A New Business Excellence Model with Business Integrity from Ancient Confucian Thinking

Abstract

In this fast-paced world, companies are always trying to find quick solutions, and will focus almost entirely on financial results. However, such undue emphasis on profits makes companies pursue profits with no regard for the means employed. Although this is not necessarily bad, an equally important ingredient to business excellence is seemingly taking the back seat – business integrity. Instilling Confucian thinking into a company can correct the problem because employees will know how to behave appropriately in every situation. A successful company is much like a marathon runner – quite different from a short-distance sprinter – in which integrity is valued. This study has demonstrated the importance of business integrity and turned to Confucius thinking for concrete steps. We also developed a conceptual Confucian business excellence (BE) model and compared it with Kanji's BE model. Confucian thinking is parallel to Kanji's BE model, yet still maintains its uniqueness. These findings can provide concrete principles for companies striving for business excellence.