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Midstate Industries is a retail clothing store. Marilyn Mounds knows that custom

ID: 2532960 • Letter: M

Question

Midstate Industries is a retail clothing store. Marilyn Mounds knows that customer satisfaction is key to the success of her store. Indicate by placing an “X” in the appropriate column whether the following measures are leading or lagging and qualitative or quantitative. Each item may classify as more than one measure.

10 points

Leading

Lagging

Qualitative

Quantitative

Attractive display of clothing items

Dollars invested in display cases

Overtime pay during sale days

Quality of clothing

Earnings per share

Number of returns

Employee turnover

Net income

Customer satisfaction survey response

Training time for new employees

Answer the following questions related to benchmarking:

What is benchmarking?

What is a best practice?

What are the five items on which benchmarking is focused?

Leading

Lagging

Qualitative

Quantitative

Attractive display of clothing items

Dollars invested in display cases

Overtime pay during sale days

Quality of clothing

Earnings per share

Number of returns

Employee turnover

Net income

Customer satisfaction survey response

Training time for new employees

Explanation / Answer

Measures marked with appropriate indicator :

Benchmarking : Benchmarking is comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and best practices from other companies. The point of benchmarking is to identify internal opportunities for improvement. By studying companies with superior performance, breaking down what makes such superior performance possible, and then comparing those processes to how your business operates, you can implement changes that will yield significant improvements.

Best Practice : Best practices of industries are one which much reflect following things -

1.It must demonstrate through evidence that it yields a “better, faster, cheaper” result.

2.It must successfully demonstrate that it is a superior approach in more than one setting.

3.It must be able to prove it can help achieve organizational objectives.

Benchmarking is a simple, but detailed, five-step process:

Measures marked with appropriate indicator :

Leading Lagging Qualitative Quantitative Attractive display of clothing items X X Dollars invested in display cases X X Overtime pay during sale days X X Quality of clothing X X Earnings per share X X Number of returns X X Employee turnover X X Net income X X Customer satisfaction survey response X X Training time for new employees X X