Measuring Business Excellence

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how different management practices drive key financial performance and business success in Danish companies.

Design/methodology/approach – Both qualitative and quantitative research is conducted to study the relationships between eight general management practices and key performance results. A survey among large companies in Denmark and the companies' key performance results form the empirical basis for the study. Two central key performance results are “increase in turnover” and “return on invested capital”. It can be argued that sustained increase in turnover and high return on invested capital at the same time indicate business success and return to shareholders in the long run.

Findings – The findings demonstrate that the eight management practices are linked to key performance results. The high-performing companies are differentiated significantly from the low-performing companies with regard to how well they perform on these management practices. All eight management practices are essential in achieving business success.

Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to eight identified management practices in large Danish companies.

Practical implications – The study has clear implications in terms of identifying and measuring the importance of essential management practices, which influence key performance results, and thereby separate facts from fads.

Originality/value – The study identifies and measures eight essential management practices and links these to actual key performance results.