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; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; human resource focus; process management; and results.

The Baldrige performance excellence criteria are a framework that any organization can

use to improve overall performance are designed to help organizations enhance their competitiveness by focusing on two goals: Delivering ever-improving value to customers

and improving overall organizational performance.

These criteria now are accepted widely, not only in the United States but also around the world, as the standard for performance excellence.