Abstract:In recent years, the performance excellence model, as an internationally advanced modern enterprise management model, has received much attention from scholars in terms of how it affects business performance, but not many studies have examined the impact of the performance excellence model on enterprise innovation. Based on theoretical research, this paper explores the impact of the performance excellence model on the innovation process, including innovation inputs, outputs and efficiency of enterprises, and conducts an empirical study using survey data from 1,216 enterprises in Zhejiang Province. The results of the study show that the performance excellence model can promote corporate innovation as a whole. In terms of the mechanism of influence, the performance excellence model helps to rationalise innovation inputs and promote innovation outputs; at the same time, the performance excellence model has a non-significant inhibitory effect on innovation efficiency; overall, the positive effect of the performance excellence model on the innovation process of enterprises is stronger than the negative effect. The findings of this paper are of some reference value for companies implementing the performance excellence model to optimise their innovation process and improve innovation efficiency.