As all businesses are in a continuous search for improving their organizational processes, one of the main actions that needs to be taken for seeing quality improvements and achieving a superior level of performance is closing the gaps. Improvement refers to the process through which performance gaps are actually closed, so that a company is able to achieve the desired results. The aspect that can always be improved is performance. Therefore, improvement is not a results issue, but a performance related one.
If the Grinch were to consider a career change, he would certainly declare war on Christmas shopping. As the festive season grows nearer, shoppers experience an increase in the thrill of exerting their spending power. Shoppers’ pockets stretch a little bit further this time of year, consumer confidence grows, discounts and bargains in retailing multiply.
Nowadays, there is nothing new left when it comes to measuring suppliers’ performance, as organizations do it in their strive to increase performance. In this way, they can better manage the quality, the timeliness and the costs related to materials, products or services purchased.
Today’s companies are striving to get the highest results with the least amount of effort. They strive to gain profit in a simple translation, with minimum expenses. But many enterprises forget one important aspect that differentiate companies which have strong financial performance from the ones which don’t: a strong organizational culture. Yes, having high quality low cost products, processes put in place, engaged and skilled employees is important, but these are outcomes of having a culture of performance.
One of the keys to success in benchmarking is connected to selecting the right benchmarking partners and learning from the best in class organizations. However, the process required in the selection phase is a very complex one which needs to have the proper time and resources allocated.
