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This study aims to understand how organizations are approaching workforce diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as well as the challenges and opportunities they encounter as they carry out DEI work.

The study involved survey research with 312 valid respondents representing organizations from a wide range of industries, regions, workforce sizes and revenues. APQC identified 56 “best-in-class” DEI performers from among these organizations based on their responses to questions about the effectiveness of their DEI programs. In addition to survey research, APQC carried out case study research on organizations that are leading the way when it comes to DEI.

Best-in-class organizations provide more resources and leadership support for their DEI programs, do more to drive awareness about DEI, shape policies that are consistent with a commitment to DEI and use measures to hold leadership accountable to stated DEI commitments.

The survey findings and case study examples provide insight into how best-in-class organizations build a strong foundation for DEI through distinctive structures, training, policies and measures that drive accountability. Organizations that adopt the practices and approaches of best-in-class organizations can drive improvements that create more impactful approaches to DEI.

The purpose of this APQC (American Productivity and Quality Center) research study is to understand which strategic workforce planning approaches are currently in use; whether these approaches are meeting business needs; and what workforce planning challenges organizations are facing today.

This study involved survey research with 236 valid respondents representing organizations from a wide range of industries, regions, workforce sizes and revenues. American productivity and quality center (APQC) identified 46 “best-in-class” workforce planners from among these organizations based on their consistent achievement of superior results from workforce planning.

Best-in-class workforce planners are doing more than closing skills gaps and reducing skills surpluses. They are optimizing talent. Leveraging technology, varied work arrangements and employee development, they assemble the optimal mix of talent to achieve business goals.

The findings provide insight into how best-in-class workforce planners build a strong foundation for effective workforce planning through the distinctive ways they use process, people, technology and time. Organizations that adopt the practices and approaches of best-in-class workforce planners can drive improvements in their own workforce planning process.

To develop a performance measurement system (PMS) in the application of supplier relationship management operated under a supply chain benchmarking framework. Acting as a monitoring tool for evaluating the performance of maintenance logistics providers against the defined performance levels stated in the contract, and facilitating the application of benchmarking approach in maintenance logistics activities.

A six tiers collaborative management model is designed in building the PMS, by which information sharing of performance history of suppliers is made possible. By following the work flow of the PMS, performance of suppliers is benchmarked with the best‐in‐class supplier, resulting in the identification of the most appropriate supplier for the particular requirement.

PMS helps a company and its suppliers to understand the performance gap between its service levels with the best‐in‐class practice. The resulting performance gap provides valuable information in the formulating of a new supply chain and strategic plan in solving problems and challenges in aviation industry. By means of PMS, a company can make decisions with the basis of a good relationship with its business partners, especially in the maintenance logistics area.

The design of PMS must take into consideration of the data sources, the duration of taking the required data, and the focal point on collecting information. Moreover, findings from the study have to be revised every two years.

By applying PMS in one of the leading airlines in Hong Kong, suppliers' deficiencies in the logistics performance are identified easily. Moreover, current operational service level is effectively enhanced and the combination of the best‐in‐class supplier service package is accurately selected.

Benchmarking can improve strategic and operational effectiveness by forcing companies to evaluate their efforts compared to “best in class” firms and identify ways to enhance that performance.

Describes a comprehensive set of fact‐based performance measures that can be used to describe accurately a world‐class supply chain of plan, source, make and deliver activities. Aims to help companies take a broad supply‐chain‐process perspective by quantifying performance improvement opportunities across the entire supply chain. Includes quantitative measures such as cash‐to‐cash cycle time and supply chain response time, as well as qualitative analysis of best‐in‐class performance. Best practice benchmarks provide more insight into how to achieve world‐class performance.

Notes that after‐sales field service has become an established competitive differentiator among equipment manufacturers. From the service provider’s perspective, effective field service management is essential for operational productivity, customer satisfaction and retention, and profitability. Benchmarking is a process for measuring a firm’s performance against the best‐in‐class, and using such an analysis to meet or exceed the best‐in‐class performance. Develops a benchmarking approach that utilizes customer satisfaction survey results in conjunction with a zero defects metric. The applicability of this method is demonstrated through its use in competitive and internal benchmarking of equipment field services in the case of a European office‐equipment manufacturer.

Hospitals worldwide are facing the same opportunities and threats: the demographics of an aging population; steady increases in chronic diseases and severe illnesses; and a steadily increasing demand for medical services with more intensive treatment for multi-morbid patients. Additionally, patients are becoming more demanding. They expect high quality medicine within a dignity-driven and painless healing environment.

The severe financial pressures that these developments entail oblige care providers to more and more cost-containment and to apply process reengineering, as well as continuous performance improvement measures, so as to achieve future financial sustainability. At the same time, regulators are calling for improved patient outcomes. Benchmarking and best practice management are successfully proven performance improvement tools for enabling hospitals to achieve a higher level of clinical output quality, enhanced patient satisfaction, and care delivery capability, while simultaneously containing and reducing costs.

This chapter aims to clarify what benchmarking is and what it is not. Furthermore, it is stated that benchmarking is a powerful managerial tool for improving decision-making processes that can contribute to the above-mentioned improvement measures in health care delivery. The benchmarking approach described in this chapter is oriented toward the philosophy of an input–output model and is explained based on practical international examples from different industries in various countries.

Benchmarking is not a project with a defined start and end point, but a continuous initiative of comparing key performance indicators, process structures, and best practices from best-in-class companies inside and outside industry.

Benchmarking is an ongoing process of measuring and searching for best-in-class performance:

• Measure yourself with yourself over time against key performance indicators

• Measure yourself against others

• Identify best practices

• Equal or exceed this best practice in your institution

• Focus on simple and effective ways to implement solutions

Measure yourself with yourself over time against key performance indicators

Measure yourself against others

Identify best practices

Equal or exceed this best practice in your institution

Focus on simple and effective ways to implement solutions

Comparing only figures, such as average length of stay, costs of procedures, infection rates, or out-of-stock rates, can lead easily to wrong conclusions and decision making with often-disastrous consequences. Just looking at figures and ratios is not the basis for detecting potential excellence. It is necessary to look beyond the numbers to understand how processes work and contribute to best-in-class results. Best practices from even quite different industries can enable hospitals to leapfrog results in patient orientation, clinical excellence, and cost-effectiveness.

Despite common benchmarking approaches, it is pointed out that a comparison without “looking behind the figures” (what it means to be familiar with the process structure, process dynamic and drivers, process institutions/rules and process-related incentive components) will be extremely limited referring to reliability and quality of findings.

In order to demonstrate transferability of benchmarking results between different industries practical examples from health care, automotive, and hotel service have been selected.

Additionally, it is depicted that international comparisons between hospitals providing medical services in different health care systems do have a great potential for achieving leapfrog results in medical quality, organization of service provision, effective work structures, purchasing and logistics processes, or management, etc.

Benchmarking is more than giving marks. It is a way of measuring a firm’s strategies and performance against "best‐in‐class” firms, both inside and outside the industry. The aim is to identify best practices that can be adopted and implemented by the organization with the purpose of improving a company’s performance. The process of benchmarking is divided into seven phases: which functions to benchmark; importance of each subject area; whom to benchmark against; gather the benchmarking information; identify performance gaps; how to learn from the “best‐in‐class” (benchlearning); and implementation of the changes (benchaction). Benchmarking, benchlearning and benchaction is not a one‐time project. It is a continuous improvement strategy and a change management process. Thus benchmarking is a part of the total quality management (TQM) system, and it relates well to other TQM initiatives.

Intense competition forces companies to become involved in supply chain collaboration with their upstream and downstream partners. The key to ensuring that the participating members are progressing on the right track of creating the best‐in‐class practice is to conduct benchmarking. Benchmarking stimulates collective learning for performance improvement that brings benefits to all participating members. However, previous research has focused mainly on supply chain benchmarking at the intra‐company ‐‐ rather than the inter‐company ‐‐ level. Inter‐company benchmarking requires a new perspective for understanding collaborative learning amongst the participating members that encourages them to improve supply chain performance as a whole. This research aims to develop a benchmarking scheme for supply chain collaboration that links collaborative performance metrics and collaborative enablers. The proposed benchmarking scheme can be used to examine the current status of supply chain collaboration among the participating members, identify performance gaps and systematize improvement initiatives.

Investigates the fourth annual survey of practices in product development by Product Development Consulting, Inc. and the Management Roundtable. Focuses on best practices in product definition. Concludes that several product definition practices distinguish best‐in‐class companies and goes on to list these.