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CONSULTANCY... Outsourcing & supplier management |
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The search for industry best practices that lead to 'superior performance' Benchmarking as an improvement tool was introduced in the 1960s as ‘Inter-firm Comparison’ or competitor benchmarking. Burman Associates, has for many years run competitor benchmarking for several company groupings including the major UK Brewing Groups to compare various aspects of their respective distribution efficiencies. The many ratios compared showed each company where, in its distribution organisation and management, attention was needed. The fact that each member of the benchmarking ‘club’ was in similar market sectors made comparison of like with like much easier. The main drawback of inter-firm comparison is that although competitors may be willing to share (anonymously) key ratios, they are certainly not willing to share the know-how of achieving top of the class performance with companies operating in the same industry. It is not enough to know what is achievable, we need to know how it is achieved in order to be able to adopt good practices ourselves. Benchmarking therefore is most useful if it can be arranged between non-competitors, that is, enterprises which address different markets from their fellow benchmarkers. This, of course, heightens the problem of comparing like with like. Delivering beer is not the same as delivering personal computers. So, for benchmarking to be effective, more careful analysis has to be carried out to find comparable processes, and extreme care has to be exercised in choosing partners. The advantage of going to this trouble is that when it is found that a partner operates a process (eg capturing an order, or selecting overseas suppliers) very much more effectively, a full discussion may be triggered on how this good performance is achieved. As well as advising on how to conduct effective and useful benchmarking, Burman Associates can assist companies in finding suitable non-competitor benchmarking partners. We have a portfolio of companies who are willing to participate in future benchmarking exercises. |
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Copyright © European Logistics Consortium Limited 2001 (all rights reserved) Burman Associates is a member of the European Logistics Consortium Ltd. |
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