HISTORY – FIJI BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARDS

The Fiji Business Excellence Awards was formerly known as the Fiji National Quality Awards and was the brain child of the 1995 Round Table Conference where representatives of Employers, Unions and Government met to draw a roadmap for Fiji’s Productivity movement. It was there that the idea of implementing a business excellence framework for Fiji was adopted into the Productivity Charter of 1995 and later in 2005.

The 1995 Productivity Charter stipulates under section 2.5 that an excellence awards be introduced to be used as a stimulus and encouragement for organisations to implement quality and productivity measures in the workplace. The section also states that the ”President will be associated with the Fiji Business Excellence Awards”. Therefore, the President of the Republic of Fiji has always officiated at the Fiji Business Excellence Awards Night.

Pursuant to the above, the Fiji Business Excellence Awards was launched in 1998 by the late President of the Republic of Fiji, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. The launching took place at the Raffles Tradewinds Convention Centre on 13 November, 1998.

Applicants for the annual awards have included organizations from the public and private sectors, large and small enterprises, and both local and international companies. To date, around 116 awards have been presented to70 organizations.

The Fiji Business Excellence Awards were established to promote business excellence by providing a framework or criteria for assessment based on principles that are similar to those for other awards globally. 

The FBEA Journey

The National Quality Awards were first established in 1988, eventually becoming the Fiji Business Excellence Awards in 2002. The FBEA Framework was based on the Australian Business Excellence Framework which is comparable with similar frameworks internationally, including the Quality Awards of Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and the European Quality Awards.

In 2011, the FBEA Secretariat made the change from the Australian BE Model to the Malcolm Baldrige Awards model, taken from the Baldrige 2010-2012 Criteria for Performance Excellence.

In compiling this framework, the Secretariat of the Fiji Business Excellence Awards consulted widely with the National Training & Productivity Centre’s social partners – the Government of the Republic of Fiji, the Fiji Commerce Employers Federation and the two major Trade Union Bodies, the Fiji Trades Union Congress (FTUC), and the Fiji Islands Council of Trade Unions (FICTU).

Our Vision

The vision of the Fiji Business Excellence Awards Secretariat, which has the responsibility for administering the Awards, is to create world-class organisations and to bring a better quality of life for our people. However, this vision goes beyond the competitive performance of organisations to embrace the concept of a collective, national effort to create a clean, safe, fair and prosperous society.

Mr Nick Taylor, General Manager of DHL Express (Fiji) Ltd receives the prestigious Fiji Business Excellence – President’s Award 2011, from the President of the Republic of Fiji H.E. Ratu Epeli Nailatikau

National quality and business excellence awards around the world, have been a beacon and blueprint for driving a wide variety of organisations to their highest levels.

The USA Malcolm Baldrige Quality Awards, the European Quality Awards and the Australian Business Excellence awards were among the first awards introduced in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Today, there are more than 80 countries around the world that have adopted such frameworks and associated awards processes. This growth testifies to increasing global interest in and commitment to adopting national excellence frameworks.

The Fiji Business Excellence Awards Framework emphasizes a holistic application of excellent business practices through the full cycle of continuous improvement.

The Fiji Business Excellence Awards Model

Figure 1A Systems Perspective of 2012 Criteria for Performance Excellence

Categories and Items

The Framework comprises7 Categories and 17 Items.

The Fiji Business Excellence Awards is not a competition between winners and losers, but a recognition process to reward those organisations doing exceptionally well in their respective areas of business. Applicants do not compete against each other, but benchmark against the Fiji Business Excellence Awards Framework.

Names of Organisations and Levels of Recognition

FBEA Evaluators

Evaluators of the Fiji Business Excellence Awards evaluate submissions from applicants, conduct site visits and prepare feedback reports. The Evaluators are past recipients of the FBEA and from organisations that support the FBEA movement in Fiji. All Evaluators are acquainted with the requirements of the FBEA Policy Handbook which enumerates how they are to conduct themselves and maintain the confidentiality of the entire process.

FBEA Evaluators at the 2011 Awards Night held at the Golden Ballroom, Sheraton Fiji Resort.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF FIJI BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARDS EVALUATORS

1. Holds a degree in Management (or equivalent experience)
2. Worked in a Commercial Entity
3. Involvement in Project Planning and Business Development
4. Involvement in Research Work
5. Experience in Writing Project or Board Papers
6. Member of a Professional Institute
7. Industrial Experience
8. Strong Analytical Skills
9. Good Communication Skills
10. Ability to work in a team (Pragmatic)

11. Good Command of English

FBEA EVALUATOR’S APPLICATION