Competitive Advantage Through Operational Excellence in the Food and Beverage Industry: A Case Study

The pursuit of high process maturity to gain competitive advantage in the manufacturing sector is critical for the survival of many businesses. Despite the continuous evolution of digital technologies, this pursuit remains a challenging task. Further, though a correlation between operational excellence maturity and organisational performance exists, this relationship is not fully understood. This research examines the relationship between operational excellence maturity and organisational performance, with the objective of establishing a framework for applying operational excellence tools to drive performance. A mixed-method approach is used to analyse how a case study company in the food and beverage industry with four plants in four different geographical locations in Africa, conducts its process maturity assessment, and propose improvements, since process maturity assessment is the first step for a continuous loop as it provides a baseline and points out areas of improvement. The research findings indicate a moderate positive correlation between process maturity and performance and further recommends that the case company focuses on gap closure rate, sustainability plan, benchmarking, training and development, and management support to gain competitive advantage.