A new update of the classic text on benchmarkingStrategic Benchmarking Reloaded with Six Sigma updates benchmarking, the revolutionary business performance methodology, by adding statistical concepts from Six Sigma. These two methodologies combine to form a powerful platform for improving any company's overall performance. This new revision reviews the first twenty-five years of development in benchmarking and features new appendices, case studies, and topics, making this the most complete and comprehensive coverage of the subject available.Topics include:* Stimulating business improvement with benchmarking* Linking Six Sigma to strategic planning and benchmarking* Understanding the essence of process benchmarking* Making statistical comparisons in benchmarking* Applying benchmarking results for maximum utility* Reviewing lessons learned from old case studies* Conducting a strategic benchmarking study* Performing an operational benchmarking study* Mainstreaming benchmarking into strategic planning* Creating a sustainable benchmarking capability* Plus: appendices covering the benchmarking code of conduct, operating procedures, and Web resources
Author(s): Gregory H. Watson
Edition: 2
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 360
Strategic Benchmarking Reloaded with Six Sigma......Page 6
Introduction: Benchmarking: The First 25 Years (1979-2004)......Page 26
THE DAWN BEFORE BENCHMARKING SCIENCE......Page 27
BENCHMARKING—AN OPPORTUNITY THAT EMERGED FROM A CRISIS......Page 29
MEANWHILE, CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS AND SHARING FLOURISHED......Page 31
THE DIFFUSION OF BENCHMARKING AS A PRACTICE......Page 34
INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF THE PRACTICE OF BENCHMARKING......Page 35
MAINSTREAMING BENCHMARKING INTO BUSINESS......Page 37
CHALLENGES OF THE COMING YEARS AND E-BENCHMARKING......Page 38
CONCLUSION......Page 41
Acknowledgments......Page 22
THE ORIGINS OF STRATEGIC BENCHMARKING......Page 12
BENCHMARKING AS AMANAGEMENT PRACTICE......Page 14
THE BUSINESS BENEFITS OF STRATEGIC BENCHMARKING......Page 15
THE CONTRIBUTION OF SIX SIGMA TO BENCHMARKING......Page 17
ORGANIZATION OF THIS BOOK......Page 19
Contents......Page 10
Part I: The Business Context of Benchmarking......Page 42
INTRODUCTION......Page 44
BENCHMARKING DEFINED ACCORDING TO CATEGORIES OF PRACTICE......Page 45
BENCHMARKING DEFINED ACCORDING TO SOURCES OF DATA......Page 51
DEFINITIONS OF THE COMPONENTS OF A PROCESS BENCHMARKING STUDY......Page 56
BENCHMARKING—A DISCIPLINE IN TOTAL QUALITYMANAGEMENT......Page 61
UNDERSTANDING THE LOGIC OF A BENCHMARKING STUDY......Page 63
SUMMARY OF EFFECTIVE BENCHMARKING PRACTICE......Page 64
APPLYING A SYSTEMS APPROACH......Page 66
STIMULUS: BEST PRACTICE OR THEORY OF OPERATIONS?......Page 67
INVESTIGATING THE NATURE OF CHANGE......Page 70
THE THEORY OF THEORIES......Page 75
LEVERAGING CHANGE FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE......Page 77
MANAGING YOUR ABILITY TO KNOW AND LEARN......Page 80
ESTIMATING THE PREDICTABILITY OF PERFORMANCE......Page 82
EVALUATING YOUR BUSINESS AS A SYSTEM......Page 85
RECOGNIZING THE LEVERS OF CHANGE......Page 87
LEARNING TO SEE DIFFERENTLY—SIX SIGMA RECOGNIZE......Page 88
IMPROVING BY ADAPTATION—COMPLEXITY IS REALITY......Page 90
LEARNING FROM COMPLEXITY THEORY......Page 93
EXPLORATION VERSUS EXPLOITATION......Page 95
MANAGING YOUR CORE BUSINESS PROCESSES......Page 97
INTEGRATING BENCHMARKING WITH STRATEGIC PLANNING......Page 99
DOING BENCHMARKING—BEING DANTOTSU!......Page 101
Part II: The Process of Benchmarking......Page 102
BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT AS A PROCESS......Page 104
BENCHMARKINGWAS DEVELOPED AS AN ART AND IS TRANSITIONING TO A SCIENCE......Page 107
LOADING SIX SIGMA INTO PROCESS BENCHMARKING......Page 108
WHAT IS THE SIX SIGMA DMAIC PROCESS?......Page 109
THE PROCESS OF BENCHMARKING......Page 112
APPLYING THE BENCHMARKING PROCESS TO CONDUCT A STUDY......Page 123
BENEFITS AND PITFALLS OF BENCHMARKING......Page 130
SUMMARY......Page 132
INTRODUCTION......Page 134
CONTRIBUTION OF THE SIX SIGMAMOVEMENT......Page 135
THE NATURE OF COMPARISON......Page 136
THE NATURE OF PERFORMANCEMEASUREMENT......Page 137
TYPES OF DATA USED FOR COMPARISON......Page 141
COLLECTING DATA TO EVALUATE PERFORMANCE......Page 143
JUDGING THE GOODNESS OF AMEASUREMENT SYSTEM......Page 147
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS FUNDAMENTALS......Page 149
THE SUPERIORITY OF STATISTICAL COMPARISONS......Page 154
TYPES OF BENCHMARKING COMPARISONS......Page 156
GRAPHICAL PRESENTATION OF BENCHMARKING STUDY RESULTS......Page 163
VERBAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE STUDY RESULTS......Page 167
WHAT CAN GOWRONG IN A STATISTICAL COMPARISON?......Page 169
SUMMARY OF COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS......Page 170
BENCHMARKING FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE......Page 172
PLACING STRATEGY INTO A BUSINESS PROCESSMODEL......Page 173
DEFINING QUALITY AS THE KEY BUSINESS OUTCOME......Page 178
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE THROUGH CUSTOMER ALIGNMENT......Page 182
GENERATING STRATEGIC LEARNING EXPERIENCES......Page 187
LEARNING QUICKER—DECIDING FASTER—ACTING CONFIDENTLY......Page 189
MEASURING ANDMANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE......Page 191
EVALUATING YOUR BUSINESSMEASUREMENT CAPABILITY......Page 192
ELEMENTS OF A BUSINESSMEASUREMENT SYSTEM......Page 194
CRITERIA FOR SOUND PROCESS PERFORMANCEMEASURES......Page 195
CREATING A CAPABLE BUSINESSMEASUREMENT SYSTEM......Page 196
USING A CUSTOMER DASHBOARD FOR DAILYMANAGEMENT......Page 200
BEGIN BY BENCHMARKING ORGANIZATIONAL PURPOSE......Page 202
INTEGRATE BENCHMARKING INTO YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY......Page 203
PLAN YOUR BENCHMARKING PROGRAM......Page 204
Part III: Case Studies in Benchmarking......Page 206
THEORY IS ESSENTIAL AS A BASE FOR PRACTICE, BUT DOES ITWORK IN PRACTICE?......Page 208
WHAT IS THE BUSINESSMOTIVATION FOR DOING A BENCHMARKING STUDY?......Page 209
CASE STUDIES REVISITED......Page 212
UNDERSTANDING BENCHMARKING STUDIES......Page 220
INTRODUCTION......Page 224
BACKGROUND INFORMATION......Page 225
THE HP STRATEGIC BENCHMARKING STUDY......Page 226
BUSINESS REASON FOR A NOKIA STUDY......Page 227
CONDUCTING THE STRATEGIC BENCHMARKING STUDY......Page 230
DEVELOPING A CREATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF STRATEGIC BENCHMARKING INFORMATION......Page 234
APPLYING INSIGHTS TO INNOVATE BUSINESS POSITIONING......Page 236
REALIZING THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY......Page 238
LESSONS LEARNED: INTEGRATING BENCHMARKING INTO THE STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS......Page 241
LESSONS LEARNED: STRATEGIC BENCHMARKING FOCUSES ORGANIZATIONAL RESOURCES......Page 243
THE COMING ATTRACTION......Page 244
LEAN PRODUCTION AS A BEST PRACTICE......Page 246
TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM—ACTUALLY TOYOTA LEARNING SYSTEM!......Page 249
BENCHMARKING AS A STIMULUS FOR CREATION OF THE TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM......Page 250
OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM......Page 252
ELEMENTS OF THE TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM......Page 253
LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE AND CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT......Page 259
IMPLEMENTING LEAN IN A FACTORY ENVIRONMENT......Page 263
MERGING THE TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM ELEMENTS INTO SIX SIGMA DMAIC......Page 272
EXTENDING LEAN LEARNING......Page 273
EVALUATINGMATURITY OF YOUR LEAN SYSTEM......Page 276
CONCLUDING COMMENTS......Page 278
Part IV: Conducting Benchmarking Studies......Page 280
INTRODUCTION TO POLICYMANAGEMENT......Page 282
PROGRAM FOR PERFORMANCEMANAGEMENT......Page 284
THE JAPANESE APPROACH TO POLICYMANAGEMENT......Page 286
MEASUREMENT SYSTEM DESIGN......Page 288
DEFINING DIRECTION......Page 294
IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES FOR DISRUPTION......Page 295
CONCLUSION......Page 297
COLLABORATION TO ENHANCE COMPETITIVENESS......Page 300
ADAPTIVE LEARNING SYSTEM......Page 304
ADMINISTRATION OF BENCHMARKING......Page 307
BENCHMARKINGMETRICS AND PROCEDURES......Page 308
BENCHMARKING TEAM TRAINING......Page 310
TECHNOLOGY AND BENCHMARKING......Page 311
CONTINUOUS BENCHMARKING......Page 313
BENCHMARKING PROCESS AUDIT......Page 315
CONCLUDING COMMENT......Page 316
PREAMBLE......Page 318
BENCHMARKING CODE OF CONDUCT......Page 319
REFERENCES......Page 322
DEFINITIONS......Page 323
PHILOSOPHY AND APPROACH......Page 325
BENCHMARKINGMETHOD......Page 326
PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM......Page 328
CONTROL PLAN......Page 329
PRACTICAL ADVICE......Page 330
APPENDIXES......Page 331
BENCHMARKING AND QUALITY ORGANIZATIONS......Page 332
PRIMER ONWEB-BASED SEARCH LOGIC......Page 333
Appendix D: Glossary of Terms Used in Lean Production......Page 334
Appendix E: Chronological Bibliography of Books about Benchmarking......Page 345
About the Author......Page 350
Index......Page 352
