Citation
Gunasekaran, A. (2004), "Benchmarking: an international journal in 2004 and Beyond", Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 11 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/bij.2004.13111aaa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Benchmarking: an international journal in 2004 and Beyond
Benchmarking: An International Journal (BIJ) has come a long way as it enters the 11th year of publication. In the past few years, BIJ has experienced a rapid growth in terms of attracting a good number of quality submissions, readership and online access to BIJ. Recent volumes of BIJ reflect the importance of continued research and application of benchmarking. BIJ has constantly evolved over the years to address the theory and practice of benchmarking taking into account the changing enterprise environment. BIJ has been publishing articles from both researchers and practitioners. We have published editorials on a regular basis to keep updating on the developments of benchmarking theory and practice. These include the Editorial, and Internet editorial by Ronald McGaughey. Considering the implications of information technology (IT) in benchmarking theory and practice, BIJ has encouraged articles that include applications of IT in benchmarking and benchmarking e-business environments. In fact, IT has changed the way the benchmarking exercise has been conducted in recent years.
Considering the importance of emerging fields such as e-commerce, supply chain management, and virtual enterprise, BIJ has been publishing articles and special issues in these areas to encourage research on benchmarking in these environments. Moreover, service economy is gaining stronger ground than ever in national economy. About 75 percent of gross domestic product comes from the service industry. Even manufacturing has become more about services. These emphasize the need for research on benchmarking in service industries, healthcare, aviation, human resources, and quality management. To address the benchmarking issues in the service industry, BIJ has scheduled several special issues that will feature articles written by well known researchers in the field of service management. The following are the special issues forthcoming in BIJ:
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“Benchmarking in aviation” by Graham Francis and Ian Humphreys;
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“Benchmarking the human side of business enterprise” by Matthew Roy and Sanjiv Dugal;
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“Benchmarking in health” by Graham Francis and Stewart Lawrence;
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“Benchmarking in total quality management” by Fiorenzo Franceschini; and
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“Benchmarking in services” by Jaideep Motwani and Victor E. Sower.
The future volumes of BIJ will include a “practitioner's section” on benchmarking to encourage industry people to share their benchmarking experiences.
Overall, BIJ has an exciting year to look forward with the following additional features:
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Special issues on healthcare, aviation, human resources and total quality management.
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“Practitioner's section” to encourage people from industries to share their experience on benchmarking in their firms.
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Viewpoints on emerging benchmarking theory and practices from both practitioners and researchers.
The Editors of BIJ welcome contributions to various special issues, the practitioner's section and viewpoints from both practitioners and academics.
A. Gunasekaran