Sustainability and Excellence: Pillars for Business Survival

Abstract

The chapter presents an overview of management models starting with self-assessment (ISO 9004) and continuing with the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model. Stakeholders’ analysis and their needs and expectations diagnostic are the baseline for building sustainable businesses. Sustainability and excellence are connected, and particular details of these approaches’ implementation are presented. Partnership development appears a key principle in the EFQM model. Based on companies’ strategies analysis, a simplified model may be proposed in order to support business survival in changing environments. Some guidelines to allow assessment of excellence fundamentals implementation are given. Based on experience and without seeing as exhaustive, a summary sheet of possible approaches and deployments is given. This may be used as a practical tool to connect actions implemented in organizations with the excellence model enablers, so as to facilitate assessment to explore the performance maturity level. The same sequence of Plan-Do-Check-Act relates approaches stated by ISO 26000 and sustainability initiatives. Embedding excellence and sustainability into business strategic objectives allows the management to define the framework for competitive continuous improvement.

1. Introduction

Nowadays, the quality of products, including services, appears the mandatory criterion that must be taken into account by companies all over the world. In order to better organize their activities, the companies design, implement, and then review business management systems.

ISO standards offer a framework that covers different areas and give companies support regarding the design and implementation of the management systems.

To ensure a certain degree of quality in all the levels and areas, the company designs and sets in place the quality management system (QMS), in accordance with the fundamentals presented in ISO 9000 [1] and the requirements given by ISO 9001 [2].

In the last decade, to have a quality system implemented in the company appears not enough to identify all the problems and solve them or to face in a reliable way the changing environment. After some time, the systems need to be evaluated in order to identify their performance. For realizing the self-assessment of the QMS, the standard ISO 9004 [3] comes in handy.

To offer a broader alternative to ISO 9004, the excellence models have been developed and reviewed to facilitate benchmarking and maturity level assessment in terms of performance [4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. One of the most developed and used Excellence Model is the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model [4, 5, 6].

As the industry evolved taking into account the quality of products, processes, machines, and systems, another problem appeared that it is not covered in total by the tools used in order to analyze the performance (ISO 9004 [3] and Excellence Models [4, 5, 6]). The excellence models were the starting point of finding solutions for a sustainable development of companies.

In order to achieve sustainable development for a company, the three pillars, namely society (social responsibility), economic growth, and the environment protection, must be taken into account [9].

In 2010, ISO drafted and published the standard ISO 26000 [10] that offer companies’ guidelines considering two of the three pillars (society and environment). Its purpose is to harmonize the social behavior of enterprises worldwide [10, 11, 12].

An important item in sustainability is the establishing of key performance indicators and the manner in which they have to report them. To have guidelines for reporting, the Stitching Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and ISO have developed a framework for companies presented in GRI1 Foundation [13]. The next three standards cover the part of general disclosures [14], materials [15], and economic performances [16]. The first four GRI standards are applied in all fields.

Nowadays, searching companies’ websites, more and more companies exhibit their strategy in terms of customer focus and sustainability. Moreover, sustainability strategies are promoted to increase customer loyalty showing the approaches for sustainable development so as to harmonize stakeholders into more sensitive balance between environment – human – development – policies.

2. Fundamental concepts for sustained organizational survival

One may analyze the structure of ISO standards concerning quality management, i.e., the fundamentals (ISO 9000 [1]), the requirements (ISO 9001 [2]), and the guidance for sustained success that may be considered an assessment framework and tool for the QMS maturity (ISO 9004 [3]). The QMS principles are accompanied by possible actions, these actions being translated into requirements in ISO 9001 [2]. This means that one may not focus unbalanced on one or another component of the system, the whole, as a system, appears relevant, and all aspects should be considered irrespective of the priority order selected by the organization to address the fundamental through approaches.

Once implemented, the organization may step into the next level of performance, applying the self-assessment regularly in order to define improvement plans and act accordingly. In this context, ISO 9004 offers a maturity assessment tool [3] finalized with a radar diagram for better evidence of the areas with more potential or emergency need for improvement. Such a radar, together with the detailed maturity assessment, may be used by the management team (top and middle) as a prioritizing tool for the decision-making process.

If organizations maintain into the improvement cycle according to ISO 9001 requirements, certainly certain benefits may be reported on long term, but, in order to proactive reply to the global changes, ISO standards appear too basic to release organizational adaptability and people real engagement. The management team has the option to support improvement projects, even beyond the ISO requirements, such as motivating people through different mechanisms to balance professional to private life or involvement in community responsibility projects. On short term, the tangible effect may be more satisfaction and engagement of people.

Based on the experience of different contexts, in function of the organizational capability, a significant step ahead may be embracing extended fundamentals of an excellence model, such as EFQM [3, 4] or other similar business models. Table 1 presents in comparison the fundamentals showing the consistency in progression of these principles.

Quality management principles [2]	Fundamental concepts EFQM model [4]	Fundamental concepts updated EFQM model [5]
	Achieving Balanced Results	Sustaining Outstanding Results
Customer focus	Adding Value for Customers	Adding Value for Customers
Leadership	Leading with Vision, Inspiration & Integrity	Leading with Vision, Inspiration & Integrity
Engagement of people	Succeeding through People	Succeeding through the Talent of People
Process approach	Managing by Processes	Managing with Agility
Improvement	Nurturing Creativity & Innovation	Harnessing Creativity & Innovation
Evidence-based decision making
Relationship management	Building Partnerships	Developing Organizational Capability
	Taking Responsibility for a Sustainable Future	Creating a Sustainable Future

Table 1.

Comparison of fundamentals.

Once a sound management system set in place and a deep commitment of the management team for these fundamentals, the use of the excellence model framework is naturally adopted. Even more complex, more evidence-based, more refined, and in-depth interconnected, the excellence model offers to the management team the framework for assessment on a broader and more discrete perspective in order to define action plans for improvement. Similarly, but more complex, all fundamentals should be considered, each of them having corresponding criteria and subcriteria, and the same maturing assessment is proceeded, revealing finally the areas for improvement.

The difference, but the added value of the excellence model, lies into the more refined evidence research for more organizational cells and layers, seen in the progression of PDCA (Approach – Deployment – Assessment & Refinement) of the assessment so as to identify, prioritize, and implement sustainable approaches.

Even if the model changed the role from an assessment tool [4, 5] to a framework for defining the direction so as to cocreate together with others a sustainable ecosystem [6], in order to understand the capabilities and to address the necessary changes, the assessment grid (Table 2) is given for connecting to evidences while analyzing the reality, in order to define priorities for present and future.

Type of evidences	Attributes	Rating %
Lack of indicators; Lack of procedures; Interfaces undefined	No evidence or anecdotal/Unable to demonstrate	0%
Indicators set in place, but no monitoring and connection with the approaches; Improvement plan drafted; Procedures for critical issues; Interfaces coordination in an unformal way	Partial Conformity/Some evidence/Limited ability to demonstrate	25%
Improvement plan documented and monitored; Procedures/processes set in place, documented and functional; Functional interfaces; Rare or minor disruptive processes/few or minor non-conformities; Monitored indicators as decision-making process threshold/framework	Effective/Evidence/Able to demonstrate	50%
Regular improvement of the documented processes; Regular update of procedures for better and more fluent functioning; Interfaces regular monitoring together with process stakeholders	Efficient/Clear evidence/Fully able to demonstrate	75%
Innovative approaches set in place; Practices reference for benchmarking at global level; Anticipation of needs and their evolution; Committed and motivated actors; Continuous learning from the implemented approaches to explore perceived opportunities	Excellent/Comprehensive evidence/Recognized as global role model	100%

Table 2.

Assessment grid for enablers.

3. Framework for diagnostic of maturity level of organizational performance

Disruptive processes appear nevertheless in any environments and nowadays change, balance, technology, transformation may not be avoided; moreover, after a long period of stop-and-start, with direction research in the pandemic time, which revealed clearly that previous solutions should be reviewed and soundly transformed, a diagnostic of the entity’s reality is needed.

The RADAR tool has been developed on the basis of the Deming cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act) but adding the organization’s reason of existence in the ecosystem, measured through the results composed by perceptions and outcomes/outputs/indicators, all of these benchmarked versus targets.

The assessment/diagnostic tool allows the management team to analyze in depth the working style in order to manage more effective and efficient, but to enable the strategy and plans definition in clear priority and consistent follow-up. The starting point is the results aimed to achieve, once determined, approaches are set in place to deliver these results, approaches become operational through deployments, and their effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability are assessed and refined. The assessment framework is detailed in Table 3 for enablers and Table 4 for results.

	Element	Detail	Rating %	Organization reality
R	Results	What are the results aimed to achieve as follows the Strategy	Search evidence and assess	Strengths and Areas for improvement
A	Plan and develop sound and integrated Approaches to deliver the Results in a sustainable way	Sound—considering relevant stakeholders needs build Approaches with real rationale and define processes to support them	Search evidence and assess	Strengths and Areas for improvement
		Integrated—considering the Strategy to achieve the Results, build and connect the Approaches in a sustainable and synergetic structure
D	Deploy the Approaches in a structured way to support sustainable achievements	Implemented—approaches are implemented in relevant areas with time refinement based on the stakeholders present and future needs	Search evidence and assess	Strengths and Areas for improvement
		Systematic—approaches are operational and enable resilience and agility; Approaches are planned and executed soundly
A	Assess the deployed Approaches analyzing the achieved Results and the ongoing learning experiences	Measurement—regular measurements of approaches effectiveness & efficiency, regular measurements of effectiveness & efficiency of carried out deployments, appropriate measurements selected and regularly monitored	Search evidence and assess	Strengths and Areas for improvement
R	Refine the deployed Approaches analyzing the achieved Results and the ongoing learning experiences considering the changing environment	Learning and creativity—internal and external good practices/practices to avoid and improvement opportunities are internalized and valorized, approaches and deployments are updated with creativity
		Improvement and innovation—outputs from measurements and learning and creativity are feeding evaluation, prioritization, planning and implementation of improvements and innovations
Summary per Enabler subcriterion			Consolidated rating	Strengths and Areas for improvement

Table 3.

Radar assessment framework for enablers.

Element	Detail	Rating %	Organization reality
Relevance and usability; Results should be comprehensive, reliable, accurate and consistent with the strategy	Scope and relevance—performance seen as strategy to fulfill relevant stakeholders needs and expectations is demonstrated by coherent and sustained key results (KPI)	Search evidence in relevant areas and assess	Strengths and Areas for improvement
	Integrity—results are accurate and reliable and ensure confidence
	Segmentation—to reveal meaningful insights
Performance positive trends and sustained good performance, comparisons are favorable against best in segment or class, cause-effect relationships allow confidence into sustainable performance	Trends—sustained positive performance at least 3 years	Search evidence in relevant areas and assess	Strengths and Areas for improvement
	Targets—are set and are consistently achieved, in line with the strategic objectives
	Comparisons—external comparisons are made and these are favorable, in line with the strategic objectives
	Confidence—the performance level will be sustained as enablers—results relationship is conditioned
Summary per Result subcriterion		Consolidated rating	Strengths and Areas for improvement

Table 4.

Assessment framework for results.

For a better understanding of how the day-to-day activity of the organization should be framed into the excellence assessment, some guidance is presented in Table 5. Current tools, developments, and ways of working may be associated to enablers, but the management thinking design should always be mirrored by the results (perceptions and outcomes) assessment and their evolution understanding, compared with targets and adequately/dynamically benchmarked. The cause-effect relation helps in understanding the “why” behind the organization’s approach, the “how” to deploy the approaches, and the achievements as a result, in practice the consequence of all these actions.

Enabler	Subcriterion	Possible approach	Possible deployment
Leadership	Leaders develop the Mission, Vision, Values, Ethics and act as models	Define the core business purpose for a sustainable future and consequently the Values and Ethics	Vision, Mission, Values are developed and integrated into the Strategy and communicated regularly to all stakeholders
		Define and review leaders code of conduct/agreed behaviors to explicit the leaders role model	Enable assessment, review, improvement of individual performance, mainly those of leaders
		360° Appraisal - evaluate leaders performance based on feedback from all levels of interaction top, down and lateral	Deploy a sound process of assessment of the individual performance so as to build a culture of trust and ethics
	Leaders define, monitor, review and improve the management system and the performance	Set strategic measures to monitor performance in line with the stakeholders needs and expectations, such as Balanced Scorecard	Management team assess progression against targets set so as to achieve the strategic goals; composite indicators are regularly analyzed as part of the decision process
		Management board meetings for regular review and refinement in line with the business	Strategic objectives are cascaded into the reporting processes (financial, operational a.s.o)
	Leaders engage with external stakeholders	Regular contact of senior management with key customers, partners and community representatives	Define business to business strategic level and review it regularly in line with the strategic goals
		Reporting and public communication, such as Sustainability report (UN Global Compact)	The reports content, format and circulation concern business key financial, environmental and societal progression, in line with international initiatives committed for, if the case
	Leaders reinforce the culture of excellence with organization’s people	Define the culture of excellence by adopting a business model in line with an excellence model, such as EFQM	Consider excellence as a reference in the planning processes; leaders actively involve people in improvements
	Leaders ensure that the organization is flexible and manage changes effectively	Annual Board Meeting—the Board communicate the plans and gain support/commitment for their implementation	The management team agrees the strategic plans and gain support, if the case, from shareholders
		Annual kick-off event—leaders communicate the overall strategy and the annual objectives	Leaders adopt organization’s objectives and cascade them to individual ones in their teams
Strategy	Strategy is based on understanding both stakeholders’ needs and expectations and external environment	Understanding developments, opportunities, threats on the desired and current market	Relate market analysis with strategic partners, knowledge management and research and development, connect with academics a.s.o.
		Understand any updates concerning legal and regulatory compliance	Legal and operational teams should cooperate to identify and implement the regulatory and compliance framework and correspondent actions to set in place
	Strategy is based on deeply understanding internal performance and capabilities	Perform an in-depth self-assessment conducted internally or externally; Cross check with control systems results	Perform an in-depth self-assessment to identify priorities for the action plans; Consider objectively the organization’s capabilities
	Strategy and policies are developed and updated to ensure sustainability	SWOT analysis may reveal internal and external perspectives (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)	Balance internal and external perspectives in strategy, policies and strategic plans
	Strategy and policies are communicated and deployed/documented	Strategy mapping—strategy is geographically segmented and aligned with stakeholders’ expectations	Strategy maps may be communication tools and review tools for the management team to check performance and update the objectives, plans, processes
		Cascade objectives—align personal and teams’ objectives although the organization with the strategic ones	Start from top level and progressively break down through functional streamlines and individuals; Connect individual objectives with internal communication and the appraisal process
People	People plans are aligned with the organization strategy	People engagement rather than people satisfaction	Enable people’s contribution to their full capacity to the organization goals; Link people engagement to customer loyalty and key results
		Recruiting process—attract, evaluate and select new and potential talented people	Promote mobility, link to remuneration and benefits policies, adapt to the level of people to be recruited, third part/external service may be used
		Succession planning—identify potential successors for the key roles and prepare them adequately	Prepare business continuity planning on immediate and long-term perspective and review regularly the planning
	People’s knowledge and skills are developed	Appraisal process—assess individual performance and behaviors against a set of agreed objectives, competences, attitudes	Align organization’s overall objectives to people individual performance and objectives; Link to people survey and to performance related incentives (salary, bonus, promotion…penalty)
		Personal development and training—align individual needs to competences needed for the role as derived by the strategic objectives	HR strategy is aligned to people capabilities, organizational needs to fulfill the strategic goals and the appraisal process; Training plans are drafted and implemented, results of training are assessed and valorized
		Management development programs and/or people certification	Talent management plans set in place; Staff certification for roles needing it or for professionals in industry/sector setting the requirement, eventually on regular basis
	People are aligned, engaged and empowered	Process improvement teams—improvement as culture in a structural process	Privilege cross-functional teams; Involve (experts) facilitators or include training to guide the process
		5S—workplace and flows organization methodology	Empowering people to improve the workplace and the processes they are involved in; Facilitate processes’ standardization
		Objectives’ cascade—align individuals to strategic objectives	Connect to strategic planning process (ex-ante) and the appraisal process and people motivation policies objectively supported by people performance (ex-post)
	People communicate effectively throughout the organization	Internal communication—clear communication channels top, down, horizontal, inter-departments/units	Ensure a bilateral way of communication to support dialog and information transfer, based on needs of people and teams; Use surveys to assess the effectiveness
		Electronic communication media	Encourage communication and networking through e-means (intranet, blogs, social networking a.s.o.), but maintain and valorize physical interaction, too
		Workers council	Develop a sustainable partnership with the workers’ structures, if any
	People are recognized, rewarded and cared for	Rewards and benefits	Develop a flexible benefit package aligned to overall HR strategy
		Salary benchmarking	Screen the connection between people’s motivation incentives and benefit package in the region, industry, sector etc. (external service may be used)
		Health and safety	Implement legal and regulatory compliance in term of occupational safety and health; Bonus as medical insurance, welfare, facilities for family
Partnership and resources	Partners and suppliers are managed for sustainable benefit	Suppliers’ selection criteria	Suppliers’ audits, assessment
		Establish, develop and manage relationship with partners	Partnership-related processes clearly defined, monitored and assessed; Partners’ performance reported (impact on KPI) and related to Strategy
	Finances are managed to secure sustained success	Budgeting process, with data in compliance to legal regulation, stock exchange a.s.o.	Ensure budget are aligned to strategic objectives; Budget allocations are cascaded and aligned with processes and reviewed, correlated with the Results
		Procurement processes, lengths of supply chains	Responsible purchasing is a key for CSR strategy
	Buildings, equipment, materials and natural resources are managed in a sustainable way	Buildings’ policy and facilities management to ensure a safe working environment with all necessary facilities for achieving the Strategy	Effective management of sites, locations, outsourced facilities; Assess people satisfaction; Report sustainability; Review the policies
		Environmental management system; Information security management system	Consider ISO certifications (ISO 14001, 27001 a.o.)
	Technology is managed to support strategy	Possible IT outsourcing; Internal digital transformation processes	IT maintenance, support, other services; IT policies aligned to strategic goal; People training and support
	Information and knowledge are managed to build operational capability	Knowledge management system; Ensure data security, availability, integrity	Build a knowledge management system; Capitalize the organizations’ knowledge
Processes, Products and Services	Processes are designed and managed to optimize the value for stakeholders	Process approach and risk-based thinking	ISO 9001 implementation/certification
		Lean Six Sigma	DMAIC to understand performance dynamics and identify improvement options; Monitor customer experience
	Products and services are developed to create value for customers	Research and development	Sustainability issues, production techniques, end life cycle monitored, recycling, buy-back, research on as-used components
		Focus groups to collect and generate new ideas, direct feedback	Involve customer in testing new products; Collect regularly the Voice of Customer (VOC)
	Products and services are effectively promoted and marketed	Strategy of marketing / product launching, including target audience, value proposition, pricing, promotion	Clear definition of target audience; Use effective channels for reaching audience; Assess the marketing campaign through the effective results
	Products and services are produced, delivered and managed	Supply chain management to ensure effective delivery of products and services to customer	Connect CSR into the supply chain management
	Customer relationships are managed and enhanced	Customer relationship management—a system set in place tracking contacts, accompanied details of expectations	Connect to product development, marketing-sales and performance indicators
		Customer centers	Sometimes outsourced; Dependent on customer strategy adopted
		Customer surveys, the most common tool to collect customer experience	Frequency, segmentation, use of results to drive improvements and review of strategy

Table 5.

Guidance for enablers.

4. Sustainability framework for companies

Considering the evolution of the industrial fields nowadays and the requirements stated by the standards and laws, companies have adopted more often the concept of sustainability. The sustainability development of a company is given by the three pillars of sustainability (see Figure 1): society (social responsibility), economic growth, and the environment protection. The three pillars are embedded within the company’s management systems.

Figure 1.

Sustainability pillars.

Since the first pillar of sustainability—economic growth—has been defined, this has appeared important for companies to remain in competition in their field of activity. In order to maintain a constant economic growth, companies define strategic objectives and continuously implement these objectives in all areas of improvement identified using several types of performance models. This pillar may relate to the first two enablers presented in Table 5: Leadership and Strategy.

Second and third pillars of sustainability development cover the other three enablers presented in Table 5: people, partnership and resources, and some parts of processes, products, and services.

The three pillars are, also, reflected in the Business Continuity Plan of companies, plan required by the legal norms in each country. Every company must consider and establish possible actions to keep under control the impact on the society and environment in any given situation.

In order to support companies and harmonize their social behavior, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has created the standard “ISO 26000: 2010, Guidance on Social Responsibility” [10].

The standard contains voluntary guidance, but it does not need a certification. Table 6 presents an example of steps that can be followed in order to implement the standard. Before implementing the ISO 26000, the most important step is to identify the stakeholders of the company and the impact they have on the social responsibility decisions that will be taken and implemented (see Figure 2).

	Steps	Possible actions
Plan	Identify the need benefits of implementing SR standard in the company	Establish the SR characteristics
		Identify the relationship between SR and sustainability
	Define the policy and the strategy	Identify stakeholders
		Identify and create a common ground between the values of the company and the SR values
		Analyze the SR principles
		Analyze and identify the needed areas for the company considering the seven core subjects of SR
DO	Integrate in the existing management system the SR requirements	Adopt the SR principles
		Establish the SR objectives
		Establish the KPI (key performance indicators) for SR
		State the action plan
	Implement the possible actions	Establish the way of reporting the KPI
		Raise awareness in the company
		Integrate the action plan in the company systems
	Communicate and set the reporting means for all the stakeholders	Identify the most effective way of communication
		Engage the stakeholders taking into account their impact on the company decisions regarding SR
		Analyze the SR influence
		Report the KPI established
Check	Evaluate	Monitor the SR performance
		Analyze the data obtained
Act	Improve	Identify possible action in order to improve the SR performance; Track the improvements impact

Table 6.

Implementation of the ISO 26000 standard.

Figure 2.

Stakeholders.

The NEN Handbook “The implementation of SR – Best practices and tools for ISO 26000” offers a set of detailed free tools that can be used to implement the Social Responsibility (SR) in companies (see Table 6).

In order to implement the SR principles and objectives in the organization management, first of all, the relevant areas of interest correlated with the core subjects of ISO 26000 should be identified. In Table 7 are presented some relevant areas that can be important for different companies.

Core subject	Relevant areas of interest	Stakeholders
Organizational Governance	The application of the SR principles ensures an elevated level of organizational governance	The organization leaders; Employers
	A joint effort is needed, considering the size of the Organization, to achieve the desired results associated with SR.
	The most effective mechanism to implement is to maintain the motivation of the stakeholders and to proper develop of the principles of Social Responsibility
Human Rights	Establish transparent and effective complaint and redress mechanisms	The organization leaders; Employers; Customers; Suppliers; Society; Local government
	“Equal rights for all employees and workers (such as gender equality); Strive for diversity in the employee group”
	Freedom of opinion and expression
	Contribution to economic, social and cultural; rights
	“No child labor and no forced labor; Freedom of association or collective bargaining “
Labor Practices	Contracts for employees with clear and correct; mentions	The organization leaders; Employers
	Equal and equitable opportunities for all employees
	Contracts with clear and fair mentions to subcontractors, suppliers and partners
	Protection of personal and private data of employees
	Social protection for employees
	Collaboration and openness to dialog with independent representatives representing the interests of employees
	Continuous communication with local communities or other local stakeholders
	Implementation of occupational medicine systems
	Emergency assistance
	Handling/Handling of Dangerous Equipment
	Preventive Medical Investigations
	Staff development and training plan
	Training program for new employees
Environment	Respecting and promoting the following principles: environmental responsibility cautious approach environmental risk management the polluter pays	The organization leaders; Employers; Customers; Suppliers; Society; Local government
	Pollution prevention through management: emissions to air discharges into the water waste management use and disposal of toxic and dangerous chemicals other identifiable forms of pollution
	Sustainable use of resources through the effective use of the following: basic raw materials electricity gas water	The organization leaders; Employers; Society
	Climate change mitigation through effective management; of greenhouse gas emissions, Reducing vulnerability; to floods	The organization leaders; Society
	Valorization and protection of biodiversity
	Valorization and Sustainable use of land and natural resources; Restoration of ecosystems
	Progress on ecological urban and rural development
Fair Operating Practices	Clear rules regarding the accepted level of giving and receiving business gifts Respecting the local culture	The organization leaders; Employers; Costumers; Suppliers
	Verification of certificates and declarations of origin
	Establishing rules and boundaries regarding political lobbying
	Similar level of information available to all providers and contractors
	Contracts including clear terms and fair prices in relation to suppliers and
	Honest pricing policy with suppliers
	Implement appropriate vigilance mechanisms
	Payment of fair compensation for intellectual and physical property rights
Consumer Issues	Clear, honest and complete information about the products or services delivered and their impact.	The organization leaders; Customers; Employers
	Mechanisms for returning and withdrawing the product from the market.
	Reliable, accurate, and verifiable information about the impact of products/services on the environment, society or economy
	Adequate and relevant information on: product health and safety, possible negative impacts, maintenance, assembly or recycling.
	Products that can be recycled or repaired and reused
	Accessible and efficient customer complaint mechanism
	Mechanisms for proper installation, use, repair, maintenance, return and recycling
	Clear and fair guarantee and implementation mechanism
	Mechanism for resolving disputes, resolving disputes, and mediating at a minimum cost to consumers
	Transparent mechanism for obtaining, using, securing, and deleting personal data
	The right of the customer/consumer to verify personal data
	Protection policy for the provision of essential services to all consumers
	Education and awareness program for customers/consumers regarding the purchase conditions, comparison of key functions, impact of use, etc.
Community involvement and development	Analysis of communities affected by core activities	The organization leaders; Society
	Review of supporting the Millennium Development Goals or local development goals
	Education and learning program for communities
	Plan for respecting cultural traditions and protecting cultural heritage
	Participation in local and national skills development programs, including apprenticeships
	Plan for the direct creation of local jobs
	Collaboration with universities or institutions in stimulating and providing technology at accessible local conditions
	Providing fair opportunities for local suppliers and SMEs
	Fair fiscal policy
	Program to support communities with essential health care services, access to clean water, good sanitation
	Activities to stimulate the improvement of the infrastructure for transport, water, electricity, communications, etc.

Table 7.

The core subjects from ISO 26000 [10].

Companies that have implemented ISO 26000 and monitor sustainability should annually report the key performance indicators they set. In order to do that, they can use the reporting framework given by the GRI.

5. Conclusions and perspectives

Analyzing the common ground of the excellence models (EFQM) or sustainability, one may notice that for both approaches the companies must:

• Set objectives considering the fundamental concepts that the company has adopted and internalized in the company’s culture

• Identify KPI for both and then ways and tools to monitor them

• Evaluate the performance on a regular basis

• Report the results

• Relaunch the cycle considering the performance and results versus the targets and comparing to the competitors when resetting the objectives.

Considering a company that adopted both excellence and sustainability concepts and codefined the company’s values starting from these fundamentals, one may propose the structure of the company’s management system looking similar to the Greek temple, as presented in Figure 3.

Figure 3.

Company structure.

The foundation to build a surviving business may embed the fundamental concepts of excellence and sustainability, the pillars for maintaining the business in the global competition should arise from the two models, merging the enablers and the results of excellence with the criteria to assess sustainability, and finally, the company assesses and reports regularly the KPI and the other metrics in order to better comply with the values, to differentiate among competitors, and to better serve the stakeholders.

Acknowledgments

This work has been funded from the Erasmus + project “Boosting Sustainable Digital Education for European Universities (BoostEdU),” no. 2020-1-CZ01-KA226-HE-094408. The European Commission has no responsibility concerning the content of this deliverable.