Winners Of 1998 Business Development Quality Awards Announced

The winners of the 1998 Business Development Quality Awards were announced by Business Development Minister Peter McCardle at a reception in the Beehive last night.

The Awards are presented annually to recognise and promote business excellence and quality management among small to medium size businesses. There were three winners this year.

They received their awards from Mr McCardle and were congratulated by the Minister for Enterprise and Commerce Max Bradford, and the Minister for the Environment Simon Upton.

The national winner of the Business Development Quality Award for 1998 is Synergy International Limited of Wellington. Synergy is a management consultancy specialising in bringing clients' technology processes into line with their business objectives.

The other winners of 1998 BDQ Awards were Auckland Hospital Staff Preschool and Grandma's Paradise Cat Motel, of Napier.

Mr McCardle said the three high achievers well deserved their awards for their commitment to excellence. "They all display the attitude New Zealand businesses need to survive and flourish in today's ultra-competitive marketplace. They have a determination to provide the best possible service for their clients, and are constantly raising their standards of business performance by following quality management and best practice principles."

The Awards are endorsed by the Government in sponsoring partnership with Air New Zealand.

The BDQA are in their sixth year, and have now attracted 700 applicants. The key target group is small and medium size enterprises.

The applications are assessed by an experienced panel of assessors. The criteria for the BDQA are aligned with the internationally recognised Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards, which are run by the National Institute of Standards and Technology of the US Department of Commerce.

The highest-scoring applicant from the private sector and from the public sector are each invited to send a representative on an expenses-paid escorted study visit to Baldrige winners in the US. The knowledge gained from the study visit programme is then shared with other organisations at training workshops throughout New Zealand. This year over 200 people from 70 organisations attended these workshops.