دانلود رایگان ترجمه مقاله انسجام محک زنی و محک زنی انسجام (نشریه الزویر 1995)

انسجام محک زنی و محک زنی انسجام

Integration of benchmarking and benchmarking of integration

Benchmarking is an approach used for evaluating and improving the company performances, by comparing them with the best performing companies. Benchmarking first studies the process to be improved, finds a best practice process in order to try to match two parts of the processes which have analogies, and then tries to change or modify the interconnections, structures or behaviour of the part to be improved using the analogy with the best trasformation process. In the paper, we try to define different types of benchmarking, and, in particular, organizational benchmarking. The decision making process and its link with the value of a set of performance indicators, suitably depicting the company’s behaviour, is a cornerstone of the benchmarking building. In this framework we define the process that can be used to transform performance evaluation into improvement decisions.

1 Introduction

There are several definitions of benchmarking, all based on the idea of evaluating the performance of an organized system by comparing it to exogenous entities.

The Webster dictionary defines a benchmark as: “A mark on a fixed and enduring object (as on an outcropping of rock or a concrete post set into the ground) indicating a particular elevation and used as a reference in topographical surveys and tidal observations. A benchmark is thus a point of reference from which measurements of any sort maybe made.”

In a business context, D.T. Kearns, executive director of Xerox Corporation, defines it as: “The continuous process of measuring products, services and practices through the comparison with its strongest competitors, with companies leaders in the field”.

A definition that tries to include all these different aspects can be: continuing search. measurement and comparison of products. processes. services. procedures. ways to operate. best practices that other companies have developed to obtain an output and global performances, with the aim of improving the company performances.

The concern about performance evaluation has always existed in corporations, and has traditionally been realized on historical basis (by comparing the performance to the one of the year before) and, sometime, on competitive basis (by comparing the company to a competitor). Only in recent times some attention has been devoted to a comparison made on a functional basis, by comparing similar functions in different companies or, in general, activities, relevant for the company performance, that are similar from a functional point of view, but deal with completely different transformation processes.

The origin of benchmarking can be seeked in different sectors. where these concepts have been developed indipendently, with scarce interactions. Manufacturing processes, data processing systems, accounting systems, and company practices, have had, in this context, a particular relevance.