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

Within your response, include answers to the following questions:

P.2a. Competitive Environment

a(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 for your organization?

a(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 INNOVATION and COLLABORATION, as appropriate?

a(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 from outside your industry?

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

P.2b. Strategic Context

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

What are your KEY STRATEGIC CHALLENGES and advantages associated with organizational SUSTAINABILITY?

P.2c. Performance Improvement System

What are the KEY elements of your improvement SYSTEM, including your evaluation and LEARNING PROCESSES?

Notes:

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

N2. STRATEGIC CHALLENGES and advantages (P.2b) might relate to technology, products, your operations, your industry, globalization, your VALUE chain, and people.

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. Overall APPROACHES to PERFORMANCE 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.

N4. Nonprofit organizations frequently are in a very competitive environment; 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.

N5. For nonprofit organizations, the term “business” (P.2b) is used throughout the Criteria to refer to your main MISSION area or enterprise activity.

For additional description of this Item, see P.2 Organizational Challenges description.