Describe your organization’s competitive environment, your KEY STRATEGIC CHALLENGES, and your SYSTEM for PERFORMANCE improvement.

Within your response, include answers to the following questions:

P.2a. Competitive Environment

(1)      What is your competitive position?

What is your relative size and growth in your industry or markets served?

What are the numbers and types of competitors and key collaborators for your organization?

(2)      What are the principal factors that determine your success relative to your competitors?

What are any KEY changes taking place that affect your competitive situation, including opportunities for collaboration, as appropriate?

(3)      What are your KEY available sources of COMPARATIVE and competitive data from within your industry?

What are your KEY available sources of COMPARATIVE data for analogous PROCESSES outside your industry?

What limitations, if any, are there in your ability to obtain these data?

P.2b. Strategic Challenges

What are your key business, operational, and human resource STRATEGIC CHALLENGES?

What are your KEY STRATEGIC CHALLENGES associated with organizational SUSTAINABILITY?

P.2c. Performance Improvement System

HOW do you maintain an overall organizational focus on PERFORMANCE improvement, including organizational LEARNING?

HOW do you achieve SYSTEMATIC evaluation and [SYSTEMATIC] improvement of KEY PROCESSES?

Notes:

N1. Principal factors (P.2a[2]) might include differentiators such as price leadership, design services, e-services, geographic proximity, accessibility, and warranty and product options. For some nonprofit organizations, differentiators also might include relative influence with decision makers, ratio of administrative costs to programmatic contributions, past reputation for program or service delivery, and wait times for service.

N2. STRATEGIC CHALLENGES (P.2b) might include rapid technological change, disruptive technologies that rapidly revolutionize or make obsolete existing PROCESSES or products, reduced CYCLE TIMES for product or service introduction, industry volatility, declining market share, the changing marketplace, mergers and acquisitions, global marketing and competition, CUSTOMER retention, changing or emerging CUSTOMER or regulatory requirements, EMPLOYEE retention, an aging workforce, competition from new nonprofit or for-profit organizations, and VALUE chain INTEGRATION.

N3. PERFORMANCE improvement (P.2c) is an assessment dimension used in the Scoring System to evaluate the MATURITY of organizational APPROACHES and DEPLOYMENT. This question is intended to help you and the Baldrige Examiners set an overall context for your APPROACH to PERFORMANCE improvement.

N4. Overall APPROACHES to PROCESS improvement (P.2c) might include implementing a Lean Enterprise System, applying Six Sigma methodology, using ISO 9000:2000 standards, or employing other PROCESS improvement tools.

N5. Nonprofit organizations frequently believe they are not in a competitive environment; however, they often must compete with other organizations and with alternative sources for similar services to secure financial and volunteer resources, membership, visibility in appropriate communities, and media attention.

N6. The term "industry" (P.2a[1]) is used throughout the Criteria to refer to the sector in which you operate. For nonprofit organizations, professional associations, or government or sub-sectors of one of these.

N7. For nonprofit organizations, the term "business" (P.2b) is used throughout the Criteria to refer to factors related to your main MISSION area or enterprise activity.

2006 Criteria Items: 1.1 - 1.2 - 2.1 - 2.2 - 3.1 - 3.2 - 4.1 - 4.2 - 5.1 - 5.2 - 5.3 - 6.1 - 6.2 - 7.1 - 7.2 - 7.3 - 7.4 - 7.5 - 7.6 - P.1 - P.2