In 2015, Australian businesses are tipped to dedicate themselves to understanding and embracing the Principles of Business Excellence.
Booming retail coupled with low interest rates has seen an Australian consumer binge over the Christmas – New Year period ($2billion on credit card purchases alone during the Boxing Day sales). Business experts are predicting lower than average spending in the coming months as credit repayments fall due.
To prepare themselves for this short downturn Australian businesses are being urged to reduce operational costs and streamline production until their respective markets recover.
Understanding the difference between process, operational, and business excellence is integral in this regard.
Business excellence is made up of process and operational excellence while also incorporating whole of organisation strategy, stakeholder communication, and results. It is the overarching strategy for the identifying, choosing, and delivering outstanding results for all stakeholders.
2014 saw a marked uptake of process excellence. Businesses in depressed or competitive markets led the charge seeking workplace efficiencies to improve output, reduce waste, and attain quality consistency.
Operational excellence was the next logical step. This addressed end-to-end product flow, support processes, and overall business culture. Much synergistic value emerged as employees were given an overall understanding of their business and how they influenced the output and efficiency of co-workers.
Business growth is predicted to be driven in 2015 through the adoption of business excellence principles. Cost reductions through process excellence and efficiencies through operational excellence will provide Australian businesses a springboard to consolidate their market positions and secure better results. This consolidation and its results will happen through the superior organisational strategies and more effective stakeholder communication provided through business excellence.
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