All Posts Tagged With: "recipients"
Bankrupt Baldrige Winners
“Haven’t there been Baldrige Award winners that have failed? Gone bankrupt?” It’s a “gotcha” question and it’s almost inevitable when I’m introducing Baldrige to a new leadership group.
The answer is, “Yes–but very few.”
The poster child for Baldrige failures is Wallace Company, a family-owned pipe and valve distributor that received the Award in 1990 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January of 1992. A consultant brought in to turn the company around said, “Instead of shoring up, officials spent time leading tours through the firm and on the lecture circuit.”
I remember sitting in on a conference call in the summer of 1991 between the leaders of Zytec, a Minnesota power supply manufacturer, and the man who led Wallace’s Baldrige effort. Zytec had applied for the Baldrige Award and been notified that it would receive a site visit. Its leaders wanted to know how to prepare for it so they called Wallace.
The Wallace guy talked about how they schmoozed the Baldrige examiners. I don’t remember the litany of perks they provided but I do remember thinking I wished I had been one of those examiners. The Wallace guy took obvious pride in their approach.
When the call ended, the Zytec leaders…
31Jul2009 | Steve George | 0 comments | Continued
