The Excellence Model was introduced in 1992 as the framework for assessing applications for The European Quality Award. The EFQM Excellence Model is now widely used throughout Europe and has become the basis for national and regional quality awards in Europe and other parts of the world. In addition, the Excellence Model is used by organisations as a tool for organisational self-assessment. The widespread use and popularity of the Excellence Model has raised the issue about its impact on business performance. However, whilst articles and case studies have been written about the Excellence Model, and whilst in the US a comprehensive study has been conducted by Professor Vinod Singhal that clearly demonstrates a positive link between the adoption of holistic Models, such as the Baldrige National Quality Award and improved organisational results, there has been little systematic study of the impact of the Excellence Model on key elements of business performance in Europe. To bridge this gap in the knowledge base about the Excellence Model, EFQM/BQF has commissioned a research project, which is being undertaken by a team of international academics to investigate the correlation between the adoption of the Excellence Model as a management system and improved business performance results in Europe.