Dr Singhal used methods and data that are verifiable, objective and replicable. Dr Singhal selected 600 companies that had won premier Excellence Awards - either National Quality based awards such as the Baldrige Award and the Shingo Award or supplier awards such as those by General Motors, Toyota USA, GTE Corp, IBM etc.

Excellent business practice in any one marketplace has been shown to share common processes, disciplines, skills, behaviours and attitudes to that in any other marketplace, trans-nationally.

Dr Singhal's results are, therefore, valid for any company competing in a free economy anywhere in the world.

His research is also timeless. There are two reasons - time span and comparative measurement. He measured the sample companies' results over a 10 year period - 5 years before they won their award, and then 5 years after.

His figures are therefore untainted by any short term market, local or national economic phenomena.

Dr Singhal's research used only public published financial accounts for input data - and only published award winners for target selection.

His research is not a 'justification' - it provides only a single but shatteringly compelling insight.

Excellence provides massive competitive advantage compared to the average in any market