“NZ BENCHMARKING CLUB”“NZ BENCHMARKING CLUB” ... Dr Robin Mann at: COER, Massey University Private bag 11 222 PALMERSTON NORTH Fax 06 350 5604 or e-mail [email protected]

“NZ BENCHMARKING CLUB”New Zealand’s flagship Club for organisations that arecommitted to achieving world-class performance levelsby working together and sharing best practices.

Introducingthe...

A Joint Initiative ...The New Zealand Benchmarking Club is a joint initiativethat is managed by Massey University’s Centre forOrganisational Excellence Research (COER), and supportedby the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation(NZBEF). The Club offers an exciting opportunity fororganisations to work together, share best practices, andachieve world-class performance in relation to theinternationally recognised Criteria for PerformanceExcellence (CPE).

Achieving world-class performance levels for any organi-sation requires a tremendous amount of commitment andhard work. The Club advances organisations along this paththrough providing services and a methodology that is focusedon producing measurable improvements for its members.

Club ServicesThe Club helps its members to learn and apply best practicesthrough:

• Providing a free self-assessment pack and feedbackreport of each member's performance relative to theCPE and to other Club members. (NB Training in com-pleting the self-assessment is also available to members.)

• Providing free membership to one of the world’s leadingbenchmarking and performance improvement resources(www.BPIR.com) for up to 10 individuals from yourorganisation.

• Providing regular “core meetings” that encouragemembers to share experiences and learn from otherorganisations within the Club.

cont. overleaf

A Joint Initiative ...The New Zealand Benchmarking Club is a joint initiativethat is managed by Massey University’s Centre forOrganisational Excellence Research (COER), and supportedby the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation(NZBEF). The Club offers an exciting opportunity fororganisations to work together, share best practices, andachieve world-class performance in relation to theinternationally recognised Criteria for PerformanceExcellence (CPE).

Achieving world-class performance levels for any organi-sation requires a tremendous amount of commitment andhard work. The Club advances organisations along this paththrough providing services and a methodology that is focusedon producing measurable improvements for its members.

Club ServicesThe Club helps its members to learn and apply best practicesthrough:

• Providing a free self-assessment pack and feedbackreport of each member's performance relative to theCPE and to other Club members. (NB Training in com-pleting the self-assessment is also available to members.)

• Providing free membership to one of the world’s leadingbenchmarking and performance improvement resources(www.BPIR.com) for up to 10 individuals from yourorganisation.

• Providing regular “core meetings” that encouragemembers to share experiences and learn from otherorganisations within the Club.

cont. overleaf

Self-assessment

Closingperform

ance

gaps

Benchm

arkingProjects

Sharing Results&

Successes

2

1

4

3

The NZ Benchmarking Club’sprogress to world-classperformance

Fees

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

200820072006200520042003

Criteria forPerformance

Excellence Score

Club ServicesThe Club helps its members to learn and apply best practicesthrough:

• Providing a free self-assessment pack and feedbackreport of each member's performance relative to theCPE and to other Club members. (NB Training in com-pleting the self-assessment is also available to members.)

• Providing free membership to one of the world’s leadingbenchmarking and performance improvement resources(www.BPIR.com) for up to 10 individuals from yourorganisation.

• Providing regular “core meetings” that encouragemembers to share experiences and learn from otherorganisations within the Club.

cont. overleaf

A Joint Initiative ...The New Zealand Benchmarking Club is a joint initiativethat is managed by Massey University’s Centre forOrganisational Excellence Research (COER), and supportedby the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation(NZBEF). The Club offers an exciting opportunity fororganisations to work together, share best practices, andachieve world-class performance in relation to theinternationally recognised Criteria for PerformanceExcellence (CPE).

Achieving world-class performance levels for any organi-sation requires a tremendous amount of commitment andhard work. The Club advances organisations along this paththrough providing services and a methodology that is focusedon producing measurable improvements for its members.

Club ServicesThe Club helps its members to learn and apply best practicesthrough:

• Providing a free self-assessment pack and feedbackreport of each member's performance relative to theCPE and to other Club members. (NB Training in com-pleting the self-assessment is also available to members.)

• Providing free membership to one of the world’s leadingbenchmarking and performance improvement resources(www.BPIR.com) for up to 10 individuals from yourorganisation.

• Providing regular “core meetings” that encouragemembers to share experiences and learn from otherorganisations within the Club.

cont. overleaf

Self-assessment

Closingperform

ance

gaps

Benchm

arkingProjects

Sharing Results&

Successes

24

3

The NZ Benchmarking Club’sprogress to world-classperformance

Club ServicesThe Club helps its members to learn and apply best practicesthrough:

• Providing a free self-assessment pack and feedbackreport of each member's performance relative to theCPE and to other Club members. (NB Training in com-pleting the self-assessment is also available to members.)

• Providing free membership to one of the world’s leadingbenchmarking and performance improvement resources(www.BPIR.com) for up to 10 individuals from yourorganisation.

• Providing regular “core meetings” that encouragemembers to share experiences and learn from otherorganisations within the Club.

cont. overleaf

A Joint Initiative ...The New Zealand Benchmarking Club is a joint initiativethat is managed by Massey University’s Centre forOrganisational Excellence Research (COER), and supportedby the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation(NZBEF). The Club offers an exciting opportunity fororganisations to work together, share best practices, andachieve world-class performance in relation to theinternationally recognised Criteria for PerformanceExcellence (CPE).

Achieving world-class performance levels for any organi-sation requires a tremendous amount of commitment andhard work. The Club advances organisations along this paththrough providing services and a methodology that is focusedon producing measurable improvements for its members.

Club ServicesThe Club helps its members to learn and apply best practicesthrough:

• Providing a free self-assessment pack and feedbackreport of each member's performance relative to theCPE and to other Club members. (NB Training in com-pleting the self-assessment is also available to members.)

• Providing free membership to one of the world’s leadingbenchmarking and performance improvement resources(www.BPIR.com) for up to 10 individuals from yourorganisation.

• Providing regular “core meetings” that encouragemembers to share experiences and learn from otherorganisations within the Club.

cont. overleaf

Self-assessment

Closingperform

ance

gaps

Benchm

arkingProjects

Sharing Results&

Successes

24

3

The NZ Benchmarking Club’sprogress to world-classperformance

Club ServicesThe Club helps its members to learn and apply best practicesthrough:

• Providing a free self-assessment pack and feedbackreport of each member's performance relative to theCPE and to other Club members. (NB Training in com-pleting the self-assessment is also available to members.)

• Providing free membership to one of the world’s leadingbenchmarking and performance improvement resources(www.BPIR.com) for up to 10 individuals from yourorganisation.

• Providing regular “core meetings” that encouragemembers to share experiences and learn from otherorganisations within the Club.

cont. overleaf

A Joint Initiative ...The New Zealand Benchmarking Club is a joint initiativethat is managed by Massey University’s Centre forOrganisational Excellence Research (COER), and supportedby the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation(NZBEF). The Club offers an exciting opportunity fororganisations to work together, share best practices, andachieve world-class performance in relation to theinternationally recognised Criteria for PerformanceExcellence (CPE).

Achieving world-class performance levels for any organi-sation requires a tremendous amount of commitment andhard work. The Club advances organisations along this paththrough providing services and a methodology that is focusedon producing measurable improvements for its members.

Club ServicesThe Club helps its members to learn and apply best practicesthrough:

• Providing a free self-assessment pack and feedbackreport of each member's performance relative to theCPE and to other Club members. (NB Training in com-pleting the self-assessment is also available to members.)

• Providing free membership to one of the world’s leadingbenchmarking and performance improvement resources(www.BPIR.com) for up to 10 individuals from yourorganisation.

• Providing regular “core meetings” that encouragemembers to share experiences and learn from otherorganisations within the Club.

cont. overleaf

Self-assessment

Closingperform

ance

gaps

Benchm

arkingProjects

Sharing Results&

Successes

24

3

The NZ Benchmarking Club’sprogress to world-classperformance

Club ServicesThe Club helps its members to learn and apply best practicesthrough:

• Providing a free self-assessment pack and feedbackreport of each member's performance relative to theCPE and to other Club members. (NB Training in com-pleting the self-assessment is also available to members.)

• Providing free membership to one of the world’s leadingbenchmarking and performance improvement resources(www.BPIR.com) for up to 10 individuals from yourorganisation.

• Providing regular “core meetings” that encouragemembers to share experiences and learn from otherorganisations within the Club.

cont. overleaf

A Joint Initiative ...The New Zealand Benchmarking Club is a joint initiativethat is managed by Massey University’s Centre forOrganisational Excellence Research (COER), and supportedby the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation(NZBEF). The Club offers an exciting opportunity fororganisations to work together, share best practices, andachieve world-class performance in relation to theinternationally recognised Criteria for PerformanceExcellence (CPE).

Achieving world-class performance levels for any organi-sation requires a tremendous amount of commitment andhard work. The Club advances organisations along this paththrough providing services and a methodology that is focusedon producing measurable improvements for its members.

Club ServicesThe Club helps its members to learn and apply best practicesthrough:

• Providing a free self-assessment pack and feedbackreport of each member's performance relative to theCPE and to other Club members. (NB Training in com-pleting the self-assessment is also available to members.)

• Providing free membership to one of the world’s leadingbenchmarking and performance improvement resources(www.BPIR.com) for up to 10 individuals from yourorganisation.

• Providing regular “core meetings” that encouragemembers to share experiences and learn from otherorganisations within the Club.

cont. overleaf

Self-assessment

Closingperform

ance

gaps

Benchm

arkingProjects

Sharing Results&

Successes

24

3

The NZ Benchmarking Club’sprogress to world-classperformance

Members average

increase in

score per annum

= 43pts

KEY CLUB SERVICES

1 Regular workshops2 Benchmarking studies3 Support for implementing

best practices4 Identification of

benchmarking partners5 Presentation by leading

speakers/organisations6 Learning visits to best

practice companies7 Access to the latest research

on best practices8 Membership of BPIR.com9 Membership of the NZBEF

Average NZBusiness

World ClassPerformance

Club servicescont.

• Providing informative and in-depth Club Notes thatinform members of the progress of all the Club’s activities,latest research information, and networking contacts.

• Providing a New Zealand Benchmarking Club website(www.nzbc.org.nz) for member’s use.

• Setting up benchmarking studies to identify NZ andinternational best practices.

• Support for members in researching and implementingbest practices through COER’s team of PhD researchers.

• Helping organisations to identify benchmarking partnersfrom both inside and outside of the Club.

• Providing free access to the Club’s best practice reports.• Inviting leading speakers/organisations to present on

best practices at Club meetings.• Arranging learning visits to best practice companies.• Delivering at least one on-site presentation per year to

your senior management team/staff to inform them ofthe Club’s research findings.

• Providing access to leading organisations in NewZealand via the NZBEF, and internationally through theGlobal Benchmarking Network.

• Providing free membership to the New Zealand BusinessExcellence Foundation for organisations of less than 150employees and $1,500 off NZBEF membership fees forlarger organisations. Note all members of the NewZealand Benchmarking Club are required to be membersof the NZBEF.

• Providing a 15% discount off all NZBEF services (withthe exception of the NZBEF’s awards applicationservice). These discounts are on top of the standardNZBEF member discounts.

• Arranging priority access to the NZBEF’s Awardsprogramme and the National Evaluator panel.

• Enabling members to shape the direction of the Cluband the services it provides so that it best meets memberneeds.

Delivering the VisionFor the Club to deliver its vision of “world-class performanceby members” a common agreement on the definition ofworld class has been made so that progress can bemeasured ...In the context of the Club, world-class is considered asachieving over 700 points against the CPE. In light of this,a key objective has been set for the Club’s members toimprove their point score by at least 50 points per yearso that over time, this objective will be met. On average,Club members have improved their score by 43 points peryear – a significant achievement when one considersthat an average NZ organisation is believed to scorebetween 125 to 175 points.

The vision will be achieved through the members'participation in a four-step self-assessment processsupported by the Club’s benchmarking services (seeFigure on front cover). Each year all members undergoa quick but high value self-assessment to identify theirstrengths and opportunities and track progress againstthe Club’s vision. Through analysing the Club’s self-assessment results, information on those organisationsthat perform well for specific practices (the 19 CPE Items)is shared so that other member organisations can learnfrom them.

In addition to self-assessment participation, "coremeetings" are held every three months to identify mutualopportunities and to share best practices. These meetingsfocus, in turn, on the six-enabler criteria of the CPE.Therefore, meetings are held on:

• Leadership• Strategic Planning• Customer & Market Focus• Measurement, Analysis & Knowledge Management• Human Resource Focus• Process Management

As a result of each major meeting a benchmarking projectis identified that will bring significant benefits to the majorityof Club members. These projects are aimed at identifyingbest practices and require Club members to contact/visitthe best organisations in New Zealand and overseas. PhDstudents that are specialising in the topic area supportmost or all of the benchmarking projects.

Having obtained the latest information on best practicefor a specific topic from the benchmarking project report,Club members are then encouraged to adopt this practiceinto their business practices, thereby engenderingperformance improvement. Verification of improvementis obtained through the annual self-assessment, and theprocess begins again.

Typically those attending the core meetings aremanagers/directors who have a good overall under-standing of their organisation’s activities and priorities forimprovement. Those involved in benchmarking studiesare managers or staff who have an in-depth directknowledge of the particular area being discussed and/orbenchmarked.

“High performing

organisations are

likely to remain

in business.”

Our VisionWorld-class performance by

members and widespreadadoption of excellent businesspractices within New Zealand.

Our MissionTo continuously improve the

performance of membersthrough benchmarkingand the application of

internationally recognisedbusiness excellence criteria.

To utilise the knowledge gainedfrom the Club to promote and

foster business excellencepractices within New Zealand

to improve our internationalcompetitiveness.

Why Benchmarking andBusiness Excellence ?The combination of benchmarking with business excellenceassessment represents a powerful set of tools. Self-assessment against a business excellence model identifiesan organisation’s strengths and weaknesses whilstbenchmarking then enables an organisation to identifyand implement the best practices required to improve.The strength of benchmarking is firstly, that it indicatesthat higher performance levels are achievable, hencediscrediting those who argue that “it can’t be done”,and secondly, it fosters a pressure for change on thegrounds that the high-performing organisations arelikely to remain in business whereas low-performingones will not.

Business improvement through bench-marking leads to excellent financial andmarket results ...

An analysis of the NZ Benchmarking Club’s self-assessment results from members provides directevidence that pursuing a business excellence strategydoes bring significant rewards – see the Figure below.

This shows that those Club members that have bettermanagement systems/enablers are more likely toachieve better financial and market results. Such dataprovides further reinforcement to the Club’s membersthat it is following the right path for its long-termsuccess (including financial success).

Business Excellence Pays

Relationship between Scores for EnablerPoints & Business Results

(as assessed by the Balridge Model - data from Club members)

0

50

100

150

200

250

0

Enabler Points

Bu

sin

ess

Res

ults

(points in Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer & Market Focus, Measurement, Analysis. &Knowledge Management, Human Resource Focus & Process Management

r. = 0.611, P = 0.000

10050 150 200 250

The combination of

benchmarking with

business excellence

assessment

represents a

powerful set

of tools.

Additional Servicesfor MembersIn addition to the standard services provided to all members,COER also provides additional services that members canpurchase at a discount.

Club Improvement• Donation to the Scholarship Fund. PhD researchers,

who also act as facilitators for all work groups, needfinancial assistance in order that they can continuewith their research. Donors have a choice over whichPhD programme they sponsor, will be publicly recognizedfor their generosity, and be kept fully informed of progress.

• Sponsorship of the NZ Benchmarking Club. Whilstproviding for members, the Club also has undertakento promote the widespread adoption of excellentbusiness practices in New Zealand. As it receives nofunds from the Government for this, it needs to sourceincome for this activity from benevolent sources .

NB Purchasing any of the available additional services doesnot provide any added voting rights over standard membership.

Current Members include:• Accident Compensation Corporation• Actionmail Ltd• Canterbury Health Laboratories• Crop & Food Research• ENZAFOODS NZ Ltd• Fonterra• Hamilton City Council• Livestock Improvement• National Student Relations - Massey University• Philips New Zealand Ltd• R & D Solutionz• Vero Insurance NZ Ltd• Wellington City Council

The additional services are categorized into the followingtwo groups:

Member ImprovementThis is designed to assist members reach their improvementgoals, and includes:

• Facilitation of the annual self-assessment, includingthe production of an improvement action plan.

• Assistance (i.e. facilitation and on-going monitoring) ofa fast-track business excellence programme that willdeliver at least a 50-point improvement year on year.This option includes facilitation of the annual self-assessment.

• Assistance in introducing a benchmarking programmespecifically orientated to the member. This would beof particular assistance to organisations that wish tolearn from other organizations and show demonstrableimprovements against world-class benchmarks.

• Additional benefits, such as additional places atmeetings and conferences and extra copies of bestpractice reports. This is primarily aimed at largermembers with multiple business units.

• Have a PhD researcher on site undertaking supervisedresearch in an area that is of direct importance to themember. NB Discount cannot be offered with this option.

NEW MEMBERSHIP PLACES AVAILABLE

Organisations interested in membership can submit an“Expression of Interest” form. This form describes theClub’s recruitment process - a process that ensurespotential Club members are fully informed of the commit-ment required to join the Club and that alignment isachieved between the Club’s present vision and thestrategic direction of potential members. It also outlinesmembership fees.

If you have any queries or wish to obtain a copy of theExpression of Interest form, please contactDr Robin Mann at: COER, Massey University

Private bag 11 222PALMERSTON NORTHFax 06 350 5604 or e-mail [email protected]

or download a copy from www.nzbc.org.nz

Membership

places now

available.