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Robin Mann, Dotun Adebanjo, Ahmed Abbas, Zeyad Mohammad El Kahlout, Ahmad Abdullah Al Nuseirat and Hazza Khalfan Al Neaimi
This paper aims to investigate the mechanisms for managing coordinated benchmarking projects and the outcomes achieved from such coordination. While there have been many…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the mechanisms for managing coordinated benchmarking projects and the outcomes achieved from such coordination. While there have been many independent benchmarking studies comparing the practices and performance of public sector organisations, there has been little research on initiatives that involve coordinating multiple benchmarking projects within public sector organisations or report on the practices implemented and results from benchmarking projects. This research will be of interest to centralised authorities wishing to encourage and assist multiple organisations in undertaking benchmarking projects.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a case study methodology. Data were collected on the coordinating mechanisms and the experiences of the individual organisations over a one-year period.
Findings
The findings show successful results (financial and non-financial) across all 13 benchmarking projects, thus indicating the success of a coordinated approach to managing multiple projects. The study concluded by recommending a six-stage process for coordinating multiple benchmarking projects.
Originality/value
This research gives new insights into the application and benefits from benchmarking because of the open access the research team had to the “Dubai We Learn” initiative. To the authors’ knowledge the research was unique in being able to report accurately on the outcome of 13 benchmarking projects with all projects using the TRADE benchmarking methodology.
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Nur Hazwani Karim, Noorul Shaiful Fitri Abdul Rahman, Rudiah Md Hanafiah, Saharuddin Abdul Hamid, Alisha Ismail, Ab Saman Abd Kader and Mohd Shaladdin Muda
The literature on warehouse performance assessments is mainly focussed on the efficiency and effectiveness of an action or activity due to customer demand and tailored fulfilment…
Abstract
Purpose
The literature on warehouse performance assessments is mainly focussed on the efficiency and effectiveness of an action or activity due to customer demand and tailored fulfilment, with less attention being given to the performance measurement of each function of the warehouse and its overall productivity. Therefore, this study was aimed at revising the key warehouse performance metrics to a set of productivity measurement indicators that can be adopted internationally for benchmarking productivity performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review and semi-structured survey questionnaire were used for this study. The importance of warehouse productivity performance was reviewed to revamp the measurement indicators. Through the use of a directed content analysis and descriptive analysis, an extensive study was carried out to analyze existing warehouse productivity indicators.
Findings
The findings of this study provide comprehensive references for practitioners and academicians for improving the classification of productivity measurements from existing key performance metrics for warehousing. Also, this paper highlights the warehouse resources related to the respective warehouse operation activities.
Research limitations/implications
The study was limited to productivity performance indicators adapted from Staudt et al. (2015). Furthermore, the samples for this study comprised Malaysian academicians and practitioners in the related field. The findings can be adapted on a global scale as this study implemented general warehouse operation processes.
Originality/value
Consequently, the contributions of this study are that it provides relevant benchmarks for key productivity performance indicators in the warehousing sector that has worldwide applicability and the developed model provides a conceptual platform from which further theoretical and empirical developments can be carried out.
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Halil Kiymaz and Koray D. Simsek
The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of US mutual funds that invest primarily in emerging market equities and bonds.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of US mutual funds that invest primarily in emerging market equities and bonds.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts the Morningstar classification of mutual funds and uses the Lipper US Mutual Fund Database through FactSet to obtain monthly returns and various metrics for emerging market equity and bond mutual funds covering the period from January 2000 to May 2017. Several descriptive statistics for these funds are reported as well as various risk-adjusted performance measures. Alphas are computed for different sub-periods using different factor models to mitigate potential biases.
Findings
The results show that diversified emerging market funds generate some significant alphas for their investors during the study period. Emerging market bond funds, on the other hand, do not provide any significant positive alphas; mostly alphas are negative. An analysis of sub-period performance suggests that these funds do not consistently provide excess returns, showing great variations from one period to another.
Originality/value
The emerging market funds provide US investors with an alternative source of exposure for their portfolios. Emerging markets differ from developed markets on a wide range of market and economic characteristics, including size, liquidity, and regulation. This study contributes to the scarce literature on these types of funds and provides a comprehensive performance assessment against various benchmarks during a period that encompasses significant bear and bull markets across the world.
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