Matthew Hinton

Best practice benchmarking in the UK

Reflects on a three‐year project examining the evolving nature of “best practice” benchmarking in UK‐based organisations. The findings describe the current state of benchmarking and some of its advantages across a wide variety of public and private sector organisations. Also investigates the disincentives to benchmarking activity experienced by practising benchmarkers, as well as the factors which inhibit the initial take‐up of this technique. In addition, the notion that a maturity curve exists for organisations engaged in benchmarking is explored.

A vehicle for change?: A case study of performance improvement in the “new” public sector

This paper critiques the notion that a single approach to performance improvement can alone be responsible for significant organisational transformation. We draw on phenomenological case study evidence, placed in the context of an ongoing series of studies of the nature and prevalence of best practice benchmarking in the UK, including large‐scale questionnaire surveys and longitudinal case studies of the rich experiences of a number of practitioners and organisations. We argue that complex approaches to performance improvement such as benchmarking, however technically powerful they may be, are only as effective as the people who apply them and their compatibility with the organisational context in which they are used. The contribution of such methods is often difficult to separate from other variables. In addition to internal organisational characteristics, external contextual factors play an important part both in establishing a need to use such approaches, and encouraging commitment to their use. Some of the clearest examples of the distortion of the potential impact of new management practices by the wider policy context can be found in public services such as the National Health Service, from which examples are drawn in this paper.

Competitive advantage through e-operations

This paper reports the initial stages of a research project investigating how UK-based organizations undertaking electronic commerce are seeking competitive advantage through the management of their e-operations. It is widely held that success in e- business is dependent upon harnessing the increased connectivity of the Internet in order to improve efficiency and effectiveness in managing business processes that produce and deliver goods and services. This requires the integration of operations management and information systems both within the organization and with supply chain partners. Results from a cross-case analysis of seven companies (three manufacturers and four financial service companies) are reported. These indicate that: (1) e- commerce investments are mainly driven by a fear of being left behind by competitors rather than a desire to improve business process performance; (2) e-commerce investments tend to automate rather than redesign existing processes; (3) e-operations are run as a discrete set of processes, with little or no integration between e- operations information systems and those of the bricks-and-mortar operations; (4) there is a lack of formal performance measures for e-commerce investments; (5) legacy systems and a lack of industry standards are major encumbrances to information systems integration.

Developing a framework to analyse the roles and relationships of online intermediaries

Internet-based information and communication technologies (ICTs) have offered opportunities to reconfigure supply chains. A new kind of intermediary has emerged in many industries; the cybermediary-an online intermediary that only operates in the virtual environment. Many new types of online intermediary have emerged with differing business models. As yet, there have been few attempts to describe and categorise their e-business practices or to analyse the roles that they play within their supply chains. This paper seeks to address this deficiency by addressing both the theory and practise of online intermediaries. A two-dimensional framework based on the roles of cybermediaries and their relationships between supplier and buyer in the supply chain is developed from a synthesis of the extant literature. Five roles of cybermediaries are identified: informational, transactional, assurance, logistical and customisation. Cybermediary relationships are characterised in terms of their affiliation to customers and suppliers. Case studies of three online intermediaries are presented to illustrate and test the framework. An analysis of the empirical data from these cases served to demonstrate the utility of the framework in categorising online intermediaries and offering additional understandings of the rapidly evolving world of virtual supply chains.

Barriers to e-health business processes

This paper builds from recent case study research in commercial organisations to develop the hypothesis that many of the barriers to e-health processes are similar to those encountered by commercial businesses. The paper reports findings from a case study within the pathology department of a UK National Health Service (NHS) Trust. The NHS has a risk-averse culture where many individuals practice defensive behaviour and there are deeply embedded working practices. The paper suggests that if the NHS is to seize the opportunities offered by substantial new investments in e-health systems that utilise internet-based ICTs, greater effort needs to be made to understand and address the socio-cultural factors affecting the UK healthcare system.

What really goes on in the name of benchmarking

The field of performance measurement has evolved rapidly in the last few years with the development of new measurement frameworks and methodologies, such as the balanced scorecard, the performance prism, economic value added, economic profit, activity based costing and self-assessment techniques. This multidisciplinary, international book draws together the key themes to provide an up-to-date summary of the leading ideas in business performance measurement, theory and practice. It includes viewpoints from a range of fields including accounting, operations management, marketing, strategy and organisational behaviour. The book will appeal to graduate students, managers and researchers interested in performance measurement, whatever their discipline.

Integrating Operations and Information Strategy in e-Business

Businesses today operate in a fast-evolving environment where Internet-based technologies are not only ubiquitous but are having a fundamental impact on the way that businesses manage their operations and compete. An ever increasing number of organisations, whether dotcom start-ups or established businesses, are becoming e-businesses. Operations management academics have always highlighted the strategic importance of operations, and its role in corporate success. Consideration of operations strategy surely has no less importance in e-business than in traditional business. Yet there is evidence from practice that many companies have adopted e-applications without thinking through their strategic impact. Similarly, operations strategy theory appears to have done little to adapt to the changes wrought by the advent of Internet-based ICT. This paper considers what impact the Internet has had on operations strategy and whether new strategic thinking is required in response to the powerful external forces that are re-shaping industry. The paper postulates that new thinking is required and that effective operations strategy must now also integrate the consideration of information systems strategy within its subject matter.

The strategic management of operations in e-business

New ways of managing operations are emerging as businesses embrace the internet-based ICTs of e-commerce within their business processes. Yet progress in many e-businesses is hampered because of an apparent mismatch between their business and operations strategies. This paper examines the strategic management of operations in e-businesses using the well-known Hayes and Wheelwright four-stage model of the strategic role and contribution of the operations function. The research uses a case study methodology based on interviews with senior managers in twelve e-businesses in the UK, which encompass organizations of differing size, using different e-commerce models, operating in a variety of industries. The paper closes by discussing the generalizability of the findings and recommends what future work might be conducted to advance understanding of what is an under-researched aspect of e-business.

Discovering effective performance measurement for e-business

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to identify the features of an effective e‐business performance measurement system, as well as the practices in organisations with distinctive e‐business performance metrics. From this it was hoped to identify a set of best practice recommendations.Design/methodology/approach – A case study methodology is used to examine the performance measurement practices of 12 potentially exemplar organisations that have made efforts to develop distinctive performance metrics for e‐business. Qualitative data are collected from interviews with key informants from each organisation, with supporting data generate from company documents.Findings – The study has uncovered a variety of approaches to e‐business performance measurement, with no common framework apparent. Whilst the case organisations show significant differences in the level of success achieved in developing suitable measures, there is evidence of a common concern to link e‐business performance to organisational object...

Towards a framework for evaluating the business process performance of e-business investments

Much business process innovation is being driven through development of e-commerce applications. But e-business requires considerable financial investment, the justification and evaluation of which requires some kind of performance measurement system. This paper reports research into the development of performance measurement in e-business order fulfilment and delivery processes. A series of case organisations have been used to develop a framework for understanding e-commerce performance, and to explore the range of specific measures organisations are currently using within this context.