Sustainable Enterprise Excellence Research Articles

Sustainable Enterprise Excellence: Attribute-Based Assessment Protocol

This paper is intended to design and provide a reliable and valid measurement instrument to aid organizations that wish to self-assess their performance and positioning relative to sustainable enterprise excellence. Recent research trends in performance excellence, quality management, and organizational sustainability have been directed towards integrated management systems (IMS). Sustainable Enterprise Excellence (SEE) is among these integrated management systems. SEE is undergoing ongoing development and its measurement scale is rudimentary, hence it lacks the more sophisticated sorts of measurement scales often used for organizational self-assessment purposes. A scientific approach is used herein to devise a more comprehensive SEE-oriented organizational assessment against six proposed performance results-oriented domains or constructs: governance and strategy, process implementation, sustainability performance, financial performance, innovation performance, and human capital performance. Each organizational performance construct is to be measured by ten attributes-based items. Maturity scale ratings that range from 0 to 10 reflect organizational performance relative to the associated item and the sum of item ratings across a construct reflects performance within the specific domain, the summation of the six construct scores then yields a measure of the overall organizational performance with respect to SEE. The assessment areas against which organization performance compares poorly suggest opportunities for improvement of associated business processes, the achievement of which will contribute to a sustainable future.

Keywords Co-occurrence Analysis of Research on Sustainable Enterprise and Sustainable Organisation

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to identify and explore leading thematic areas within the research field related to a sustainable enterprise/organisation. The following research questions are asked to achieve the aim of the study: (1) What are the leading areas/topics of scientific inquiry in the research field? (2) What is the research status in the leading research areas/topics? (3) What are the most up-to-date (emerging) topics in the field? Design/methodology/approach: Analysis of keywords co-occurrence is the bibliometric method used to map the research field. The methodology of systematic literature review is applied in order to conduct the analysis of research status in the identified leading thematic areas within the research field. Findings: The study identifies and discusses seven streams of research associated with the concept of a sustainable enterprise i.e. (1) sustainable development and sustainable enterprise idea, (2) sustainability, (3) strategic management and functional areas management, (4) human and organisational context, (5) sustainable manufacturing, (6) industrial context and (7) environmental management. Moreover, emerging, ‘hot’ topics attracting a growing attention of the research community in recent years are enumerated, which include such issues as: (1) the concept of the sustainable, smart and sensing enterprise, (2) sustainable enterprise resource planning and allocation, (3) building competitive advantage in a sustainable enterprise, (4) managing sales in a sustainable enterprise, (5) managing sustainable supply chains, and (6) developing sustainable enterprise excellence. Research and practical limitations/implications: Mapping of the research field and identifying emerging topics provides guidelines for further studies, which can be considered as valuable contribution to the theory and research development. However, due to the theoretical character of the study its practical implications are rather limited. Originality/value: As a bibliometric study, the paper generates the added value mainly from the point of view of the theory development. Its originality derives from a very limited number of studies which use the methodology of keywords analysis to map the research field and identify leading topics within it. Paper type: review paper.

SUSTAINABLE ENTERPRISE EXCELLENCE: COHESION OF TQM/BE MODELS, ISO STANDARDS AND SUSTAINABILITY

There is increased attention in sustainability and sustainable development practices in business industry since last decade. Organizations are under immense pressure to do business that substantially imparts value not only in economical dimension but also satisfy two other important dimensions of sustainability; social and environmental dimensions. In pursuance to excellence organizations have been adopting various strategies and models among which Total Quality Management (TQM) and Business Excellence (BE) models stand up most. However these TQM/ BE models are focused to Excellence more in economical terms and less in social and environmental terms. This study attempts to examine the coherence of TQM/BE models with sustainability practices and evaluates the extent to which these models match sustainability criteria. The study proposes to develop a Sustainable Enterprise Excellence (SEE) framework based on TQM/BE models with desired cohesion of ISO standards, guidelines and sustainability reporting indices.

Paths to sustainable enterprise excellence

Purpose This paper aims to address the nature of sustainable enterprise excellence, what it is, its enablers and specific manifestations. Design/methodology/approach A sweeping model of sustainable enterprise excellence, resilience and robustness is introduced, along with its enablers. Among enablers, supply-chain proficiency, vertical trust, distributed leadership and neuropsychological measurement are cited. A method of strategy modeling is introduced that, if rigorously pursued, will improve enterprise strategy and, hence, also opportunity for better subsequent performance and impacts. Similarly, an approach for strategic alignment in a large, multi-level enterprise is presented. Findings There are many paths toward sustainable enterprise excellence. Regardless of the path, this anticipates enterprise pursuit of socially equitable, environmentally responsible and economically sound performance and impacts. Practical implications The present is the Anthropocene age, an era fraught with challenges largely of people's own making and related to climate change and various sorts of social strain. Organizations have the wherewithal to attack these challenges. Given the orientation of sustainable enterprise excellence, methods and models that advance sustainable enterprise excellence have the potential to combat these challenges. Originality/value Sustainable enterprise excellence provides models and methods for confronting significant challenges that societies and organizations alike are faced with. Various models and paths to sustainable enterprise excellence are suggested in this paper.

Supply chain criticality in sustainable and resilient enterprises

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to broadly explore the contributions of supply chain proficiency in relation to sustainable enterprise excellence, resilience and robustness (SEER2). Design/methodology/approach A pre-existing SEER2 model, referred to as the Springboard to SEER2, is put under the microscope to determine specific interactions of supply chain proficiency with six key areas of the Springboard: triple top-line strategy and governance; strategy execution via policies, processes and partnerships; financial and marketplace performance and impact; sustainability performance and impact; human ecology and capital performance and impact; and social-ecological and general innovation and continuous improvement performance and impact. Findings Supply chain proficiency is integral to attainment of SEER2. As such, supply chain proficiency must be thoughtfully and strategically approached, with success critical to enterprise contribution to mitigation or solution of wicked global challenges ranging from climate change, to food insecurity, to societal conflict. Originality/value This paper reveals in depth the centrality of supply chain proficiency to SEER2, suggesting that such models as those behind America's Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the European Quality Award might be enhanced by more deeply considering supply chain contributions to business and performance excellence. Supply chains are at present peripheral to such models, thereby providing essentially isolated views of enterprises in an age where supply chain collaboration is increasingly the norm.

Climate change and social strain: strategic enterprise responses

Purpose– Enterprise activities are often harmful to the natural environment or societal fabric, yet approaches that are environmentally constructive or socially responsible can be challenging and may not be rewarded by the marketplace. Enterprises that are not sufficiently financially successful perish. The purpose of this paper is to present a model and methodology referred to as sustainable enterprise excellence, resilience and robustness (SEER2) that provides enterprises with a means of balancing financial, social, and environmental considerations. These considerations form the classic elements of the triple bottom line and are central formation of enterprise responses to climate change and social strain.Design/methodology/approach– A model referred to as the Springboard to SEER2 is introduced. SEER2 explicitly considers societal and environmental performance and impacts that are driven by strategy and implemented through processes. As such criteria associated with the Springboard that address strategy, processes, performance, and impact are also introduced.Findings– Humanity is at individual, enterprise, and societal levels partially or wholly responsible for many critical and time-sensitive social and environmental challenges. Due to their vast collective resource consumption and resource base, enterprises should also contribute to solving such challenges. The presented Springboard to SEER2 model and associated criteria provide a rigorous, yet defined path for enterprises that have the determination to confront such challenges.Originality/value– This is among the first explorations of enterprise self-assessment in general and SEER2 in particular that explicitly consider strategies, processes and activities important to mitigation of climate change and social strain.

Strategic resistance for sustaining enterprise relevance

Purpose – Enterprise sustainability is the capacity to create and maintain social, economic, and environmental benefits. While sustainability connotes survival, excellence is the capacity to thrive across critical performance domains. Enter resilience and robustness. Resilience is enterprise ability to self-renew through innovation, changing and reinventing itself by adapting its responses to political, social, economic and other competitive shocks or challenges. Robustness is enterprise resistance or immunity gained through strategies, policies, partnerships, and practices that maintain or advance competitive position when shocks or challenges arise. Resistance as herein constructed is a composition or blend of revival, striving, surviving and thriving. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – A sustainable enterprise excellence, resilience and robustness (SEER2) model and assessment regime is proposed. SEER2 integrates excellence and sustainability principles, methodologies,...

Business Model Innovation as Antecedent of Sustainable Enterprise Excellence and Resilience

Organizations are open systems operating under conditions of substantial turbulence, risk (known unknowns), and uncertainty (unknown unknowns) and seeking to balance stability and coherence with flexibility and change in pursuit of higher levels of efficacy and routine excellence. In addition, organizations exist, survive, and prosper on the basis of a sound value proposition and functional business model that helps unlock, capture, and redistribute in an efficacious manner the value added by the organization in question. Despite the increasing amount of literature on Business Model Innovation (BMI), a sound theoretical foundation is still missing, which is also true for the concept of Business Model (BM) itself. However, many scholars argue that a BM can provide a concise framework that explains how firms create and capture value, and clarify how enterprises monetize their innovations. This paper focuses on the effects that can be achieved through BMI, in particular organizational sustainability, resilience, and excellence. The main aim of the paper is to address how organization sustainability and resilience can be achieved with BMI and study the role of different factors in this process. In addition, the present case shows how BMI can be used to overcome commoditization challenges partly by moving from a BM focused on the trade of goods to a BM focused on the trade of tasks. The results show how manufacturers in developing countries can overcome their dependence on commoditized products and OEM manufacturing, while maintaining a sustainable ecosystem.

Enterprise self-assessment analytics for sustainability, resilience and robustness

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to integrate resilience, robustness, and resplendence (R 3) with sustainable enterprise excellence (SEE) and social-ecological innovation (SEI) that assist firms to progress toward continuously relevant performance proceeding from continuously responsible strategy, behavior, and other actions. Design/methodology/approach – Sustainable enterprise excellence, resilience, robustness, and resplendence (SEER3) model and the associated means of SEER 3 maturity assessment are introduced to explain the organizational concept. Findings – SEER3 balances the complementary and competing interests of key stakeholder segments, including society and the natural environment and increases the likelihood of superior and sustainable competitive positioning and hence long-term enterprise success that is defined by continuously relevant and responsible governance, strategy, actions, and performance consistent with high-level organizational R3. Originality/value – This paper adapts the established principles from physics to characterize enterprise R3 to come up with SEE model.

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 ente...

Sustainable Enterprise Excellence and the Continuously Relevant and Responsible Organization

Innovation and sustainability are critical to the design, activities, results, and financial viability of organizations. These support one another, with “sustainable innovation” addressing economic sustainability, and “innovating for sustainability” addressing societal and environmental sustainability. These have gained traction as partial means of confronting economic, environmental and societal challenges, but the growth rate of these challenges has thus far exceeded trajectory, scale, and velocity issues surrounding enterprise innovation and sustainability efforts and capabilities. Innovation and sustainability of the necessary trajectory, scale, and velocity are strategically integrated to deliver what we refer to as innovating sustainability. This provides an accelerated means path toward sustainable enterprise excellence, and hence toward the asymptotic aspiration of being a continuously relevant organization. Introduced for the first time are the concepts of innovating sustainability, sustainable enterprise excellence (SEE), and continuously relevant organizations (CRO).

Modeling and Assessing Sustainable Enterprise Excellence

ABSTRACTThe enterprise excellence and modern sustainability movements have developed along near parallel timelines. Skilled use of enterprise excellence systems has been documented to significantly boost performance across an array of key domains, including financial, human capital, operations and supply chain, and other areas. Notably absent are social and environmental performance, with their absence attributable to the inadequate emphasis on enterprise excellence of these domains. Similarly, although the triple bottom line is core to the sustainability movement, many adherents of sustainability approach its people and planet domains with ardor, yet virtually neglect its profit domain. A simple model of sustainable enterprise excellence and accompanying maturity assessment regimen are introduced and advanced as a means of merging these movements to drive an equity, ecology and economy triple top line strategy to produce triple bottom line people, planet and profit performance with innovation and organizational design playing pivotal roles in both the model and its assessment. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

AN EXCELLENCE EQUATION: (E3 GOVERNANCE + 3E STRATEGY) -> 3P PERFORMANCE

Purpose: Governance, sustainability, and enterprise excellence are united in an effort to promote continuously relevant and responsible organizations through Sustainable Enterprise Excellence (SEE), defined as: • SEE results as a consequence of balancing both the competing and complementary interests of key stakeholder segments, including society and the natural environment, to increase the likelihood of superior and sustainable competitive positioning and hence long-term enterprise success that is synonymous with continuously relevant and responsible governance, strategy, actions and results. • This is accomplished through an integrated approach to organizational design and function emphasising innovation, operational, supply chain, customer-related, human capital, financial, marketplace, societal, and environmental performance. The intent of this approach is to ethically, efficiently and effectively (E3) integrate 3E (equity, ecology, economy) Triple Top Line strategy throughout enterprise governance, culture and activities to produce simultaneously pragmatic, innovative and sustainable Triple Bottom Line 3P (people, planet, profit) performance results. Methodology & Approach: Key elements and methods capable of assessing and advancing organizational progress toward SEE are identified, organized and developed.Findings: Innovation, human capital, and foresight are key enablers of SEE. A SEE model called the Springboard together with Maturity Scales, graphical NEWS Compasses, and Narrative SWOT Plots that aid performance assessment and advancement are developed.Implications for Further Research: Relationships of various SEE drivers to SEE performance are in need of further exploration wherein NEWS Compasses, Maturity Scales, and the Springboard may be further refined as SEE understanding advances.

CONTINUOUS RELEVANCE & RESPONSIBILITY: INTEGRATION OF SUSTAINABILITY & EXCELLENCE VIA INNOVATION

Purpose: Sustainable Enterprise Excellence or SEE weds core elements of corporate governance, sustainability, and enterprise excellence with the goal of advancing organizational progress toward the asymptotic objective of being continuously relevant and responsible. There are many possible enablers of and approaches to SEE realization. Innovation is among such critical enablers so that the role of innovation in SEE and a process for embedding innovation in the enterprise are explored. Use of innovation to integrate sustainability and enterprise excellence is particularly emphasized.Methodology & Approach: Two types of innovation are especially relevant to sustainable enterprise excellence: innovation for sustainability and sustainable innovation. The first of these focuses on targets of innovation with sustainability at their core, particularly with respect to environmental or social dimensions of sustainability. The second of these, sustainable innovation, is concerned with creating a culture wherein innovation is native. Sustainable innovation and innovation for sustainability are melded to produce Socio-Ecological Innovation or SEI. Formal SEI elements are considered, an approach for SEI deployment is suggested, and SEI maturity with respect to these elements is assessed.Findings: Ten basic and ten advanced SEI enablers are identified and integrated and a method for embedding and assessing the maturity of these is provided, after which a simple assessment presentation approach is proposed.Implications for Further Research: Better understanding of SEI enablers is needed as is more clear understanding of what overall SEI maturity entails. The cited SEI enablers and maturity assessment method should be refined as greater understanding of SEI evolves.