SWOT Analysis

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The Malcolm Baldrige Model
SWOT = Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal
to a company (i.e. they can be directly influenced by company action or inaction). Opportunities and
threats are external to the company (i.e. circumstances which may or may not arise in the outside
environment and over which the company has no control). So the purpose of a SWOT is to actively
promote the identified strengths, minimize weaknesses by planning them out of existence, exploit the
opportunities before the window closes and have contingency plans in place to minimize threats before
they materialize.

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

In 1987, jumpstarting a small, slowly growing U.S. quality movement, Congress established the Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award to promote quality awareness, to recognize quality and business
achievements of U.S. organizations, and to publicize these organizations’ successful performance
strategies. Now considered America’s highest honor for performance excellence, the President of the
United States presents the Baldrige Award annually to U.S. organizations. Awards are given in
manufacturing, service, small business, and, starting in 1999, education and health care. In conjunction
with the private sector, the National Institute of Standards and Technology designed and manages the
award and the Baldrige National Quality Program.

Application process
To apply for the award, organizations must submit details showing their achievements and improvements
in seven key areas: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis,
human resource focus, process management, and results. Applicants receive 300 to 1,000 hours of
review and a detailed report on the organization’s strengths and opportunities for improvement by an
independent board of examiners. “The application and review process for the award is the best, most
cost-effective, and comprehensive business health audit you can get,” said Arnold Weimerskirch, former
Baldrige Award judge and vice president of quality, Honeywell, Inc.

Program impact
Since the first awards were presented in 1988, the Baldrige National Quality Program has grown in
stature and impact. Today, the Baldrige program, the award’s criteria for performance excellence, and the
Baldrige award recipients are imitated and admired worldwide.

In particular, the Baldrige criteria for performance excellence have played a valuable role in helping U.S.
organizations improve. The criteria are designed to help organizations improve their performance by
focusing on two goals: delivering ever improving value to customers and improving the organization’s
overall performance. Approximately 2 million copies of the criteria have been distributed since 1988, and
wide-scale reproduction by organizations and electronic access add to that number significantly. Gordon
Black, chairman and chief executive officer of Harris/Black International Ltd., said the publication
containing the Baldrige criteria for performance excellence is “probably the single most influential
document in the modern history of American business.”

Following are some of the program’s highlights:

For the seventh year in a row, a hypothetical stock index, made up of publicly traded U.S. companies that
have received the Baldrige Award, has outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500. This year, the “Baldrige
Index” outperformed the S&P 500 by 4.4 to 1.

State and local quality programs, most modeled after the Baldrige program, have grown from fewer than
10 in 1991 to 54 programs in 44 states.
Internationally, nearly 60 quality programs are operating. Most are modeled after the Baldrige program,
including one established in Japan in 1996.

Since 1988, 871 applications have been submitted for the Baldrige Award from a wide variety of types
and sizes of organizations.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

Who was Malcolm Baldrige?

Malcolm Baldrige was Secretary of Commerce from 1981 until his death in a rodeo accident in July 1987.
Baldrige was a proponent of quality management as a key to this country’s prosperity and long-term
strength. He took a personal interest in the quality improvement act that was eventually named after him
and helped draft one of the early versions. In recognition of his contributions, Congress named the award
in his honor.

What is the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award?

The Baldrige Award is given by the President of the United States to businesses—manufacturing and
service, small and large—and to education and health care organizations that apply and are judged to be
outstanding in seven areas: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and
analysis, human resource focus, process management, and business results.

Congress established the award program in 1987 to recognize U.S. organizations for their achievements
in quality and performance and to raise awareness about the importance of quality and performance
excellence as a competitive edge. The award is not given for specific products or services. Three awards
may be given annually in each of these categories: manufacturing, service, small business and, starting in
1999, education and health care.

While the Baldrige Award and the Baldrige recipients are the very visible centerpiece of the U.S. quality
movement, a broader national quality program has evolved around the award and its criteria. A report,
Building on Baldrige: American Quality for the 21st Century, by the private Council on Competitiveness,
said, “More than any other program, the Baldrige Quality Award is responsible for making quality a
national priority and disseminating best practices across the United States.”

The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) manages the
Baldrige National Quality Program in close cooperation with the private sector.

Why was the award established?

In the early and mid-1980s, many industry and government leaders saw that a renewed emphasis on
quality was no longer an option for American companies but a necessity for doing business in an ever
expanding, and more demanding, competitive world market. But many American businesses either did not
believe quality mattered for them or did not know where to begin. The Baldrige Award was envisioned as
a standard of excellence that would help U.S. organizations achieve world-class quality.

How is the Baldrige Award achieving its goals?

The criteria for the Baldrige Award have played a major role in achieving the goals established by
Congress. They now are accepted widely, not only in the United States but also around the world, as the
standard for performance excellence. The criteria are designed to help organizations enhance their
competitiveness by focusing on two goals: delivering ever improving value to customers and improving
overall organizational performance.

The award program has proven to be a remarkably successful government and private-sector team effort.
The annual government investment of about $5 million is leveraged by a contribution of over $100 million
from private-sector and state and local organizations, including $10 million raised by private industry to
help launch the program and the time and efforts of hundreds of largely private-sector volunteers.
The award’s Board of Examiners perhaps best captures the cooperative nature of this joint
government/private-sector team. Each year, more than 300 experts from industry, educational institutions,
governments at all levels, and non-profit organizations volunteer many hours reviewing applications for
the award, conducting site visits, and providing each applicant with an extensive feedback report citing
strengths and opportunities to improve. In addition, board members have given thousands of
presentations on quality management, performance improvement, and the Baldrige Award.

The Baldrige Award winners also have taken seriously their charge to be quality advocates. Their efforts
to educate and inform other companies and organizations on the benefits of using the Baldrige Award
framework and criteria have far exceeded expectations. To date, the recipients have given more than
30,000 presentations reaching thousands of organizations.

What are the Baldrige criteria?

The Baldrige performance excellence criteria are a framework that any organization can use to improve
overall performance. Seven categories make up the award criteria:

 Leadership—Examines how senior executives guide the organization and how the organization
addresses its responsibilities to the public and practices good citizenship.

 Strategic planning—Examines how the organization sets strategic directions and how it
determines key action plans.

 Customer and market focus—Examines how the organization determines requirements and
expectations of customers and markets.

 Information and analysis—Examines the management, effective use, and analysis of data and
information to support key organization processes and the organization’s performance
management system.

 Human resource focus—Examines how the organization enables its workforce to develop its full
potential and how the workforce is aligned with the organization’s objectives.

 Process management—Examines aspects of how key production/delivery and support

processes are designed, managed, and improved.

 Business results—Examines the organization’s performance and improvement in its key

business areas: customer satisfaction, financial and marketplace performance, human resources,
supplier and partner performance, and operational performance. The category also examines
how the organization performs relative to competitors.

The criteria are used by thousands of organizations of all kinds for self-assessment and training and as a
tool to develop performance and business processes. Approximately 2 million copies have been
distributed since the first edition in 1988, and heavy reproduction and electronic access multiply that
number many times.

For many organizations, using the criteria results in better employee relations, higher productivity, greater
customer satisfaction, increased market share, and improved profitability. According to a report by the
Conference Board, a business membership organization, “A majority of large U.S. firms have used the
criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for self-improvement, and the evidence suggests a
long-term link between use of the Baldrige criteria and improved business performance.”

Which organizations have received the award?

2002—Motorola Inc. Commercial, Government and Industrial Solutions Sector, Branch Smith Printing
Division, and SSM Health Care
2001—Clarke American Checks, Incorporated, Pal’s Sudden Service, Chugach School District, Pearl
River School District, and University of Wisconsin-Stout
2000—Dana Corp.-Spicer Driveshaft Division, KARLEE Company, Inc., Operations Management
International, Inc., and Los Alamos National Bank
1999—STMicroelectronics, Inc.-Region Americas, BI, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., L.L.C., and Sunny
Fresh Foods
1998—Boeing Airlift and Tanker Programs, Solar Turbines Inc., and Texas Nameplate Co., Inc.
1997—3M Dental Products Division, Solectron Corp., Merrill Lynch Credit Corp., and Xerox Business
Services
1996—ADAC Laboratories, Dana Commercial Credit Corp., Custom Research Inc., and Trident Precision
Manufacturing Inc.
1995—Armstrong World Industries Building Products Operation and Corning Telecommunications
Products Division
1994—AT&T Consumer Communications Services, GTE Directories Corp., and Wainwright Industries Inc.
1993—Eastman Chemical Co. and Ames Rubber Corp.
1992—AT&T Network Systems Group/ Transmission Systems Business Unit, Texas Instruments Inc.
Defense Systems & Electronics Group, AT&T Universal Card Services, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., and
Granite Rock Co.
1991—Solectron Corp., Zytec Corp., and Marlow Industries
1990—Cadillac Motor Car Division, IBM Rochester, Federal Express Corp., and Wallace Co. Inc.
1989—Milliken & Co. and Xerox Corp. Business Products and Systems
1988—Motorola Inc., Commercial Nuclear Fuel Division of Westinghouse Electric Corp., and Globe
Metallurgical Inc.

When were the education and health care categories established?

Both categories were introduced in 1999. Since then, a total of 47 applications have been submitted in the
education category and 42 in the health care category.

Any for-profit or not-for-profit public or private organization that provides educational or health care
services in the United States or its territories is eligible to apply for the award. That includes elementary
and secondary schools and school districts; colleges, universities, and university systems; schools or
colleges within a university; professional schools; community colleges; technical schools; and charter
schools. In health care, it includes hospitals, HMOs, long-term-care facilities, health care practitioner
offices, home health agencies, health insurance companies, or medical/dental laboratories.

As in the other three categories, applicants must show achievements and improvements in seven areas:
leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus (for education: student, stakeholder, and
market focus; for health care: focus on patients, other customers, and markets); information and analysis;
human resource focus (for education: faculty and staff focus; for health care: staff focus); process
management; and business results (for both education and health care: organizational performance
results).

Many education and health care organizations are using the Baldrige criteria to good effect.

For example:

The New Jersey Department of Education permits school systems to use the New Jersey Quality
Achievement Award criteria—based on the Baldrige Award criteria—as an alternative to its state
assessment criteria. Other states are considering a similar approach.

The National Alliance of Business and the American Productivity and Quality Center have developed the
Baldrige In Education Initiative, a national program to improve the management systems of education
organizations and educational outcomes.

In April 2000, the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) held a nationwide teleconference, “Creating a
Framework for High Achieving Schools,” to focus on the Baldrige criteria in education. In the foreword to a
report issued in conjunction with the teleconference, then-Governor Tommy G. Thompson of Wisconsin
and 2000 chair for the NEGP, said the Baldrige criteria for education “can provide educators with a
framework and strategies for improving their schools and helping all children to reach high standards.”
At the teleconference, Bob Chase, president of the National Education Association (NEA), said, “The
Baldrige process and what I call ‘new unionism’ are a quality match. Most crucially, NEA’s new unionism
and the Baldrige process share the same bottom line, improving student achievement.”

Dr. Michael Wood, CEO, Mayo Foundation and Clinic, hosted a Baldrige Health Care Summit on June 29,
2000, involving 10 leading health care institutions in the United States.

Special sessions on Baldrige in health care were held at the Institute for Health Care Improvement
conferences in December 1999 and December 2000.

Motorola University hosted 120 health care leaders for a one-week course on Baldrige and Quality
Improvement in Health Care in February 2001.

Richard Norling, CEO, Premier Inc., a leading distributor of health care supplies, is serving as president of
the private-sector Baldrige Foundation during 2001.

Why are categories in education and health care needed?

Since its creation in 1987, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award has played an important role in
helping thousands of U.S. companies improve not only their products and services, their customers’
satisfaction, and their bottom line, but also their overall performance.

Now, organizations in other sectors vital to the U.S. economy—education and health care—are
recognizing that the Baldrige Award’s tough performance excellence standards can help stimulate their
improvement efforts as well. Just as it has for U.S. businesses, a Baldrige Award program can help these
organizations improve performance and foster communication, sharing of “best practices,” and
partnerships among schools, health care organizations, and businesses.

How are recipients selected?

Organizations that are headquartered in the United States may apply for the award. An independent
Board of Examiners composed of primarily private-sector experts in quality and business evaluates
applications for the award. Examiners look for achievements and improvements in all seven categories.
Teams of examiners to verify information in the application and to clarify questions that come up during
the review visit organizations that pass an initial screening. Each applicant receives a written summary of
strengths and areas for improvement in each area addressed by the criteria.

“The application and review process for the Baldrige Award is the best, most cost-effective and
comprehensive business health audit you can get,” says Arnold Weimerskirch, former chair of the
Baldrige Award panel of judges and vice president of quality, Honeywell, Inc.

Does quality pay?

Studies by NIST, universities, business organizations, and the U.S. General Accounting Office have found
that investing in quality principles and performance excellence pays off in increased productivity, satisfied
employees and customers, and improved profitability—both for customers and investors. For example,
NIST has tracked a hypothetical stock investment in Baldrige Award winners and applicants receiving site
visits. The studies have shown that these companies soundly outperform the Standard & Poor’s 500.

Is it tougher for small organizations to receive the award?

The Baldrige Award’s small business recipients have proven that any U.S. organization can improve by
using the criteria’s performance excellence framework. But, given the importance of smaller businesses to
the U.S. economy, NIST is mapping out ways to strengthen awareness of the award program and criteria
among these organizations.
Can only U.S. organizations receive the award?
Any for-profit organization headquartered in the United States or its territories may apply for the award,
including U.S. subunits of foreign companies.

Do the award criteria take into account an organization’s financial performance?

Yes. The criteria include many factors that contribute to financial performance, including business
decisions and strategies that lead to better market performance, gains in market share, and customer
retention and satisfaction. Organizations are urged to use financial information, including profit trends, in
analyzing and reporting on improved overall performance and to look for the connection between the two.

Does the award amount to a product or service endorsement for the award recipients?
No. The award is given because an organization has shown it has an outstanding system for managing its
products, services, human resources, and customer relationships. As part of the evaluation, an
organization is asked to describe its system for assuring the quality of its goods and services. It also must
supply information on quality improvement and customer satisfaction efforts and results. That does not
mean that a recipient’s products or services are endorsed.

Why are the Baldrige Award recipients asked to share their successful strategies?
One of the main purposes of the award is to pass on information about the recipient’s performance
excellence strategies that other organizations can tailor for their own needs. Representatives from the
award recipients willingly have shared their organizations’ performance strategies and methods with
thousands.

To what extent are they asked to share their strategies?

The managers of each recipient must decide how much time and effort to devote to activities such as
speaking engagements and tours of facilities. The requirements of the award program are minimal.
Recipients are asked to participate in the award’s annual conference and several co-sponsored regional
conferences, to provide basic materials to those who request it on their organization’s performance
strategies and methods, and to answer news media inquiries.

Do advertising and publicity diminish the image and prestige of the award?
The law establishing the award states that an award recipient may publicize its receipt of such award and
use the award in its advertising. Promoting public and business awareness of quality improvement is one
of the prime goals of the program, and advertising is one way to meet this goal. Guidelines help
organizations assure their advertising is appropriate in representing their Baldrige Award recognition.

Are organizations simply chasing after the award and ignoring the lessons of performance
improvement?
The perception by some that receiving the award is the goal of U.S. organizations is not supported by the
facts. Says Earnest Deavenport, chairman and chief executive officer of Eastman Chemical Company,
“Eastman, like other Baldrige Award winners, didn’t apply the concepts of total quality management to win
an award. We did it to win customers. We did it to grow. We did it to prosper and to remain competitive in
a world marketplace.” Thousands of organizations are using Baldrige Award performance excellence
criteria to assess their organization and to improve. The program has helped to stimulate an amazing
movement to improve U.S. organizations, including companies; academic institutions; and federal, state,
and local government agencies.

If this is a federal government program, why are organizations charged a fee to apply?
Federal funding for this program is about $5 million annually and is used by NIST to manage the program.
The application fees are charged to cover expenses associated with distribution and review of
applications and development of feedback reports. The application and review process is considered to
be a very cost-effective and comprehensive business health audit. For an application fee ranging from
$5,000 for large organizations to $500 for non-profit education institutions, organizations receive at least
300 hours of review by a minimum of eight business and quality experts. Site-visited organizations
receive over 1,000 hours of in-depth review. Every applicant receives an extensive feedback report
highlighting strengths and areas to improve. An article in the Journal for Quality and Participation said,
“The Baldrige feedback report is arguably the best bargain in consulting in America.”

May an organization hire a consultant to help prepare answers for the Baldrige application?
Applicants for the award are asked to supply facts and data to substantiate their claims concerning their
management practices. Consultants, including members of the Board of Examiners, may provide services
on performance management issues as well as the Baldrige Award process. However, since there are no
secret answers or even right or wrong answers to the Baldrige application, the award cannot be received
by hiring someone to fill in the blanks.
An organization must show through facts and data that it has a world-class management system in place
and that it is continually looking for ways to improve.

As a final check before recommending recipients, members of the Board of Examiners visit the more
outstanding candidates for the award. During these site visits, examiners interview employees and review
pertinent records and data. The objective is to verify the information provided in the application and to
answer questions raised during the board’s review. An organization that hired someone to fill out its
application would never make it through this rigorous review if its performance management system was
not supported by facts and data.

Is it a conflict of interest for members of the Board of Examiners to work as consultants?

No. Members of the Board of Examiners are experts in evaluating performance management systems.
They are in demand as speakers, as information resources, and as consultants. These activities serve as
a way to make more people aware of performance improvement techniques and the Baldrige Award.

However, since the examiners and judges on the board review applications for the award and are
involved in recommending award recipients, precautions are taken to prevent a conflict of interest or even
the appearance of conflict. Rigorous rules are followed at every stage of the review.

Primarily, this means all members of the board must abide by a code of ethics requiring, among other
things, that they disclose all business affiliations that might create a conflict. In such cases, they cannot
review an application, comment on it, or make any judgments that could affect it. It is a violation of the
code for board members even to ask for information on applications other than those to which they are
assigned.

Other safeguards and checks also are built into the four-step review process. For example, during the first
step, each application is evaluated independently by at least eight different examiners. By the time the
review is over, some applicants will have gone through over 1,000 hours of evaluation.

Is the number of applications for the award an indicator of interest about quality and the Baldrige
Award?
The number of applicants for the national Baldrige Award is not an indicator of overall interest in quality or
the award program. Interest continues to grow both nationwide and internationally.

For example, participation in state and local award programs has increased steadily. In 1991, fewer than
10 states had award programs. Now, 44 states have or are establishing award programs. Most are
modeled after the Baldrige Award, and many organizations opt to compete for them first before
considering a Baldrige Award application. Many of the Baldrige Award recipients also have won state
quality awards.

Internationally, nearly 60 quality programs are in place. Most have been established within the past
several years, and many are based on the Baldrige Award. In Japan, home of the Deming Prize, an
award that closely resembles the Baldrige Award has been established.

Also, it is important to remember the award program is much more than a contest. While recognizing
organizations that have successful performance management systems is the most visible part of the
program, its intent is much broader. Equally important is the award’s role in raising awareness about
quality by encouraging all U.S. businesses and organizations to set up performance improvement
programs whether or not they intend, or are even eligible, to apply for the award.

How does the Baldrige Award differ from ISO 9000?

The purpose, content, and focus of the Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 are very different. Congress created
the Baldrige Award in 1987 to enhance U.S. competitiveness. The award program promotes quality
awareness, recognizes quality achievements of U.S. organizations, and provides a vehicle for sharing
successful strategies. The Baldrige Award criteria focus on results and continuous improvement. They
provide a framework for designing, implementing, and assessing a process for managing all business
operations.

ISO 9000 is a series of five international standards published in 1987 by the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO), Geneva, Switzerland. Companies can use the standards to help determine what is
needed to maintain an efficient quality conformance system. For example, the standards describe the
need for an effective quality system, for ensuring that measuring and testing equipment is calibrated regu-
larly and for maintaining an adequate record-keeping system. ISO 9000 registration determines whether a
company complies with its own quality system.
Overall, ISO 9000 registration covers less than 10 percent of the Baldrige Award criteria.

Is the Baldrige Award a U.S. version of Japan’s Deming award?

The basic purposes of both awards are the same: to promote recognition of quality achievements and to
raise awareness of the importance and techniques of quality improvement. However, the Baldrige Award:

 Focuses more on results and service,

 Relies upon the involvement of many different professional and trade groups,
 Provides special credits for innovative approaches to quality,
 Includes a strong customer and human resource focus, and
 Stresses the importance of sharing information.