An empirical assessment of the operational performance through internal benchmarking: a case of a global logistics firm

Abstract

This article solves an operational performance measurement problem of a global logistics firm through an internal benchmarking tool. The intended impact is to enable logistics firms to form a deeper understanding of their own internal processes and metrics. The methodology of this in-depth action research involves a sequential approach with a series of interviews, questionnaire-based surveys, operations data collated through observations and process mapping yielding real-world data. A series of statistical tests are conducted to analyse the collated data. Strategic priorities of the firm are integrated with the firm’s operational performance to ascertain the effective performance by considering both the tangible and intangible measures. The outcomes inform both practitioners and academics how the firm could improve its freight forwarding business’s profitability by ensuring that its operations meet the prioritised criteria. The ‘best practice’ derived from internal benchmarking forms an intermediate step towards external benchmarking. The outcomes facilitate investigating the current business strategy, the standard operating procedures and the scope of improving those.

Keywords:

• Freight forwarding industry
• operational performance
• internal benchmarking
• logistical strategies

Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely convey thanks to the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. The authors also acknowledge the assistance provided by the executives of the anonymous German global logistic firm based in Dubai, UAE, who had provided support to carry out the work.