Rights statement: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Total Quality Management & Business Excellence on 06/02/2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14783363.2018.1434770
Accepted author manuscript, 706 KB, PDF document
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Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - On the meaning and use of excellence in the operations literature
T2 - a systematic review
AU - Thurer, Matthias
AU - Tomasevic, Ivan
AU - Stevenson, Mark
AU - Fredendall, Lawrence
AU - Protzman III, Charles W
N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Total Quality Management & Business Excellence on 06/02/2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14783363.2018.1434770
PY - 2018/2/6
Y1 - 2018/2/6
N2 - Excellence is a term/concept that is widely used in research and practice. Yet, although there have been many suggested definitions of excellence and the success factors behind excellence, few organisations have been able to achieve the goal of excellence. It has been argued that this is due to a genuine confusion amongst managers on what excellence means for their business. Using a systematic review of the operations literature on excellence concepts, we identify a plethora of concepts associated with the term excellence. In response, an overarching definition that seeks to consolidate the different concepts is presented. Excellence is defined as a combination of operational excellence (efficiency) and service excellence (effectiveness). Further analysis warrants that existing business excellence models may be detrimental to sustaining excellence and making good business. More specifically, business excellence models appear to overemphasise the creation of value whilst underemphasising means of capturing this value. Moreover, they often lack a strategic component, including concepts such as strategic choice, alignment, and sustained competitive advantage. This has major implications for research and practice.
AB - Excellence is a term/concept that is widely used in research and practice. Yet, although there have been many suggested definitions of excellence and the success factors behind excellence, few organisations have been able to achieve the goal of excellence. It has been argued that this is due to a genuine confusion amongst managers on what excellence means for their business. Using a systematic review of the operations literature on excellence concepts, we identify a plethora of concepts associated with the term excellence. In response, an overarching definition that seeks to consolidate the different concepts is presented. Excellence is defined as a combination of operational excellence (efficiency) and service excellence (effectiveness). Further analysis warrants that existing business excellence models may be detrimental to sustaining excellence and making good business. More specifically, business excellence models appear to overemphasise the creation of value whilst underemphasising means of capturing this value. Moreover, they often lack a strategic component, including concepts such as strategic choice, alignment, and sustained competitive advantage. This has major implications for research and practice.
KW - business excellence
KW - operational excellence
KW - service excellence
KW - systematic literature review
U2 - 10.1080/14783363.2018.1434770
DO - 10.1080/14783363.2018.1434770
M3 - Journal article
JO - Total Quality Management and Business Excellence
JF - Total Quality Management and Business Excellence
SN - 1478-3363
ER -