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This paper demonstrates a multi-criteria analytic hierarchy process (AHP) framework for evaluating and benchmarking maintenance performance in the select agro-based industry.

Initially, 20 maintenance practices (criteria) have been identified after a detailed literature review and discussion with the agro-based industry (sugar, textile and dairy industry) executives. These are then grouped into six maintenance management areas referred to as group criteria. The multi-criteria methodology consists of three steps: criteria identification, hierarchical modeling and data collection and maintenance performance evaluation, and benchmarking. The multi-criteria methodology proposed in this work facilitates two ways of carrying out benchmarking: (1) within the agro-based industry and (2) between the agro-based industry. The methodology has been explained by taking a case example of 45 agro-based industries (18 dairy, 13 sugar and 14 textile) from the western region of India. The sensitivity analysis of the model has been performed to ascertain the robustness of the results.

There is a difference in the maintenance performance across the agro-based industries due to different maintenance practices perceived differently.

The outcome of the model is mainly given by the judgments of the agro-based industry executives. It is also sensitive to any change in the relative importance to the evaluation criteria or the perception about the maintenance performance.

The study contributes in identifying the weakness, if any, by comparing the agro-based industry under investigation with the benchmark factory at three levels, namely, overall performance (factory level), group criteria (maintenance management area level) and criteria (maintenance practice level) allowing further improvement.

The methodology assists in better decision-making and in improving maintenance performance.

This paper analyses the performance criteria and learning objectives contained in the first 22 QAA subject benchmark statements to be published and considers the implications for assessment. There is much variation in the amount of detail in the statements and there are also implicit performance criteria in the intended learning outcomes listed at the beginning of each. Statements are broad in character so their relationship with standards is loosely‐coupled and open to interpretation. It is argued that attempts to achieve a high degree of precision in specification are likely to prove counter‐productive. There is evidence of some lack of coherence within the benchmark statements and between the statements and the more recently published Level H descriptor in the National Qualifications Framework. Further, the relationship between assessment practice and the statements appears to be problematic. The value of benchmarking statements as an aid to professional conversation about standards would be greatly enhanced if subject communities, perhaps facilitated by Learning and Teaching Support Network subject centres and subject associations, can elaborate for themselves the meanings of words used in the statements of learning outcomes and performance criteria. This elaboration would be aided by the appraisal of exemplars of outcomes at various levels of performance.

Social marketing has been widely used to effectively and voluntarily change behaviours worldwide. The social marketing benchmark criteria offer a framework to apply this approach. This paper aims to examine the extent of use and predictors of success of social marketing benchmark criteria in changing the health behaviours of Pacific Islands populations.

A systematic review of studies designed to change health behaviours among Pacific Islands populations. Studies were assessed against the social marketing benchmark criteria to determine the extent to which the reported intervention used a social marketing approach; and whether the use of the social marketing benchmark criteria led to more effective interventions.

In total, 22 studies were included. In total, 13 were conducted within the Pacific Islands and 9 were aimed at Pacific Islands populations living in America, New Zealand or Hawaii. The most common criteria used were behaviour change, insight and customer orientation. Theory criterion was least commonly used. There was no clear indication of which criterion or combination of criteria, resulted in more effective interventions.

Further empirical evaluations of social marketing interventions within the Pacific Islands context are required to appropriately assess effective predictors of success for this population group. Studies of social marketing interventions targeting non-Pacific Islands populations in non-Pacific Island countries and territories may have limited applicability to Pacific Islanders living in Pacific Island countries and territories.

While similar studies have been conducted, this is the first study to review all behaviour change interventions by applying a social marketing lens in the Pacific Islands. While globally this may have been reviewed, the Pacific Islands has a unique context that needs to be considered, rather than assuming a one size fits all approach. This study offers a comprehensive overview of existing health behaviour change interventions in the Pacific Islands and a call to action to move social marketing forward within the Pacific Islands.

As in line with eco benchmarking, the purpose of this paper is to solve a location selection problem in an emerging country by applying sustainability benchmarking principles.

A hybrid multi-criteria decision-making method, fuzzy AHP and Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE), is used as methodology to make sustainability benchmarking for logistics center location selection.

It is revealed that according to AHP and PROMETHEE calculations, Kemalpasa is determined as the most appropriate location from the sustainable perspectives. Torbali is specified as the worst location to construct a logistics center in terms of benchmarking criteria based on sustainability concerns. Based on these numerical results, managerial implications are presented with a sustainability benchmarking view.

The main originality of this study is integrating one of the relatively new topics, sustainability benchmarking, with a popular area, logistics center location selection.

This paper aims to describe the comparison of two tools in assessing social marketing campaigns.

Using data collected from the campaign planners of 31 alcohol misuse prevention campaigns, two tools were compared; the Social Marketing Indicator (SMI) and Andreasen’s Benchmark Criteria.

In the case of the benchmarks, 26 per cent of the campaigns fulfilled four or more criteria and no criterion was fulfilled by more than 70 per cent. The main differences between current practices and social marketing are the often-missing segmentation and an explicit exchange. The SMI found a lower degree of resemblance between current practices and social marketing. In this case, the major differences lie in the use of behavioral theory and the absence of an exchange.

The SMI allows a more precise description of an intervention. This represents an advantage, as a campaign’s resemblance to social marketing can be reported by directly pointing out the process steps that make the difference. This is important for understanding the research evidence base in social marketing.

Although the benchmark criteria are based on a conceptual approach, the SMI is built around a core procedure. The SMI can thus help program planners from the onset of a project to make sure they do social marketing as it is defined.

This is the first empirical test comparing a new tool against the well-established, frequently critiqued, Benchmark Criteria, in gauging “social marketing” practice in health campaigns.

A critical step in all benchmarking methodologies is “to determine what to benchmark.” Although benchmarking methodologies have been noted in the literature, the need has arisen for the development of structured approaches to determine priority improvement needs. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for determining improvement needs in higher education benchmarking.

The paper makes use of the analytic hierarchy process to develop a framework. The application of the framework is demonstrated through a case study.

The framework discussed in this paper is consensus-based, allows different viewpoints to be integrated, and promotes input to and ownership of the decision making process and its outcomes. The feedback of the participants confirmed the usefulness of the approach.

The previous research has established that determining improvement needs in benchmarking was mostly unsystematic and ad hoc based. And failures in precisely determining improvement needs can result in a lack of alignment between processes to be benchmarked and strategic priorities of higher education institutions (HEIs). The developed framework can help determine priority improvement needs aligned with the strategic priorities of the HEI.

Since continual improvement is an essential element of all quality initiatives, the framework provides a starting point for benchmarking as well as other improvement initiatives such as total quality management.

The business performances of firms are measured on a set of indicators (Financial Ratio Analysis Indicators or Balanced Scorecard Key Performance Indicators). Traditional benchmark analysis considers a set of criteria, though it generally synthesizes all the results, taking into consideration only an aggregate performance criterion (reductio ad unum approach). This methodology has many disadvantages, both theoretical and empirical. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the advantages, in terms of greater flexibility and realism, related to the application of a multicriteria methodology.

The paper uses a tutorial approach. An exemplification of an outranking multicriteria methodology (ELECTRE type) is described.

The main findings of the paper can be summarized as: first, the evaluation of a business performance cannot generally be conducted by means of a unique criterion as in the traditional monocriterion benchmark analysis; second, when the evaluation of a firm is based on different genuine criteria, the performance has to be “satisfacing” and not maximizing; and third, the outranking methods are able to provide logically rigorous solutions to the genuine multicriteria benchmarking evaluation problems.

The paper provides practical implications useful for evaluating firm performances in many cases, also when each stakeholder (managers, shareholders, banks, etc.) assigns different “weights” to the decision criteria.

As a multicriteria evaluation is generally incompatible with a profit maximizing approach, the paper proposes a multicriteria performance measure approach that offers Simon's satisfacing solutions. The paper shows that satisfacing solutions to a multicriteria evaluation problem may be rigorously obtained through an outranking methodology (already introduced by other scholars).

This paper describes, with examples, the writing of aims and intended learning outcomes for a broad range of engineering degree programmes at various levels including undergraduate masters. The relevance and helpfulness, to this process, of the engineering benchmark statement are discussed in the context of the range of other attempts at setting out standards for engineering degrees over several decades, mainly by professional bodies. The discussion also includes the implications, for delivery and assessment, of setting threshold standards, and the importance of clear presentation of intended learning for the successful introduction of PDP.

The manufacturing strategies and practices in a number of newly industrialising countries (NICs) are studied. The IMSS data for four Latin American industrialising countries, referred to as Group 1, are analysed, comparing these with two benchmarks, which represent more advanced manufacturing situations in well established industrialised countries. Comparing results indicated similarities for Group 1 with the two benchmarks, on simultaneously aiming at all their competitive goals. The study also proved a mismatch in their emphasis on the goals and the level of the objectives achieved in this regard. Links for this mismatch were searched for in various areas including human resource and technological aspects. Results also highlighted serious shortcomings for Group 1 in process technology criteria as compared with the two benchmarks. Comparison results with regard to human resources as well as planning and control aspects are also discussed in the paper. Based on this study, it has been concluded that environmental features have to be thoroughly analysed before any manufacturing strategy is developed for the firms in NICs. Further, continual interactions between manufacturing strategies for these firms with their environmental features have to be included in their strategy formulation process.

The adoption of benchmarking techniques has increased over recent years, yet service organisations have been relatively reluctant to adopt the practice. It is widely acknowledged that elements of “service quality” play a key role in the performance and competitiveness of service organisations and thus provide potential benchmarking criteria. Yet perceived service quality must be defined from the consumer’s perspective and, unlike manufacturing organisations, the consumer is involved in the production process. This study examines the potential for the generation and evaluation of consumer focused benchmarking criteria. Consumers of three service sectors – health (family planning); education/professional (accountancy training) and retail (supermarkets) completed measurement scales relating to potentially deterministic attributes and assessed these for current and previous suppliers. The findings indicate that, although management must be aware of a number of potential problems and issues, information derived from consumers can provide a valuable input into a comprehensive external benchmarking programme involving both competitive and generic measures.