EFQM (the European Foundation for Quality Management) is a non-profit membership foundation established in 1989 in Brussels, when CEOs of 67 European companies subscribed to the policy document and declared their commitments to EFQMs missions and values.

[citation needed] Members from many industries set up the Foundation to develop the EFQM Excellence Model.

One tangentially related study was carried out by Vinod Singhal of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Kevin Hendricks of the College of William and Mary.

In recent years, more countries have started implementing the Model, especially across the Middle East and South America.

It is designed to recognize organizations that have achieved an "outstanding level of continuous improvement", based on assessment against The EFQM Model.