MALAYSIA BENCHMARKING INDEX (MBI)

Benchmarking is widely regarded as the skill that should be communicated and utilised in the day-to-day business operations. Benchmarking has spread throughout the corporate environment and is used as a management tool to enhance global competitiveness.

The desired end result of benchmarking is change.  Benchmarking involves seeing a need for change, discovering what to change, learning how to change it, and developing a vision of the future state.  To change, organisation must be willing to change and adapt, share information with others, be open to ideas from the "outside", and focus "how to change."

The greatest challenge for the practitioners would be in the application of benchmarking and best practices knowledge into their operations. In anticipation of these challenges and constraints, MPC is now promoting the culture of sharing through CoI platform and ICT systems which can speed-up the process of benchmarking and best practices project.    

What is Benchmarking?

Benchmarking is defined as the practice of being humble enough to admit that someone else is better at something and being wise enough to try to learn how to match and even surpass them at it."                                                                                                                 

                                                                     Quality Digest, July, 1992

Benchmarking is a systematic and continuous process of searching, learning, adapting and implementing the best practices from within your organisation or from other organisations towards attaining superior performance.

                                  - National Productivity Corporation, Malaysia

What is a Benchmark?

A measured “best-in-class” achievement; a reference or measurement standard for comparison; this performance level is recognised as the standard of excellence for a specific business process.

What is Best Practices?

Superior performance within a function independent of industry, leadership, management, or operational methods or approaches that lead to exceptional performance; best practice is a relative term and usually indicates innovative or interesting business practices which have been identified as contributing to improve performance at leading companies.

The Critical Success Factors for Benchmarking:

• Do the right study (critically important)

• Be committed to implement the results

• Use an appropriate benchmarking process

• Choose and empower the right teams

• Know your own process first

• Choose the right partner

• Agree to a code of conduct

• Test adaptability of practices and enablers

•  Verify the results of implementation

Benchmarking Concept and Tool  

The “Guidebook to Implementation of Benchmarking & Best Practices” provides readers with useful reference on benchmarking and enhance understanding on step-by-step in implementing benchmarking for better performance in future.

This Guidebook can be downloaded here.