Examples of Excellence: Wal-Mart, Toyota, Rackspace

Value Excellence

Value excellence is exhibited when companies can offer the best end product or service to a customer for the money that they pay. Wal-Mart has built a global enterprise by offering a low-cost consumer shopping experience, even in the face of what many deem to be unfair wages for employees. Indeed, the company “wields its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices to its customers” (Fishman par. 7). It is this same commitment to providing value that has made Wal-Mart the world’s largest retailer. Their products, side by side with other options, are cheaper than most other outlets and grocery stores. With a wide selection of cheaper products, Wal-Mart is the epitome of value excellence.

Operational Excellence

Toyota is an example of a company that practices operational excellence through its commitment to continuous improvement. Their company culture reflects the desire to utilize modern-day methodologies like LEAN management, supply-chain management, and Six Sigma in order to remove errors from its products and avoid wasting materials (McBride). Indeed, this philosophy is something that is practiced by the whole company: “at Toyota, everyone within the organization, from executives to shop-floor workers, are challenged to use their initiative and creativity to experiment and learn” (McBride par. 5). This culture has resulted in Toyota being an industry leader for producing automobiles the most efficient way possible. In fact, it has been copied and adopted by numerous other companies as well. 

Customer Excellence

Rackspace is an example of a company that truly idealizes customer excellence. While most companies claim that they offer great service, Rackspace has adopted it as a core value. For instance, their website claims that they have a unique offering through the “The Fanatical Support Promise®” (“Rackspace Hosting Fanatical Support Promise”). This promise stands for a unique commitment to helping customers with problems, any hour of the day. A great example of this in practice is calling their customer support line. While with most companies you would expect to be on hold for a few seconds and then maybe an automated menu before reaching a person; however, with Rackspace, you reach a credible, technical support agent almost instantly after calling. This results in customer excellence in practice.

Works Cited

Fishman, Charles. “The Wal-Mart You Don't Know” Fast Company, 1 Dec. 2003. http://www.fastcompany.com/47593/wal-mart-you-dont-know.

McBride, David. "The Toyota culture of continuous improvement    ." Reliable Plant Magazine and Lean Manufacturing Journal, 15 May 2012. http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/10817/toyota-continuous-improvement.

"Rackspace Hosting Fanatical Support Promise." Open Cloud Computing, Managed Hosting, Dedicated Server Hosting by Rackspace, 12 May 2010. http://www.rackspace.com/managed_hosting/support/promise/.