SCIENCE

Columbia Business School’s W. Edwards Deming Center for Quality, Productivity and Competitiveness (Deming Center) announced the winner of the inaugural Deming Cup. The Deming Cup grew from Columbia Business School’s drive to highlight the achievements of business practitioners who adhere to and promote excellence in operations – the Deming Center’s area of focus.

This award will be given annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions in the area of operations who has established a culture of continuous improvement within their respective organization. The inaugural recipient, Samuel Palmisano, Chairman, President and CEO of IBM Corporation, received the award for his ability to drive IBM to reach new levels of operational excellence and for his role in creating and leading IBM’s Global Services business unit. He will receive the award at a dinner at Columbia University on October 18, 2010.

The Deming Cup’s nomination criteria featured eight areas of accomplishment. For example, the nominee was required to be a global leader who had applied and demonstrated the Deming principles. He or she must also have fostered an environment where operational excellence has made a decisive impact on the competitive position of the firm. Mr. Palmisano won the Deming Cup for his ability to seek innovative approaches that enhanced IBM’s ability to evolve in a rapidly changing global business environment, for building one of the world’s largest and most diversified IT services organization in the industry, IBM’s Global Services, and for realigning the company for international growth coming out of the global recession.

“On behalf of IBMers around the world, I am deeply honored to receive the inaugural Deming Cup, which embodies the Deming Center’s pioneering effort to understand and advance operational excellence in a globally integrating world,” said Mr. Palmisano. “We believe this agenda is strongly aligned with IBM’s work to build a smarter planet -- helping businesses and institutions seize new capabilities to transform their operations, relationships and business models – and practicing the same innovation within IBM itself.”

Nelson Fraiman, Director, W. Edwards Deming Center, and Professor of Professional Practice, Decision, Risk, and Operations at Columbia Business School commented on the importance of the award, “The Deming Center focuses on developing new insights in all areas of operational excellence. The center endeavors to bridge the gap between industry practices and academic discovery. The Deming Cup allows the Deming Center to recognize best practices in the area of operations and informs academics and executives about individual accomplishments in the field.”

Janet L. Robinson, President and CEO, The New York Times Company, and a member of the Deming Cup’s judging committee, said, “The operational excellence of IBM under Samuel Palmisano’s leadership underscores the mission and purpose of the Deming Cup, which recognizes several esteemed business attributes. We congratulate Sam on being the first recipient of this prestigious honor.”

The Deming Cup’s judging committee was led by co-chairs Rob Amen, Executive-in-Residence, Columbia Business School and Former CEO of International Flavors and Fragrances, and Paul O’Neill, Former Secretary of the U.S. Treasury and Former Director, Chairman of Alcoa. The committee received nominations through a variety of channels – such as a full page ad in The New York Times, solicitations sent to the CEOs of the top 250 companies in the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia, business and engineering school faculty around the world and Columbia Business School’s alumni and Board of Overseers committee. Nominations were received from June 29 through July 27, 2010. A working group of the Judging Committee then screened the nominations to narrow the field to 4 finalists. Afterwards, the entire Judging Committee voted for a winner and runner-up, in order to determine who should receive the prize.