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Blogrige

The Official Baldrige Blog

The "New" Purpose of a Corporation

Creating Value for ALL Key Stakeholders Photo of a group of diverse employees behind a table standing together in a row in a bright office.
Credit: Flamingo Images/Shutterstock

In case you missed it, on August 19, 2019, the Business Roundtable released a statement on the purpose of a corporation. This statement is probably overdue by at least a decade or two; however, it is still worthy of appreciation, as it acknowledges what many good corporations already practice and recognizes the importance of creating value for all key stakeholders, rather than focusing just on quarterly financial returns and stockholder earnings. The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and many others published articles about the change.

If you, your leadership, and/or your board of directors would like a proven, nonprescriptive tool to help you implement such an “enlightened” approach to leading, managing, and improving your organization, you are in luck!

The Baldrige Excellence Framework is Exactly What You Need!

Baldrige has been promoting and enabling such a perspective for many years. In fact, more than a dozen of the organizations whose CEO’s signed the statement have used the Baldrige framework, and each of the fundamental commitments included in the statement (on the left below) reflects a core value imbedded within the Baldrige Excellence Framework (on the right bolded):  

  • Delivering value to our customers: Customer-Focused Excellence
  • Investing in our employees: Valuing People
  • Dealing fairly and ethically with our suppliers: Ethics and Transparency
  • Supporting the communities in which we work: Societal Contributions
  • Generating long-term value for shareholders: Focus on Success

Best of all, Baldrige isn’t intended to be something you do in addition to what you do. Rather, it is about improving how you do what you do, to ensure that those actions and practices are effective at accomplishing their intended purpose while also supporting and enabling optimal performance across the entire organization.

Learn More From Baldrige Award Recipient Leaders

To see and learn from role-model organizations that truly want to help your organization improve, check out the Baldrige Award recipients. I encourage you to attend the Baldrige Fall Conference, our annual Quest for Excellence® conference next spring , or other opportunities throughout the year where you can engage with and learn from a variety of different organizations and their leaders.

About the Baldrige Program

The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program (BPEP) is a public-private partnership with the purpose of improving the performance and sustainability of organizations of all kinds. Through collaboration and partnership with the business community, BPEP maintains a globally recognized and emulated framework for organization-wide excellence, identifies role-model organizations through the Baldrige Award, provides educational offerings, and shares best practices from the award recipients.


2019-2020 Baldrige Excellence Framework Business/Nonprofit cover artwork

Baldrige Excellence Framework

The Baldrige Excellence Framework has empowered organizations to accomplish their missions, improve results, and become more competitive. It includes the Criteria for Performance Excellence, core values and concepts, and guidelines for evaluating your processes and results.

Purchase your copy today!

Available versions: Business/Nonprofit, Education, and Health Care


About the author

Robert Fangmeyer

I am Bob, Director of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. I have been with Baldrige since 1997 serving on many of the teams in the office in many different roles. Since becoming the Deputy Director in 2011, I have led the effort to design, develop, and implement a new business model that relies even more heavily on partnerships and collaboration as well as cost control and revenue generation. As Director, I manage overall operations, focusing on enhancing our products and services, ensuring efficient and effective operations, as well as planning for strategic capability and capacity needs. In addition, I spend significant time and energy helping to lead and guide the development and implementation of the Baldrige Enterprise.  I am thrilled to be a part of the Baldrige Program where I get to work with and learn from people and organizations committed to achieving excellence.

My background includes owning and managing small service-based businesses, six years as a human resources specialist, a Bachelors degree in Psychology, and an MBA from the University of Maryland. When not working, I enjoy exercising and spending time with my wonderful wife, three kids, and Buddy, my boxer dog.

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Comments

Bob, thanks for sharing the business round table statement of purpose.
It’s amazing how 14 pages of top executives agree on more than quarterly profits and personal gain.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if all of those CEO’s signing their shared purpose document actually adopted the Performance excellence framework and (like ISO organizations) demand their suppliers do as well.

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