Guest editorial

Citation

Chung, W.W.C., Hua Tan, K. and Lenny Koh, S.C. (2007), "Guest editorial", Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 14 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/bij.2007.13114caa.001

Guest editorial

About the Guest Editors

Walter W. C. Chung is the Associate Professor at the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He graduated in Industrial Engineering and received MBA from UNSW Australia. He is the Programme Leader of MSc in Industrial Logistics Systems. His research interests are in information systems and knowledge management for e-business. A recipient of the President's Awards for Achievement 1996/1997: Research and scholarly activities, he has successfully supervised research students up to the PhD level and published numerous research papers. He has been successful in research grants (HK$7.1 millions) and is active in consulting with business and industry.

Kim Hua Tan is an Associate Professor in Operations Management at Nottingham University Business School. Prior to this, he researched and taught at Centre for Strategy and Performance, University of Cambridge. Dr Tan spent many years in industry holding various executive positions before joining the academia. His current research interests are operations strategy, lean management, decision-making, and performance measurement. Dr Tan has published numerous articles in academic journals, i.e. Decision Sciences, International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Innovation Management and others.

S. C. Lenny Koh is a Lecturer in Business Studies at Sheffield University Management School and teaches Operations Management and Quantitative Research Methods. Her research interest is in the area of Operations Management, E-business, SMEs, and Competitive Advantage.

Editorial introduction

The aims of this special issue are to gain an up to date view of current development, and best practices in modelling strategic business decisions. We are pleased to present eight of the best papers from the 2004 International Workshop of Supply Chain Management and Information Systems (SCMIS 2004) in Hong Kong. The papers span the areas of manufacturing strategy, e-business, and network relationship management.

The two papers on manufacturing strategy address how competitive advantage in manufacturing could be attained at Mauritius and Mexico. Hurreeram illustrates the development and use of an audit tool for garment making companies, using the systems modelling approach, for both assessing the current manufacturing strategy and for selecting appropriate alternative strategies with a view to implement best practice standards. Use of the tool has shown promising results in a number of companies in Mauritius and is seen as a vital instrument for garment making companies around the world, willing to achieve enhanced product competitiveness in an era of liberalised apparel trade. Ojeda-Gomez, Simpson, Koh and Padmore use interviews and questionnaires to investigate how business environment can influence the way small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) gain a competitive advantage in the Mexican Footwear Industry. Their investigation revealed that main factors that contributed to an SME's success were found to be the role of the entrepreneur and support organizations and the type of strategies adopted. These factors interacted and complemented each other.

The two papers on e-business address security message exchange and business integration models. Chiu, Yu, and Koh present a common gateway service model for electronic business supply chain based on RosettaNet Standards. A prototyping system compliant with the model presented is built and installed as a gateway interface of digital firms and seamlessly integrated to the firm's backend information system to conduct the message exchange with its business trading partners. The result of experimental implementation in a firm's supply chain system shows that the service model can really assist the firm to streamline its flow of business data and create a higher value of supply chain with its suppliers in this digital era. Pavic, Koh, Simpson and Padmore examine what is needed for the transition of SMEs from an “old” traditional business strategy to a new “e” business strategy. The findings indicate that it may be possible for SMEs to integrate the internet technology into an overall strategy and that this new technology could become a force for creating a competitive advantage. However, owners' attitudes towards new technology, the knowledge and skills of management and the workforce are recognised as potential problematic issues.

This issue includes four papers on network relationship management. Choy, Chow, Lee, and Chan describe the development of a Performance Measurement System in the application of supplier relationship management. Using a case study at Hong Kong Dragon Airline Limited, they demonstrated that the developed model could assist managers in determining the combination of the best-in-class supplier service package. Yam, Chan and Chung review the competitive advantage of building up a knowledge management system through the setting up of an information infrastructure and sustaining through the development of an information hub in global companies. A case study in Hasbro Far East Ltd revealed that the information hub and the collaborative process play a key role in controlling the non-core activities and in determining the success of transforming to a new business model for global product development. Law and Ngai examine the relationship between the extent of business process improvement (BPI) and the success of enterprise resource planning (ERP) system adoption. The paper aims to investigate the effects of organizational factors, such as senior management support, and the reporting relationship between the IT function and the CEO, on the outcomes of ERP adoption and BPI. Wang, Ho, Lin, and Chou using the idea of contingency fit, attempt to construct a strategic selection system to select the strategy competency of channel strategic selection by using neuro-fuzzy technique. They reported that the constructed strategic selection system can be used as a competency diagnosis system for channel members in the supply chain organization, providing clues for further channel performance promotion and channel modernization.

In closing

This issue touches upon many aspects of the spectrum of strategic business decision modelling. The selected papers are interesting and span the methodology groups of case studies, interviews, and surveys. We hope the knowledge you gain from reading this special issue of outstanding papers will increase your understanding of the various applications of models in supporting strategic decision-making.

We would like to thank the authors who responded to the call for papers as well as the numerous anonymous referees for their timely, in-depth, and diligent work. We sincerely enjoyed putting this special issue together especially the time we spent debating the merits of the many high-quality papers that were reviewed and considered for publication. Last but not least, we acknowledge the support given by W.B. Lee, Chair Professor and Head of Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in promoting research in “articulating best-in-class practices” for benchmarking by executives in academic and industrial communities.

Walter W.C. Chung, Kim Hua Tan and S.C. Lenny Koh