BENCHMARKING ON-LINE SERVICES INDUSTRIES

1. Introduction Benchmarking delivers a “comparison of a company’s performance in certain areas with that of other firms in its industry and / or with those firms that are identified as world class competition in specific functions and operations” (Davis et al, (2004). It can also cut across traditional lines, providing opportunities for new and innovative ways to increase performance, and be a “search for industry best practices that lead to superior performance” (Camp, 1989; Hinton et …

Benchmarking on-line services industries

The Web Quality Analyser (WQA) is a new benchmarking tool for industry. It has been extensively tested across services industries. Forty five critical success features are presented as measures that capture the user’s perception of services industry websites. This tool differs to previous tools, in that it captures the information technology (IT) related driver sectors of website performance, along with the marketing-services related driver sectors. These driver sectors capture relevant structure, function and performance components. An ‘on-off’ switch measurement approach determines each component. Relevant component measures scale into a relative presence of the applicable feature, with a feature block delivering one of the sector drivers. Although it houses both measurable and a few subjective components, the WQA offers a proven and useful means to compare relevant websites. The WQA defines website strengths and weaknesses, thereby allowing for corrections to the website structure of the specific business. WQA benchmarking against services related business competitors delivers a position on the WQA index, facilitates specific website driver rating comparisons, and demonstrates where key competitive advantage may reside. This paper reports on the marketing-services driver sectors of this new benchmarking WQA tool. John Hamilton is the Director of E-Business at James Cook University. His extensive domestic business ownership and management experience includes: importing, exporting, mining, rural, wholesale, manufacturing, and several small-medium businesses (supermarket, video wholesale, fashion stores, florist/gifts, restaurants,) His international business experience includes: Sapphire mining, processing and gemstone sales; plastics manufacturing; importing/exporting; and international finance. John Hamilton is a driver of innovation, market leadership, and creative thinking. He developed: the world’s first abalone aquaculture farm — and perfected live export techniques (1980–4); rock lobster aquaculture procedures (1981–4); a plastics manufacturing plant in China (1987–8); computerised sapphire gem cutting machine technologies (1991), offshore financing procedures (1991), Ed. Qld.’s Centre of IT Excellence — programming, database implementation, e-commerce, multimedia, robotics and communications technologies (1994–2001); and JCU’s MBA/MIT E-Business strategic initiative (2002–2005). John Hamilton has extensive business, management, consulting and research experience. He is an active researcher. His current specialisations include: development of strategic web-based instruments; QFD; strategic positioning; strategic e-marketing; logistics, killer strategies for business; service value networks, industry-wide future technologies and solutions; and the performance, value and alignment of customer-business interfaces.