Regardless of the size and goals that an organization may have, the management has to use a framework to be successful and achieve business excellence. According to Metaxas and Koulouriotis, “the need for the ‘right’ measure of business excellence has been cited in methodological discussions in strategic management”. The majority of the existing BE models focus on the tangible factors of success, allowing leaders to evaluate the performance of their organizations critically. Models such as EFQM help leaders have a structure in their decision making, while standards such as ISO 14001 allow checking if the organization operates in accordance with the societal and regulatory recommendations regarding sustainability and environmental impact.
These frameworks allow firms to become leaders of their industries or compare their performance to that of their competitors. By receiving a certification of excellence awards, companies can address the issue of assessing their competitive advantage or adherence to industry standards if the competitors received the same certificates and awards. In comparison, if all organizations were to develop their own standards of quality and quality management techniques, it would be extremely difficult to scale this approach, use it in a different field if the business decides to make changes, or compare results to other businesses.
Finally, for leaders, these standards help communicate the ethics of the business, the values, and the mission to the employees and the customers. Mainly, having a certificate or an excellence award means that the leadership adheres to its plan for having a high quality of output and providing products or services that the consumers will be satisfied with. Moreover, the standards usually highlight the importance of communicating with the employees when certain changes pertaining to quality management are implemented. This teaches leaders to use best practices in managing change within their organizations and thus helps them achieve excellence.