Performance measurement in a “hidden champion” company: An empirical study

The purpose of the paper is to review and evaluate the performance of a specific type of globally successful innovative company introduced to scientific literature as “hidden champion” by Simon (1990), using a combination of traditional financial key performance indicators (KPIs) with the modern evaluation method of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model. The results showed that there are many areas in the selected company where EFQM allows building an effective management system, applied as a benchmarking tool for using the experience of leading companies. The joint utilisation of the KPIs and the EFQM model helps to create an objective picture and evaluate the organization in a relatively complex way. This paper provides in-depth insights into the application of new models in practice that are still scarce and may serve as a base for further research realized on larger samples. This work shows for the first time the application of EFQM commonly used in large organizations, for the special category of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) companies called “hidden champions” (HCs). In general, there is a lack of studies in domestic literature devoted to the concept of “hidden champions”. This paper contributes to this field from the perspective of quality management, and it provides also valuable insight for practice.