Deployment of business excellence in Asia: an exploratory study

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of business excellence in Asian organisations. The study examines the effectiveness of business excellence in the organisations that adopt it as well as the approaches used to deploy business excellence. Finally, the study investigates the attitudes of organisations with respect to business excellence awards. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey of 74 organisations across five Asian countries was carried out in order to collect quantitative data. In addition, qualitative data was collected from 21 discussion groups held in all five countries and from 13 interviews held with senior executives of organisations that had won business excellence awards. Findings – The organisations believe that business excellence is important in helping them reach their organisational goals. The results also show that participation in and winning business excellence awards is a key objective for many organisations in the region. However, the region still suffers from some barriers to long‐term commitment to business excellence including lack of development of a business excellence culture, a lack of resources and a failure to fully educate the majority of staff in business excellence. Research limitations/implications – The study was directed at organisations that were deploying business excellence. It therefore provides an insight into their activities but it does not explore levels of adoption of business excellence in the study countries and consequently, does not investigate reasons for non‐adoption in organisations that have not used business excellence. Practical implications – National productivity organisations and national award administrators have a crucial role to play in ensuring that Asian organisations are aware of business excellence initiatives and that the necessary support structures and activities to facilitate deployment are made available. Originality/value – While there are many studies on the adoption of business excellence in western countries, no such studies have been carried out in Asian countries to date. Even in the west, few studies have obtained the views of so many national award winners (30 in this study) and few have investigated the role of the award administrators. Given that the adoption of business excellence in Asia lags western countries, it is important to understand how it has been adopted in Asia and the perceptions of the organisations that have adopted it.