Business Initiative Directions (BID) is a Madrid-based organisation selling what the

Center for Investigative Reporting The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) is a nonprofit news organization based in San Francisco, California. CIR was founded in 1977 as the nation’s first nonprofit investigative journalism organization. It subsequently grew into a multi ...

and the

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is a global network of Investigative journalism, investigative journalists. It was founded in 2006 and specializes in organized crime and corruption. It publishes its stories through ...

(OCCRP) have called "meaningless international awards", more widely known as " vanity awards".

History and people

Jose E. Prieto is the president and CEO of Business Initiative Directions. He founded the company in the US and Spain in 1986, after which it expanded to Europe. The company says it is focused on the principles of the

Total Quality Management Total quality management (TQM) is an organization-wide effort to "install and make a permanent climate where employees continuously improve their ability to provide on-demand products and services that customers will find of particular value." ...

movement.

Awards

BID market a number of awards: * Century International Quality ERA Award (CQE) * International Arch of Europe Award * International Quality Crown Award * International Star Award for Quality (ISAQ) (one was offered to a school in Swaziland, which BID described as a "company") * International Star for Leadership in Quality Award (ISLQ) * World Quality Commitment Award * WQC International Star Award

Criticism

The Center for Investigative Reporting and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) have called the awards "meaningless". Sri Lanka's Honorary Consul in Spain said that BID was possibly a scam company. The Spanish Consulate in Mumbai stated BID was a fraudulent company. Botswana's Consumer Watchdog reported that the "so-called 'World Quality Commitment Convention', run by 'Business Initiative Directions' is remarkably similar to the equally ridiculous Bizz Awards scam we exposed some months ago."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Business Initiative Directions Organizations established in 1986 Vanity awards Companies based in Madrid 1986 establishments in Spain