Sustainable Enterprise Excellence: towards a framework for holistic data-analytics

Purpose – Sustainable Enterprise Excellence (SEE) is defined and developed through integration and expansion of business excellence modeling and sustainability thought. The intent is to enable simple yet reliable enterprise assessment of triple bottom line (TBL) performance and produce actionable enterprise foresight that can enable next best practices and sources of sustainable competitive advantage through innovation. Design/methodology/approach – Key elements of SEE are identified from various business excellence and sustainability reporting sources, including the Global Reporting Initiative, the UN Global Compact 10 Principles, and criteria of the European Quality Award and America's Baldrige National Quality Award. From these a model and key criteria are distilled, maturity scales developed, and a simple means of assessment presented. Findings – A compact model and supporting maturity assessment approach similar in structure to those behind established excellence awards are developed that enable enterprise assessment of progress toward SEE. The resulting assessment is delivered in a highly consumable, combined narrative and graphic format referred to as a SEE NEWS Report. Practical implications – The assessment approach presented enables both enterprise progress toward Sustainable Enterprise Excellence and enterprise-to-enterprise comparability. Foresight provided by the assessment enables further advancement. Social implications – The social and environmental dimensions of SEE imply that enterprises progressing with respect to its model will of necessity contribute positively to the social fabric. Originality/value – Sustainable Enterprise Excellence as superior TBL performance resulting from integration of ethical, effective and efficient governance with triple top line strategy is developed, together with a means of maturity assessment.