Editorial

Citation

Gunasekaran, A. (2003), "Editorial", Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 10 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/bij.2003.13110aaa.001

Editorial

I am pleased to note that Benchmarking: An International Journal (BIJ) is entering its tenth year of publication. BIJ has undergone many challenges and changes over the years in order to maintain its distinctiveness as a premier journal for benchmarking theory and practices, publishing high quality articles that have relevance for the business community as well as the academic community. Benchmarking has been receiving due attention since the emergence of information communication technologies such as the Internet and the World Wide Web, and the focus on developing learning organizations.

During the past couple of years we have introduced regular and Internet editorials. Professor Ronald McGaughey has been doing a great job of presenting very useful and interesting Internet editorials that highlight the importance of the Internet and the Web in benchmarking practices. A couple of special issues are forthcoming in volume 10 (2003). These are edited by Professor Joseph Sarkis (Clark University, USA) and Professor Zahir Irani (Brunel University, UK). The subjects of the special issues are corporate environmental benchmarking and benchmarking in information and communication technologies. I am sure readers will find these special issue papers interesting and useful, and generate further research in these areas of benchmarking.

Volume 10 will feature interesting articles and editorials. Some of them include:

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  benchmarking in purchasing, research and development, supplier selection, and services;

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  best practices in project management;

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  review of benchmarking methodologies;

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  pitfalls and solutions of benchmarking;

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  benchmarking of quality management;

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  benchmarking in financial sectors;

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  legal issues in benchmarking;

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  revisiting the concept of benchmarking; and

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  benchmarking and balanced scorecards.

The subject of benchmarking is not simply about measuring and comparing the performance of companies for identifying the best practices to improve organizational competitiveness. It has much more to do with, for example, benchmarking exercise itself as a learning tool that can open up many strategic questions and methodological issues. Benchmarking as a method has tremendous implications on organizational performance and behavior. There are numerous articles on benchmarking theory and practices in different industries that include manufacturing and services, including transportation. However, the method of benchmarking itself is yet to receive due attention from both researchers and practitioners for developing an effective framework. Some of the papers appearing in volume 10 deal with benchmarking methodologies and best practices. However, more research needs to be carried out in this area.

In the interests of steering BIJ to the next level of success, the Editors of BIJ invite any comments or suggestions on the scope and contents of the journal from readers so that the journal may maintain its distinctive and premier position in dealing with benchmarking, best practices, performance measures and metrics that are essential for organizational competitiveness in the twenty-first century and beyond.

BIJ encourages young researchers including PhD scholars and junior faculty, to publish their articles by providing editorial support in terms of structuring and presenting their papers. BIJ has been responsive in terms of providing timely feedback on their papers using electronic communication. The real challenge in benchmarking is to determine the right measures and metrics for accurately measuring the performance of different areas of an organization so that right decisions can be made in a timely manner.

BIJ constantly supports and sponsors conferences and other related national and international events. In 2003, BIJ sponsors an international conference on “Performance measures, metrics and benchmarking in the twenty-first bentury (business excellence 2003)”, which is to be held in Guimaraes, Portugal. Also, BIJ supports an international conference on “Responsive supply chain for manufacturing competitiveness”, which is to be held in Coimbatore, India, in January 2004. These are examples of how BIJ is dedicated to promoting research and application of benchmarking theory and practices including performance measures and metrics.

BIJ is planning to publish practitioners’ viewpoints from time to time. This will occur more often in forthcoming years. Other good news is that BIJ will have six issues per year from volume 10 onwards in order to reduce the length of the publication cycle time and provide additional information for its readers. It is now working towards online (Web-based) submission of manuscripts and reviews.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the authors, readers, Guest Editors of special issues, Dr Keith Howard (Managing Director of Emerald), Professor Ronald McGaughey (Internet Editor, BIJ), Dr John McHale (Managing Editor, Emerald), Professor John Peters (Director of Emerald), and Professor Mohamed Zairi (Editorial Director, BIJ), for their continued support to the success of BIJ.

A. Gunasekaran