80 C14 73 4.41 0.55 8.02
81 OS1 74 4.41 0.55 8.02
82 S6 74 4.81 0.6 8.02
83 I10 9* 4 0.5 8.00
84 O4 73 4.4 0.55 8.00
85 OS9b 72 4.39 0.55 7.98
86 C4 75 4.31 0.54 7.98
87 Pr8 75 4.31 0.54 7.98
88 PI29 72 4.15 0.52 7.98
89 C12 74 4.22 0.53 7.96
90 L20 73 4.29 0.54 7.94
91 H2 75 4.29 0.54 7.94
92 PI26 71 4.28 0.54 7.93
93 Pr1 74 4.12 0.52 7.92
94 OS16 73 4.33 0.55 7.87
95 L26 72 4.32 0.55 7.85
96 S10 74 4.32 0.55 7.85
97 OS21 74 4.32 0.55 7.85
98 L10 74 4.23 0.54 7.83
99 O6 73 4.23 0.54 7.83
100 PI27 69 4.07 0.52 7.83
101 L21 75 4.37 0.56 7.80
102 I5 71 4.13 0.53 7.79
103 OS10 74 4.35 0.56 7.77
104 H5 75 4.19 0.54 7.76
105 H23 73 4.26 0.55 7.75
106 PI9 74 4.26 0.55 7.75
107 OS3 74 4.49 0.58 7.74
108 C16 72 4.1 0.53 7.74
109 PI12 74 4.09 0.53 7.72
110 OS14 73 4.47 0.58 7.71
111 PI14 74 4.15 0.54 7.69
112 I13 73 4.29 0.56 7.66
113 O5 73 4.29 0.56 7.66
114 L24 75 4.21 0.55 7.65
115 C10 74 4.28 0.56 7.64
116 S8 74 4.27 0.56 7.63
117 PI5 74 4.11 0.54 7.61
118 H4 75 4.32 0.57 7.58
119 L5 75 4.36 0.58 7.52
120 H10 75 4.13 0.55 7.51
121 Pr19 73 4.88 0.65 7.51
122 OS12 73 4.34 0.58 7.48
123 PI20 74 4.34 0.58 7.48
124 PI17 75 4.19 0.56 7.48
125 OS18 74 4.41 0.59 7.47
126 Pr6 74 4.18 0.56 7.46
127 C7 73 4.4 0.59 7.46
128 Pr2 75 4.25 0.57 7.46
129 L25 74 4.24 0.57 7.44
130 PI8 70 4.31 0.58 7.43
131 O13 70 4.16 0.56 7.43
132 OS8b 73 4.38 0.59 7.42
133 P4 75 4.15 0.56 7.41
134 OS8a 73 4.37 0.59 7.41
135 L28 74 4.36 0.59 7.39
136 Pr14 75 4.28 0.58 7.38
137 H6 75 4.27 0.58 7.36
138 O14 70 4.34 0.59 7.36
139 PI25 70 4.19 0.57 7.35
140 O12 69 4.41 0.6 7.35
141 OS25 71 4.41 0.6 7.35
142 H22 73 4.26 0.58 7.34
143 Pr11 73 4.26 0.58 7.34
144 S5 67 4.03 0.55 7.33
145 H18 73 4.22 0.58 7.28
146 Pr17 72 4.29 0.59 7.27
147 Pr13 75 4.12 0.57 7.23
148 OS13 73 4.33 0.6 7.22
149 PI16 75 4.24 0.59 7.19
150 H11 74 4.38 0.61 7.18
151 PI18 73 4.16 0.58 7.17
152 S4 74 4.23 0.59 7.17
153 O3 73 4.23 0.59 7.17
154 H12 75 4.2 0.59 7.12
155 Pr16 74 4.26 0.6 7.10
156 OS19 74 4.39 0.62 7.08
157 L22 75 4.15 0.59 7.03
158 PI2 72 4.14 0.59 7.02
159 OS20 73 4.27 0.61 7.00
160 Pr9 74 4.32 0.62 6.97
161 S9 74 4.11 0.59 6.97
162 PI24 72 4.11 0.59 6.97
163 Pr4 75 4.24 0.61 6.95
164 H24 72 4.15 0.6 6.92
165 OS23 71 4.35 0.63 6.90
166 Pr3 74 4.14 0.6 6.90
167 PI28 72 4.04 0.59 6.85
168 I11 74 4.28 0.63 6.79
169 S3 73 4.21 0.62 6.79
170 OS11 74 4.43 0.66 6.71
171 C5 74 4.26 0.64 6.66
 172 PI13 74 4.19 0.63 6.65
173 S11 74 4.12 0.62 6.65
174 Pr12 74 4.15 0.63 6.59
175 Pr7 75 4.28 0.65 6.58
176 PI11 74 4.27 0.65 6.57
177 I8 75 4.24 0.65 6.52
178 L16 75 4.17 0.64 6.52
179 C6 75 4.39 0.68 6.46
180 PI3 70 4.13 0.64 6.45
181 L29 74 4.38 0.68 6.44
182 H8 75 4.05 0.63 6.43
183 PI6 74 4.28 0.67 6.39
184 S2 73 4.01 0.63 6.37
185 H16a 75 4.23 0.67 6.31
186 C13 72 4.33 0.69 6.28
187 C15 72 4.22 0.68 6.21
188 H7 75 4.05 0.66 6.14
189 C2 73 4.33 0.71 6.10
190 L31 73 4.22 0.71 5.94
191 C3 74 4.2 0.72 5.83
192 PI22 72 4.19 0.72 5.82
193 H16b 73 4.08 0.74 5.51
194 S1 72 4.18 0.76 5.50
195 P2 75 4.27 0.83 5.14
196 L18 18* 4.06 0.8 5.08
197 I6** 74 2.97 1.34 2.22
*-The response to these questions from sample companies has been low. **-The Mean
and Mean/SD ratios are low.

If we look at above data we see that out of 197 variables (168 Business practices and 29 Business
performance indicators) except for last one, all sample means are above the score of 4 that is
‘agree’. Considering 15% SD on the mean value of 4 & 5 being 4.5, SD of 0.67 is a reasonable
variation in sample responses allowed, and just 12 out of 197 values are out of good range. Only
8 variables have received response of Mean/SD ratio below 6.

Hence our model is quite robust and acceptable for analysis further. Only I6, the last row
variable is poor which relates to Collaboration for research with Institutes and universities and is
a well known fact and area of concern for Indian industry. The M/SD ratio of 5 is considered
reliable for certainty of criterion and is also referred as signal to noise ratio in field of electronics
and image processing (Rose Criterion).
The co-linearity tests and test of randomness were run before undertaking further tests on
compiled data of 75 sample companies,

While factor analysis results ( Chronbach Alpha 0.7 or more) allowed each of 9 business
practices group to be considered as one factor, the same was not applicable in case of 29 PIs and
also the co-linearity test did not allow taking PIs as one factor. These 29 PIs belong to 8
categories of business results and not suitable for factorization

The Pearson product-moment correlation tests were first conducted between various performance
indicators and business excellence practices groups and then the median split t-tests were
conducted on various business excellence groups and PI measures to assess significant difference
between two groups. The ‘p’ values for acceptance were taken at p < .05 (see Table 5)

In order to establish interrelations of these business excellence variables and their effect on PIs,
regression analysis was not found adequate and hence, path analysis was done by examining
several models taking the 8 Performance indicator groups as Exogenous or dependent variables
and the 9 Business excellence practices groups as independent variables. The model was
restricted to 4 variables- one PI group, and three Business excellence variables groups, in each
model. This ensured a ratio of sample size to parameter less than 20 (sample size 75/ 4 variables)
in order to preserve the statistical validity of the outcomes (Kline 1991). Otherwise also, taking
too many variables only diffuse and not add value to the research findings.

Table: 5 Summary of median split T-tests

Summary 'p' values of median split t-tests

Business excellence Practices groups →

PI variable 1 2 3 4 5
Ldr & Cust Supplr
↓ Strtgy HRM Plng. focus rel
PI 1 0.0281 0.015
PI 2 0.014 0.0238 0.0389
PI 3 0.0222 0.0198
PI 4 0.0333 0.0037 0.002 0.0226
PI 5 0.0001 0.0032 0.0335
PI 6 0.0154 0.0071 0.0388
PI 7 0.004 0.0438 0.0238
PI 8 0.0477 0.0223 0.0001
PI 9
PI 10 0.0019 0.0002
PI 11 0.0086 0.007 0.0026 0.0146
PI 12
PI 13 0.0001 0.001
PI 14
PI 15
 PI 16 0.0329 0.039 0.0005
PI 17 0.0176 0.0063 0.0008
PI 18
PI 19 0.0395 0.0481
PI 20 0.001 0.0264
PI 21
PI 22
PI 23 0.0224
PI 24 0.0207 0.0001 0.001 0.0207
PI 25 0.0116 0.0019
PI 26 0.0031 0.002 0.013
PI 27 0.0142 0.0005 0.0216
PI 28
PI 29 0.0008 0.0001 0.0121 0.0008
Total
Associations 11 17 12 5 13
Contd….

Pro Tch & OS &

mgmt Inv R Op.Strtgy Total
6 7 8 9 Assocs.
PI 1 0.0289 3
PI 2 0.0043 4
PI 3 0.0017 0.0133 4
PI 4 0.0007 0.0001 6
PI 5 0.0001 0.0001 0.0027 0.0113 7
PI 6 0.0495 4
PI 7 0.0084 0.0017 0.0084 6
PI 8 0.0002 0.0001 0.0121 6
PI 9 0.034 1
PI 10 0.0091 0.0027 4
PI 11 0.0001 0.001 0.0191 7
PI 12 0.0009 1
PI 13 0.014 0.0015 0.014 5
PI 14 0.0283 0.0015 0.0241 3
PI 15 0.0134 1
PI 16 0.003 0.0083 5
PI 17 0.005 0.0015 0.005 6
PI 18 0.0001 1
PI 19 0.0321 0.0089 4
PI 20 0.0375 3
PI 21 ------ ------- -------- 0
PI 22 0.0101 1
PI 23 0.0003 2
PI 24 0.0055 0.0001 0.0003 7
PI 25 0.0023 3
PI 26 0.013 0.0315 5
PI 27 0.0031 0.0029 0.0359 6
PI 28 ----- ------- ----------- 0
PI 29 0.0146 0.0043 0.0034 0.0487 8
Total
Associations 12 16 17 10

The bold numbers are related to very low <.0001 ‘p’ values of the paths.

In overall association test also, the entire business excellence practices taken as one group have
shown strong association in 18 out of 29 PI variables (‘p’ < 0.05)

PI 21: ‘employee satisfaction’ has drawn blank in t-tests which means this variable is not
statistically different in higher and lower mean groups.
PI 28: ‘Return on Net worth/Assets is in rising trend’ has also no difference in two groups
formed by median split.

The most influencing practices are found to be:

HRM, OS & R and ‘Technology & Innovation’ groups

PI29 is most influenced indicator in t-test i.e. in 8 out of 9 groups it is significant, which means
that, sales are moving up with rising score of Business excellence practices.

The next most influenced outcomes are PI 5, PI 11, and PI 24 (by 7 out of 9 Business excellence
practices groups); which means that the indicators- ‘Annual sales growth is higher than larger
competitor’, ‘Customer complaint redress time is getting reduced’, and ‘revenue per employee
is higher than largest competitor’, improve with the rise in BE practices scores.
Overall, the median split t-tests and the path analysis modeling give encouraging results to
accept the business excellence model. The summary of path analysis is given in Table 6 below.

Table: 6 Summary of Path Analysis Modeling

Summary of Paths in SEM Model

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

(BE)Excellence
PI variable Practices groups →

Cust
Groups (PI) Ldrship HR Plang foc Suppl Process Tech & OS&R Op. Str

↓ Rel Mgmnt Innov

Customer D D ID/D

Customer ID/D D D

Customer D ID ID

Customer D ID D

Customer D ID/D

HR D D ID

HR D ID/D D

Innovation D D ID

Innovation ID D D

Innovation D D D

Market Ldrsp D D ID

Market Ldrsp D D D

Market Ldrsp D D ID/D

Market Ldrsp D D ID/D

Market Ldrsp D ID/D D

Operations D D ID

Operations ID/D D D

Profit D D ID

Profit ID D D

Profit D ID D

Profit D D ID

Profit D D ID

Profit D ID D

Quality ID ID D

Quality ID D D
Quality D D D

Quality D D ID/D

Quality D ID D

ID-
D-Direct Indirect

We can see that 7 Performance indicator groups are influenced significantly through paths of the
9 Business excellence practices groups. Process management and Operations structure &
resources group of practices are most affecting the business results. However no significant paths
were found affecting Performance Indicators relating to Competitiveness.

Analysis of World class Comparison scores (WCC)

The correlation test of WCC mean scores with BE Mean scores for 54 manufacturing companies
yielded positive & significant Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (0.2827 at ‘p’
value 0.0383).But WCC score means were found to have strong association as well as significant
difference in the median split t-test, with only the Customer focus group of PIs.

Overall, the model developed by us has been successfully tested in sample of top performing
Indian companies.

Conclusions:
A conceptual framework of business excellence has been developed based on focus on key
business processes in 9 functional areas of management and benchmarks. The goal of business
excellence is primarily to achieve world-class status in respective industry at minimum. The
excellence is achieved when the key performance indicators are better than largest competitors
and also the assessment score of the firm is high on world class status measurement metric. The
model takes care of various shortcomings of existing models and the evaluation procedures that
do not allow focus of the firm on their business processes and a systems approach and are found
cumbersome, lengthy, and time consuming.

Hence, a self assessment based easy to monitor directive model has been developed based on
conceptual framework of Business excellence and modern business practices used by global
organizations. The model has been tested in 75 top performing Indian listed companies. The
model has built-in measurement of world class status of the organization simultaneously as
excellence practices are implemented. This is important to sustain momentum in organization
and attain maturity of processes. An ideal world class company can attain maximum score of
1315. Services sector companies can add their industry specific global benchmarks for
monitoring. Various companies in sample have been doing well during and after the period of
research and many have appeared in various lists including global innovators, Forbes Asia, and
Forbes 500 list of companies.

Many of our sample companies have won CII-Exim awards/prizes. The most influencing
practices are found to be from HRM, OS & R, and ‘Technology & Innovation’ groups. In
summary, the model consists of 168 business practices and strategies from 9 functional groups,
33 benchmarks metric for assessing world class status of organization and 29 key business
performance outcomes that define excellence. This excellence model is based on self –
assessment against globally important business practices and benchmarks. The model is a
substitute and not in conflict with existing national models of excellence.

It is suggested that the Firm carries out self assessment every six months through a panel of 2-3
senior executives .While recording scores, it is not necessary to follow Likert scale. More
precise scoring can be done from 1-5 in fractional values for BE practices scores and PI scores
(for example 4.2) and from 0-10 for WCC scores (for example 6.5). The tendency to over score
has to be restrained. Obviously, it is important for firm to know about its nearest and largest
competitors for benchmarking various processes and criteria. The firms can even use generic
and cross-industry benchmarking.

In the model the WCC variables apply only for the manufacturing companies

.The results of survey clearly bring out deficiency in areas of collaborative research and
management of Technology & Innovations processes. These sample companies also indicate
poor focus on core competencies development.

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Appendix: 1
 List of Companies Finally
Surveyed

1 Asian Paints Paints (Chemicals)

2 Axis Bank Banking

3 Bajaj Auto Automobiles 2 wheelers

4 Bajaj Finserve Financing

5 Balmer Lawrie Lubricants, Containers PSU

6 Bharat Electronics Electronic Equipment PSU

7 Bharti Airtel Mobile telephony & Digital TV

8 BHEL Power Engineering Equipment PSU

9 Biocon Ltd Pharmaceuticals-Biotechnology

10 Cadilla Healthcare Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals

11 Carborundum Universal Abrasives

12 Coromanal International Fertilizers

13 Cox & Kings Travel & Tours

14 Crompton Greaves Electrical Equipment-Engineering

15 Dabur India FMCG Healthcare

16 Deccan Chronicle Publishing

17 Dr Reddys labs Pharmaceuticals

18 Eclerx Services Financial Services

19 Eicher Motors Auto-Tractors

20 Elgi Equipments Compressors -Engineering

21 Everonn Education Digital Education

22 Exide Industries Batteries

23 Fedders Lloyd Air conditioning-Engineering

24 Glodyne Techno Serve I.T & Education

Godrej Consumer
25 products FMCG

26 Havells India Domestic Appliances

27 HCL Infosysytems I.T

28 Hindalco Metals -Aluminum

Hindustan Media
29 Ventures Print & Media

30 Hindustan Uniliver FMCG

31 Hindustan Zinc Metals-Zinc

32 ICICI Bank Banking

33 Indian Oil Refineries PSU

34 Infosys Ltd I.T

35 Jain Irrigation Systems Agro engineering

36 Jayshree Tea Tea-Agro products

37 Jindal Steel & Power Steel & Power

Kovai Medical &

38 Hospital Hospital & Research

39 Larsen & Toubro Engineering & Construction

40 Maharastra Seamless Steel Pipes

41 Mahindra & Mahindra Automobiles

Mahindra Holidays &

42 Resorts Hotels & Timeshare

43 MRF Tyres & sports Goods

44 NRB Bearings Auto Components

45 Oberoi Realty Ltd Real Estate

46 Oil India Petroleum

Orient fans( Orient

47 papers) Light Engineering Electric

48 Pidilite Ind Adhesives

49 Punjab National Bank Banking PSU

50 Ranbaxy Lab Pharmaceuticals

51 Rane Madras Auto Ancillary

Sesa Goa
52 Ltd (Vedanta) Mining

53 Shoppers Stop Retail

54 Shree Renuka Sugar Sugar

55 Sintex Industries Plastics & textiles

56 Siyaram Silk Mills Textiles

57 Spice Mobility Communication & Entertainment

58 SpiceJet Airlines

59 SRF Ltd Textiles & Polymers

60 Sun TV Network Media & TV

61 Symphony Ltd White Goods

62 Tata Chemicals Chemicals

Tata Consultancy
63 Services I.T

64 Tata Motors Commercial & Passenger vehicles

65 Tata Power Power Generation

66 Tata Steel Steel

67 Infrastructure
The IL& FS
 Transportation

Tinplate Company
68 ( Tata) Steel rolling

69 Titan Industries (Tata) Time Products & Jewellary

70 TTK Healthcare Consumer Pharmaceuticals

71 Tube Investment Diversified Cycle, Auto Components

72 Uflex Ltd Packaging Materials

73 UltraTech Cement Cement

74 Voltas Ltd (Tata) Engineering -Air-conditioning

75 Zydus Wellness FMCG

Above list Covers out-

performer companies in 51
Major Industries of PSU-Public Sector
economy Unit