Benchmarking for small- to medium-sized enterprises

Coulter, J. Eric; Baschung, N S; Bititci, Umit

doi:10.1080/095372800232135

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 3 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Overviews of the process have been provided by Wolfrom-Cox, Mann and Samson (1997) and more recently by Francis and Holloway (2007), and many industry-specific examples exist, such as for construction (Garnett & Pickrell, 2000), leisure (Ogden & Wilson, 2001) and small-to-medium enterprises (Coulter, Baschung & Bititci, 2000). Benchmarking essentially involves the collection of performance measures for a focal organisation and one or more comparison organisations, using observed deficiencies in the focal organisation to identify areas for improvement, and using the superior scores in the comparison organisations to set targets for 'best practice' performance.…”

Section: Benefits Of External Benchmarkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benchmarking work practices and outcomes in Australian universities using an employee survey

Langford

2010

Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The purpose of the current study was to benchmark a broad range of work practices and outcomes in Australian universities against other industries. Past research suggests occupational stress experienced by academic staff is worse than experienced by employees in other industries. However, no other practices or outcomes can be compared confidently. Using a well-validated and normed employee survey, responses were collected from 26 226 academic and general staff from 17 Australian universities. Results were compared against normative data from over 2000 organisations from other industries. Of the 31 practices and outcomes measured, 17 were significantly worse in universities and eight were significantly better. Fewer differences were observed, however, when university results were compared against a subset of benchmarks from large public sector organisations. Universities performed most poorly in areas such as cross-unit cooperation, processes, facilities, wellness and work-life balance. Conversely, higher scores were observed in role clarity, belief in mission and values, confidence and relationships with co-workers, and employee engagement. BackgroundLittle is known about the relative performance of work practices and outcomes in Australian universities compared to performance of organisations in other industries. Existing research has shed light on work outcomes such as job stress and satisfaction. There are, however, a broad range of practices and outcomes (e.g. performance management, training and diversity management, among many others) that demand the daily attention of management and staff in Australian universities, about which we know very little. The aim of the current paper is to further our understanding of how well these practices and outcomes are being managed, and to compare the performance of Australian universities against organisations from other industries. Broadening our understanding of work practices and outcomesWe can conclude confidently that high levels of stress are reported by staff in Australian universities and the levels of stress are worse than observed in many other industries. The *

show abstract

Section: Benefits Of External Benchmarkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benchmarking work practices and outcomes in Australian universities using an employee survey

Langford

2010

Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Lin, 1998, andOlomi, 1999) Level of knowledge and skills Owner/manager characteristics (a) Percentage of various skills and background in (a) Position and gender total work force (b) Age (b) Importance of accessing external expertise (c) Business experience (c) Importance of increasing in skilled personnel (d) Formal education background (d) Importance of improving in-house skills (e) Training after employment (e) Employing foreign experts Table 4. Nature of the market and external relationships variables (based on Hankinson et al, 1997, andJohne, 1999) Nature of the Market External Relationships This scale was adopted from Deshpandé, Farley and Webster (1993) and was originally grounded in a Profit Impact of Market Strategy (PIMS) study (Coulter, Baschung and Bititci, 2000). This approach has been used in several studies to measure growth performance and is able to differentiate between good and poor performers (Deshpandé, Farley and Webster, 1993;Hadjimanolis, 1999).…”

Section: (D) Characteristics and Capabilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This concept is divided into SMEs' general characteristics and their operational capabilities, each with the group of items as indicated in Table 5. Lin, 1998, andOlomi, 1999) Level of knowledge and skills Owner/manager characteristics Hankinson et al, 1997, andJohne, 1999) Nature of the Market External Relationships This scale was adopted from Deshpandé, Farley and Webster (1993) and was originally grounded in a Profit Impact of Market Strategy (PIMS) study (Coulter, Baschung and Bititci, 2000). This approach has been used in several studies to measure growth performance and is able to differentiate between good and poor performers (Deshpandé, Farley and Webster, 1993;Hadjimanolis, 1999).…”

Section: (D) Characteristics and Capabilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovation Activities by Small and Medium‐sized Manufacturing Enterprises in Tanzania

Mahemba

Bruijn

2003

Creat Innov Manage

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The primary aim of this research is to explore innovation activities and ascertain the relationships between these activities and growth performance of SMEs in the Tanzanian manufacturing sector. The applied model has been derived from international studies of innovation. A survey of SMEs combined with in-depth case studies was made to study innovation practices of SMEs in the Tanzanian manufacturing sector. The results of this survey are used to compare the situation with findings of previous research. An increased level of applied change is associated with innovating SMEs, and a positive relationship between innovativeness in the SMEs with growth performance could be established. Based on the comparison of the results, recommendations are made for stimulating innovation.This research had the objective to explore the issues of innovation in small and mediumscale manufacturing enterprises in the context of a developing economy. Since management in this type of industry is the initiating and driving force, this study investigates the relationship between innovation management practices and (growth) performance of these enterprises. The results in Tanzania are compared with previous findings in the innovation literature.

show abstract

“…As reflected from Gunasekaran et al (2000) and Coulter et al (2000), benchmarking is a very important tool when used to support an organisation's improvement.…”

Section: Primary Conclusion Discussion and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying a manufacturing vision development prototype in practice

Wang

Luxhøj

Johansen

2005

Production Planning & Control

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The primary objective of this paper is to summarise the empirical application of a designed case-based manufacturing vision (MV) development prototype (CBRM). This empirical application is undertaken using case study strategy, due to its ability to answer the research questions regarding the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of the CBRM. Within each case, the CBRM processes are followed through the analysis on the situational information and application of the cases as well as general domain knowledge, towards generation of a competitive set of strategic approaches for a certain enterprise. The three real world cases (companies) were selected in the USA within different industrial segments. The application results suggest that the CBRM is supportive of the decision-making process for tackling strategic manufacturing issues.

show abstract

Benchmarking for small- to medium-sized enterprises

Cited by 9 publications

References 3 publications

Benchmarking work practices and outcomes in Australian universities using an employee survey

Benchmarking work practices and outcomes in Australian universities using an employee survey

Innovation Activities by Small and Medium‐sized Manufacturing Enterprises in Tanzania

Applying a manufacturing vision development prototype in practice

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About