Class A Business Excellence
Class A isn’t just a certification, it’s the benchmark for what great business really looks like. For over 50 years, Oliver Wight’s Class A Standard has helped many of the world’s leading organisations achieve sustainable, high-impact transformation. We use the standard to shape a focused journey built around your priorities, targeting the behaviours, processes and capabilities that drive lasting performance.
What is Class A Business Excellence?
Class A Business Excellence is Oliver Wight’s definitive standard for high-performing organisations. It’s a comprehensive model that defines what ‘excellent’ looks like across nine core areas of enterprise performance: from strategic planning and people leadership to supply chain, demand and portfolio management.
More than a framework, Class A is a proven way to eliminate failure in business processes, embed a culture of continuous improvement, and ensure consistent delivery on the plan. Organisations that achieve Class A don’t just perform better – they grow faster, operate more efficiently, and outperform their peers in resilience and long-term value. It takes you from Method to Meaning™.
Now in its seventh edition, the Class A Standard continues to evolve with the changing realities of global business. Rather than applying every element, we draw on the parts most relevant to your priorities, tailoring a focused journey that builds capability where it matters most. Whether you’re leading enterprise-wide change or targeting a specific improvement, Class A gives you the structure, discipline and ambition to lead with confidence.
Nine areas of Business Excellence.
Managing the Strategic Planning Process
Managing and Leading People
Driving Business Improvement
Integrated Business Planning (IBP)
Managing the Product and Service Portfolio
Managing Market Demand
Managing the Supply Chain
Managing Internal Supply
Managing External Sourcing
What we do
Solutions Fit For You.
Whether you’re dealing with misaligned functions, inconsistent delivery or stalled improvement initiatives, Class A helps leaders focus on what really matters — and gives them the tools to fix it.
Leadership
Disjointed functional targets, strategic drift and inconsistent focus
Class A aligns leadership around clear purpose, shared measures and consistent priorities across the organisation.
Finance
Too much firefighting, not enough foresight
Class A helps leadership step out of the engine room and take the helm, aligning finance targets with business strategy to steer long-term performance.
Sales & Marketing
Short-term pressure undermining long-term brand growth
Defend and balance both brand and portfolio building and performance objectives, creating joined-up commercial plans with clear priorities.
Supply Chain
Fragmented execution and siloed teams in supply chain
Proven Path helps integrate planning, boosts responsiveness and eliminates inefficiencies.
Class A Business Excellence.
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01.
Engage
We assess your current maturity using Class A standards, uncover barriers to performance, and align leadership around a compelling vision and roadmap: Class A diagnostic and maturity benchmark, executive playback and case for change, leadership alignment and transformation roadmap.
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02.
Enable
We co-create the future state with your teams, building the knowledge, behaviours and processes to deliver real, lasting change: Education in Class A standards and best practice, capability assessment and skills gap mapping, cross-functional design workshops and solution validation.
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03.
Embed
We support implementation on the ground — building capability, tracking progress, and coaching your people to embed change and sustain impact: Role-based training and coaching, performance monitoring and value realisation, sustainability planning and internal ownership.
How Class A works.
Class A is delivered through the Proven Path® — our structured, behavioural-first approach to change. Each journey is tailored to your goals, maturity and context — but always follows three core phases:
Without good process, there is no basis to drive the business towards achieving its long-term objectives.Bas Kersten, Partner at Oliver Wight
From Diagnosis to Delivery.
Enterprise Business Model
‘The Patient’
We’ll understand how to make your Enterprise Business Model thrive.
The Proven Path®
‘Our Clinical Methodology’
We’ll build a roadmap to better business health.
Integrated Business Planning, Integrated Tactical Planning, Strategic Planning etc.
‘The Treatments’
We’ll deliver medication to tackle specific symptoms and drive performance.
The value of Class A Business Excellence.
Finished Goods Inventory
Efficient inventory management that frees up capital and reduces waste.
Customer OTIF
Consistently delivering on commitments to build trust and reliability with customers.
Demand Plan Accuracy (SKU)
Robust forecasting at the item level, enabling smarter decisions and fewer surprises.
Product Launch OTIF
Supplier Delivery Performance (OTIF)
A reliable supply base that underpins resilience and operational excellence.
Why Choose Oliver Wight?
Taking you from Method to Meaning™ to deliver…
More reasons to choose usStrategy that aligns
Teams that perform
Trust that’s earned, not sold
Capability that sticks
Performance delivered
Self-sufficiency built in
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