Should we expect the Baldridge award to predict a company's financial success?

Abstract

Abstract While the Baldridge Award has been dominating management thinking and behavior since the late 1980s, studies that attempted to identify determinants of corporate excellence such as In Search of Excellence dominated management thinking and behavior in the early 1980s. Based on the financial performance of excellent companies, this article explores whether we should expect the Baldridge Award to be a predictor of the financial success of a firm. The article argues that such an expectation is unjustified and calls for a longitudinal study to examine the relationship between total quality management and the financial success of a firm.