Internet editorial

Citation

McGaughey, R.E. (2001), "Internet editorial", Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 8 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/bij.2001.13108eag.001

Internet editorial

The editorial staff of Benchmarking: An International Journal is committed to helping those working at a senior level in industry, the public sector, consultancy, or academic institutions, to stay current on developments in the areas of quality, technology and benchmarking. The focus of the journal is on "topics that have a substantial management content, rather than being primarily technical in nature". The Internet editorials will center on sites with a similar focus. I will examine sites believed to be of interest to BIJ readers and report, in what I believe to be a fair and objective manner, what I find at those sites.

This, my second editorial as the new Internet editor, will examine four interesting sites. These sites are quite diverse in content and focus. None of the four is devoted to a specific industry, but two are region/country centric – their aim is to serve primarily constituents in a specific country or region. One of the sites is in essence a gateway to 17 diverse benchmarking related research centres in different countries. The gateway site itself does not house a large volume of benchmarking related information, but the member sites do. The last site featured in this editorial is one that will prepare for a company a free financial benchmarking report. Some of the sites featured in this editorial are commercial sites. It is not our intent to promote the products or services of the site owners, but rather to objectively review the sites for our readers. Our comments should not be interpreted as endorsements of the organizations or their products.

The searches

Internet searches will yield different results depending on what search engine, keywords, or phrases one chooses to use in conducting the search. For this editorial, I used the following search engines to conduct searches on the keyword "Benchmarking": www.metacrawler.com and www.bigfoot.com The search of Metacrawler, a metasearch engine, yielded 37 direct hits initially. In addition to producing the standard hit list, Metacrawler produces categories under the heading "Are you searching for?" The categories listed included "Benchmarking partners", "Benchmarking surveys", "Benchmarking HR" (human resources), and more. Each of the categories contains a hit list of category specific benchmarking sites. I recommend using this search engine when you search for benchmarking sites. The consolidation feature can minimize time wasted scrolling through long hit lists containing many sites of no interest to the user. Bigfoot produced a long hit list in response to my search using the keyword "benchmarking", (I stopped scrolling at 204). Bigfoot provided no tally from which to determine how many items appeared on the hit list. Though the Bigfoot search produced a list containing many useful sites, it was not as well organized and helpful as Metacrawler. The diversity of the hit list produced by Bigfoot requires the user to scroll through the list to find sites of interest. A more refined search is possible wherein the user more carefully specifies a search target by entering something like "benchmarking surveys", or "benchmarking reports". The lists produced by these more topic specific searches still contain many items likely to be of little interest to the user. Although I did not use it in conducting searches for this editorial, I used Northern Light for the last editorial. It produced a hit list of 257,560 Web sites/pages in response to a keyword search on "Benchmarking". For sheer volume of hits, Northern Light is a good metasearch engine to use. I will continue to use different search engines in each editorial to help BIJ readers who wish to use the Web to find information on benchmarking and related topics. Now, we will examine the featured sites.

Featured sites

The Benchmarking Centrehttp://www.benchmarking.co.uk

The Benchmarking Centre describes itself as "the centre of excellence for benchmarking in Europe". Founded in 1992 by leading international organizations, it is an international organization that promotes "the introduction and practice of ethical and effective benchmarking to achieve superior performance". The organization's full time staff is dedicated to fulfilling the benchmarking needs of every organization and individual in Europe.

The Centre:

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  establishes and maintains relationships with national and international organizations and academic institutions sharing common goals;

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  provides organizations of all types and sizes with the unique opportunity to share experiences with and learn from successful organizations throughout the world as part of the journey to attaining world class status;

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  provides a simple and convenient way of finding and exploring the resources required to support your benchmarking activities;

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  helps identify benchmarking partners and facilitates the exchange of information;

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  promotes and encourages all organizations and individuals involved in benchmarking to adhere to the principles of the Benchmarking Code of Conduct developed by The Strategic Planning Institute Council on Benchmarking (USA);

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  through the development of The Annual European Best Practice Benchmarking Award, the Centre strives to develop and encourage documentation of case studies in order to raise the level of application and awareness of benchmarking;

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  helps to promote the use and broaden the scope of benchmarking through networking and assists in achieving a better understanding of its key role in setting and achieving your business goals.

Membership in the Benchmarking Centre is free. All one must do to join is provide some very basic information. After joining, members have immediate access to many of the organization's resources. It is noteworthy that the "free membership" does not entitle members to all resources. There is a fee for some materials and services.

Much information about benchmarking is available from the Centre. The "Information" link on the member's page is a good place to start examining the site. On the information page one will find an explanation of benchmarking (what it is and what it is not), as well as explanations of the goal of benchmarking and the benchmarking process. Additionally one will find primers on the advantages and pitfalls of benchmarking, how to conduct benchmarking, ways to gather data for benchmarking, the types of partners involved in benchmarking and more. The "Bulletin Board" link, also found on the member's page, allows one to post comments and questions to which other members can respond. The bulletin board appears to be quite active. Many recent postings and responses were available for viewing. This resource could be quite valuable to those wishing to get help with benchmarking, or share their experiences with others. Many of the questions and comments posted on the bulletin board had received one or more responses in a short period of time. Postings by academicians and practitioners were numerous. The "Benchmarking Services" link, also found on the member's page, affords access to a long list of services provided by the Centre. Many services are provided for a fee. Services offered by the Centre include seminars, workshops, a help desk, access to benchmarking studies, benchmarking partnership requests, support for teaching, conducting and managing the benchmarking process, and more. Information on service levels and the costs of those service levels is provided on the services page. One will find an "Events" link on the member's page that provides information of the timing and location of Centre events. It is noteworthy that the "Events" page contained only current listings – evidence of the Centre's effort to keep the site current. A "Book Shop" link on the member's page provides, in association with Amazon.com, a list of benchmarking books. Many current titles appeared on the book shop page.

The Centre's content page provides much information about Centre activities as well as links to other benchmarking related sites. If one will examine the "Links to other resources, subscribers and affiliates," one will find a list of links to other sites. One section of the links page contains links to global affiliates, organized by country. All of the links worked and provided access to many useful sites. The Benchmarking Centre site was a well organized, well maintained site. It is a site worth visiting for anyone involved or interested in benchmarking.

Benchmarking in Australiahttp://www.benchmarkingplusl.com/au

Reported to be the most comprehensive Australian site devoted to benchmarking, Benchmarking in Australia (BIA), is striving to be "a complete information and resources service for anyone wanting help with benchmarking and best practice". Although this site is obviously tailored to the needs of companies operating in Australia, I felt that showcasing this site was appropriate, given the global nature of our journal. Furthermore, closer examination of the site demonstrated that there are resources available from Benchmarking in Australia that are of value to BIJ readers from other countries.

Owned by Benchmarking Plus, a consulting firm that provides benchmarking assistance to government and industry, the site is a reasonably good source of benchmarking information, particularly for Australian companies. The site provides overviews of a number of benchmarking studies that Benchmarking Plus has/is conducting with government and industry. Interested organizations have the opportunity to sign up for and participate in some of these studies. Benchmarking Plus has provided, via the "All About Benchmarking" link found on the home page, a very concise explanation of the difference between benchmarking performance and benchmarking processes. Models and narrative are employed in explaining performance and process benchmarking. In those summaries, Benchmarking Plus defines and explains both approaches to benchmarking, highlights advantages and disadvantages of each approach, and offers sage advice to those getting started or actively involved in benchmarking. Examples from their own casebook are used to illustrate important points and concepts. A "Consulting and Services" link on the homepage describes the services offered by Benchmarking Plus.

An "Articles" link provides visitors with access to a number of articles about benchmarking. Although there was a statement on the "Articles" page informing visitors that some articles are free and others are available for a small fee, all of the articles found on the page were available free of charge. One would assume that Benchmarking Plus plans to add to the list of articles and to charge for some that will be available in the future. Some self-directed learning materials are available on the "Articles" page. One can read and/or download helpful articles and self-directed learning materials pertaining to benchmarking. I examined all of the articles and found them to be interesting and informative. One particularly useful link on that page, the "Online Benchmarking Manual", is not the intellectual property of Benchmarking Plus, but instead is the property of the Office of Post Compulsory Education and Training, Victoria Department of Education, Employment and Training. The manual is quite informative and can be accessed directly at the following URL: http://www.otfe.vic.gov.au/publi/benchmark/index.htm

The Benchmarking in Australia links page, accessed through the "Links" button on the home page, contains numerous links to other benchmarking, and benchmarking related sites. Some of the sites were in Australia, but the majority were sites in other countries. All of the links examined were functional and current. Many of the links are the same ones found on other popular benchmarking sites. The site was visited on 12 July 2001, and was last updated on 5 July so Benchmarking Plus appears to be committed to keeping the site current. Since Benchmarking Plus promotes the site as "the most comprehensive Australian site devoted to benchmarking", I could not help but feel slightly disappointed that there was not more information available on the site. Benchmarking Plus may be in the process of "growing" the site, so I will revisit the site in the future and once again examine its content. The site is worth visiting, especially if one is from Australia or New Zealand, or conducting business in those countries.

Global Benchmarking Networkhttp://www.globalbenchmarking.org/www.brisc.org/

The Global Benchmarking Network (GBN) describes itself as "an alliance of leading benchmarking centres worldwide who share a common vision and mission". The membership of GBN includes benchmarking centres in 17 countries. GBN was founded in 1994. In 1998, GBN became affiliated with the Benchmarking Exchange Inc., an organization based in the USA, as a "partner for technology". The Global Benchmarking Network is an interesting and unusual site. Unlike many sites, it is not comprised primarily of links to reports, services, newsletters, articles, and such. The links available on this site are links to member pages. It is from the standard GBN member pages and member Web sites that visitors can obtain much benchmarking related information. The GBN site actually serves as a gateway to the 17 member centres. The 17 centres are located around the globe – there are centres in Europe, Africa, America, and Asia. The home page of GBN contains some basic information on GBN's vision, mission, affiliates, structure, benefits and services. The GBN home page also houses a list of GBN officers, an invitation to join, and contact information. The most significant feature of the GBN home page is the links to member centres.

The GBN "Member" links provide access to member pages, all of which have a relatively standardized format. Each member page is comprised of a description of the centre's institutional background, a statement of the centre's vision and mission, a general description of services, and beyond that, the centre descriptions tend to reflects the uniqueness of each centre. Even though the content of each member page is different, the uniform formatting employed on each makes it easy for the visitor to quickly inspect each GBN member page, to discover more about each centre. Each member page has contact information prominently displayed at the top, right-hand corner of each page. Addresses, telephone numbers, fax numbers and e-mail addresses are included in each centre's contact information. On the left side of each Member page are links, in the form of national flags, to every other standardized GBN member page. GBN did a very good job of organizing the GBN site to facilitate easy access to Member centres and to make it easy to learn about each centre. Perhaps the most useful item found on member pages is the link, or in some cases links, to their unique centre Web sites.

It is through the GBN member centres' Web sites that most of the truly valuable benchmarking related information can be obtained. Each site is unique as it reflects the unique mission of the centre that developed it. Benchmarking needs are not homogeneous among companies or countries, and each centre's Web site seems to be tailored to the needs of primary constituents. A wealth of information is available from these Web sites. I visited many of the sites and found great diversity among them in terms of content, organization, and the extent to which they were designed for the public or for members. One centre had no Web site – it was under construction. Some of the sites encouraged membership and provided the details necessary for one to join. The sites that were primarily for members offered much less to the casual visitor, with access limited to things like an overview of the Centre's activities, lists of members, etc. Overall, a visit to the GBN Web site is highly recommended. As a gateway to the 17 member centre Web sites, the GBN Web site affords visitors easy access to highly diverse information on benchmarking and benchmarking related topics. Be prepared when you visit these sites, because many employ the dominant/official language of the host country. Some GBN member sites offer the visitor the option to view the site in other languages such as English.

Benchmarkreport.comhttp://www.Benchmarkreport.com

Benchmarkreport.com (BMR) is a unique site among benchmarking sites. How often can one get valuable benchmarking assistance at no charge? That is exactly what one will find available at the Benchmarkreport.com site. As one might guess, the sites owners also provide a broad array of services and products that are not free of charge, but that should not keep one from examining the benchmarking report provided at no charge. The BPR site is the product of a strategic alliance between the Fourth Shift Corporation and Grant Thornton LLP. Fourth Shift is a NASDAQ-listed software company (FSFT) and "global leader in the design, production, and support of enterprise software solutions for the manufacturing industry". Grant Thornton LLP is a management consulting firm providing a broad range of professional services to clients in more than 90 countries. Grant Thornton services include manufacturing operations and performance improvement; e-business strategy, implementation, and integration; general information technology effectiveness; and strategic business planning. BenchmarkReport.com is self-described as "a unique, Web-based tool that delivers valuable information to executives that are always looking to improve".

Benchmarkreport.com maintains a database of comparative financial data from more than 150,000 companies in more than 600 four-digit SIC codes. The database can assist companies in analyzing how their peers are performing. A software tool developed by Fourth Shift and Grant Thornton powers the Benchmarkreport.com engine that produces benchmarking reports from the BMR database. The financial benchmarking report is absolutely free. To discover how to get a free report, one should follow the "Background" link (click the Background button) found on the BMR homepage. The steps involved in obtaining a report can be found on the background page. In short, obtaining a free report requires an estimated ten minutes of one's time and the following:

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  Registration – registration allows BMP to find out about one's company so they can identify the company's "relevant peer group".

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  Providing company data – this step helps BMP collect some current financial performance data (12 specific data points on assets, liabilities, and income to calculate an accurate report.

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  Examining your report – BMP will generate a complete benchmark report for one's company and present it online with easy-to-understand charts and graphs. They also provide a complete guide for interpreting the results and using the information in the report.

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  Ongoing review of the report – the report is archived so one can revisit the site to examine the report as it grows. This allows one to track improvement against one's peer group and one's past performance.

A sample report is available for those who wish to examine the financial information contained in a free report. I examined the sample report. The sample report was an actual report prepared for a publicly held bio-medical products manufacturer. The name of the company was not revealed in the sample report. The report contained background information explaining how the report was prepared and some details on how it should be interpreted; a summary of the data entered; a breakdown on operating percentages, inventories, receivables, and payables; and key ratios including activity ratios, profitability ratios, liquidity ratios, and debt to equity ratios. Performance in these key areas is benchmarked against the company's peer group. Also included in the report is a section that, based on a set of specific assumptions, estimates the value of improved company performance in key areas. The sample report was easy to read and understand. A privacy statement, user agreement and registration form are all available via links on the Benchmarkreport.com home page. It is reasonable to assume that Fourth Shift and Grant Thornton LLP would like to provide one's company with additional services for a fee, but requesting the free financial benchmarking report does not obligate one to purchase anything. On that matter, BMR is perfectly clear. I concluded that the site is worth a visit.

This editorial examined four diverse and potentially useful sites. I hope that interested BIJ readers will examine some of these sites as well as the many others available in "cyberspace". There is a world of information on benchmarking available, and it is literally at one's fingertips. As I have stated in the past, my goal is to write Internet editorials that will be valuable to BIJ readers. I can best accomplish this goal with the help of BIJ readers. If you have a site, or know of a site that you would like to see featured in future editorials, please e-mail your suggestions to me. Your input will help me better serve you by writing Internet editorials consistent with your information needs. Send your comments and suggestions to Ronald McGaughey at ronmc@mail.uca.edu

Ronald E. McGaugheyInternet Editor