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Full Length Research Paper
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Benchmarking
Savanam Chandra Sekhar
Department of Business Administration, St. Ann's College of
Engineering and Technology, Chirala – 523 187, Prakasam
District, Andhra Pradesh, India. E-mail:
tejachandrasekhar_1973@yahoo.co.in.
Tel: +91-9701251973.
Accepted 19 April, 2010 |
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Abstract |
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Measuring performance against a recognized business excellence
or quality framework can deliver a range of benefits for firms.
It is pivotal to a firm to know one’s own standard and compare
it against others in today's complex and competitive corporate
environment. Benchmarking is a technique for assessing a firm’s
performance against the performance of other firms. It is used
to find the best practice and to take necessary actions to
improve the firm’s own performance so that it meets or exceeds
that of its competitors. It is usually a process of
reengineering or quality improvement initiative, and focuses on
the ongoing quality management efforts of strategic business
units. This has resulted in the establishment of a conceptual
framework for evaluating users’ needs identified in market
opportunity analysis, a new service concept, the user’s
ombudsman, relationship marketing and a citizen charter. The
article highlights the significance of using benchmarking as
performance indicators, process reengineering and quality
improvement in organizations. The article describes an overview
of organizations benchmarking and views of the author. The
article finds that organizations have tried to find consensus on
a common set of performance indicators for benchmarking
purposes. The indicators chosen for such organizations differ
between countries and type of firms. The article reveals
examples where sets of indicators are used on a regular basis
and compares the indicators used and the methods of
benchmarking. The article depicts the difficulties of reaching
an agreement when starting an initiative business unit and
points to results and success and to problems that occurred in
the benchmarking process. The article provides useful
information for organizations with existing competitive
advantage and helps to find adequate methods for different
purposes.
Key words:
Benchmarking, best practices, performance indicators, process
reengineering, quality management. |
