What service excellence can learn from business excellence models

Service excellence is recognised as a means to delight customers, enhance customer loyalty, and build long-term customer relationships. The existing service excellence models focus on the perspective of customers but fail to provide a systematic approach to implementation. On the other hand, business excellence models (BEMs), such as the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) and Baldrige criteria for performance excellence (BCPE), provide a highly structured managerial approach. The purpose of this study is to investigate what service excellence can learn from the BEMs. This study mutually compares the three most prominent models - namely, the BCPE, the EFQM model, and Johnston's service excellence model. The findings show that Johnston's model provides basic steps for achieving service excellence, while the EFQM and BCPE models can provide a systematic approach to service excellence implementation. The article identifies room for improvement in the current service excellence approaches, and highlights the features of an ideal service excellence model. These areas have not been discussed in previous research. © 2013 © 2013 Taylor & Francis.