Benchmarking: a knowledge-management process to innovate services
Silvia Massa DIST – Department of Communication,
Computer and System Science, University of Genoa,
Genoa, Italy, and Stefania Testa DIP – Department of
Industrial Engineering, University of Genoa, Genoa,
Italy
Realizado por Vicente Moreno MBIX
Benchmarking and innovation
Benchmarking
Webster’s Dictionary
“A mark on a fixed and enduring object (as on an outcropping of rock or a concrete post set into the
ground) indicating a particular elevation and used as a reference in topographical surveys and tidal
observations. A benchmark is thus a point of reference from which measurements of any sorts may be
made”.
Camp (1989)
“the search for industry best practices that will
lead to superior performance”.
Lucertini et al. (1995)
continuing search, measurement and comparison of products, processes, services, procedures, ways
to operate, best practices that other companies have developed to obtain an output and global
performances, with the aim of improving the company performance
(e.g. Cagliano et al., 1999).
In literature several authors focus on the potentiality of benchmarking databases
This paper argues that the process of observation and imitation is a very important cognitive process
that goes beyond the activity of simply copying someone else’s practices.
The result of this learning process is something new, deriving both from the integration of external
inputs with internal previous knowledge as well as from bridging knowledge gaps.
is generally both expensive
Time conuming
usually does not have enough resources to start a benchmarking project.
, that innovation needs to be managed and planned and cannot be only accidental, emerging
Unspoken needs or demands have to be discovered through socialization and externalisation
processes, transforming the benchmarking into a tool not only aimed at problem solving but also at
problem setting.
The research setting
This study focuses on the sector of industrial maintenance in Italy.
se debe a:
It is a business area at the borderline
between manufacturing and services
that maintains characteristics of both
sectors
the selection of the mix of maintenance techniques to the selection of methodological
tools and hardware equipment, to the development of maintenance information systems.
Global services require different competencies
that have different impacts on innovation
processes (
Not all the competencies are necessarily
available within the company at the moment
they are needed.
tacit knowledge has a primary role in innovation processes and its acquisition and transfer
are strategic issues for every firm.
the problems connected with knowledge and innovation management processes in the
presence of dispersed workers take place
influence knowledge flows within the firm and may be meaningful sources of innovative input
RBP Model
Pre-Analysis
Identification problems to face y performance dirves
Definition performance indicators
Data and information gathering from the universe
Identification of the benhmarking sample
Data and information gathering from the sample
Performance indicators preliminary comparson
Invention limits and modifiable constrains
Analysis
Performance standardisation on
common metrics and comparison
identifaction of performance gaps
Case studies of best performers practices
identification success drivers
Definition of success key factors
Communication and sharing of success key factors
Fitting between success factors and organisational context
Decision making
Identification of processes to innovate and goals
Definition of innovation goals and projets
Identification of competenecies gaps
Eventual acquiring of external resources
Integration of newly acquired resources and implementation innovation projects