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BPIR Newsletter - No. 3 2012

BPIR Best Practice Newsletter No. 3 - 2012
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Hi,

Welcome to our third newsletter of 2012 – sharing with you best practices, improvement tools, and events. (Non-members of the BPIR can read the newsletter but will be unable to access some of the links).

Best Practice Report: Corporate Governance

The aim of corporate governance processes is to maintain the rights of shareholders along with all other stakeholders. This includes a commitment to the application of standards for disclosure and transparency. Recent financial crises and failures have motivated countries around the world to publish codes for corporate governance. These include codes of conduct for ethical behaviour, which act as constant guides for day-to-day decision making. Adherence to sound ethical values has a number of benefits, including enhancing the behaviour of managers, positively motivating employees, protecting an organisation’s reputation, encouraging greater respect for laws and regulations, and improving business relationships. This of course is also reflected in an organisation’s overall culture, i.e. its shared values, attitudes, beliefs, standards and rules.

Read other best practice reports

Upcoming Events

Benchmarking for Excellence, India 5-6 July, Singapore 26-27 July.

Organizational Excellence Assessment, Ottawa, 15-16 May. Excellence Canada.

Shared Services for the Public Sector, Wellington, 29-30 May. Organiser: Conferenz.

How to Use the EFQM Excellence Model workshop, London, 31 May. Organiser: The British Quality Foundation.

15th QMOD conference on Quality and Service Sciences ICQSS 2012, Poznan September 5-7. Organiser: Lunds Unversity.

World Business Capability Congress, Auckland, 5-7 December 2012. Organiser: COER,NZBEF, and NZOQ.

** See BPIR Events Calendar for more events

Latest News

If you like reading we have great news for you! - Read about a major update of our online Business Periodicals section. .... read more

Dumb Rules Often Designed to… Make Life Hell for 99% of Customers - How a bad rule could ruin your customer service reputation. .... read more

Streamlined Process Improvement - Recorded webinar for Dr. Harrington explaining the five phases of Streamlined Process Improvement. .... read more

Top 8 Customer Services Excellence Best Practices in 2012 - 8 great best practices for the development of excellence in customer services. .... read more

Design Thinking: Puzzles vs. Mysteries - What is design thinking? and why it's necessary for organisations? .... read more

Spotlight on Events

World Business Capability Congress

The congress will be held from the 5th to 7th of December 2012 in Auckland, New Zealand

2nd and Final Call for Papers
The theme for the Congress is: “Driving Excellence> Innovation> Productivity> Export Growth”

We are now “Calling for Papers” – We have had an Amazing Response to our First Call for Papers with over 70 papers submitted. We are now announcing the 2nd & Final Call that will enable you to share your experience, organisation’s best practices or your leading edge management research
Submit your Abstract/Bio by the 30 May

This is an opportunity for:

a) Academics to present peer-reviewed conference papers and get them fast-tracked into leading journals (such as • Q-NewZ Magazine • TQM Journal • Measuring Business Excellence Journal • International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management • International Benchmarking Journal • International Journal of TQM and Business Excellence)

b) Business employees, managers, CEOs, consultants to present and share best practices (perhaps for the first time at a major conference)

This Congress is combining the International Benchmarking Conference, New Zealand Organisation for Quality Conference, and the New Zealand Business Excellence Awards.

Make sure you include this conference in your diary and travel plans for 2012!

The organisers are the Centre for Organisational Excellence Research, New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation and the New Zealand Organisation for Quality. The partners assisting in promoting the event are: Asian Network for Quality, Asia Pacific Quality Organization, Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED), Economic Development Agencies New Zealand (EDANZ), Global Benchmarking Network, Institute of Management Consultants New Zealand, Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Science and Innovation, New Zealand Institute of Management, and the University of Auckland Business School.

Spotlight on Self-Assessment

Have you used any of our self-assessment tools lately? We have over 50 to assess all aspects of your organisation from how your organisation develops its strategy to how it serves its customers. Here are three typical examples:

Eco-Design Health Check – This self-assessment will help you to easily and quickly assess how well the concept of environmental design is integrated within the product lifecycle from design to disposal. Areas of weakness should be addressed. ....read more (go to category 2.1)

Strategic Planning – This simple self-assessment tool consists of 15 questions to evaluate your company's approach to strategic planning. ....read more (go to category 3.1)

Financial Empowerment – This assessment tool can help you to guide a group discussion about your organisation's financial empowerment process. ....read more (go to category 3.2)

Featured Publications

Did you know BPIR provides full access to over 600 excellent business publications providing, in total, over 1,000,000 articles and reports? Here are a few of the titles from the "IT / Computers" category (one of 23 categories):

- Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research
- ComputerWorld
- EContent

- The Journal of Computer Information Systems
- Online
- Searcher

Members read the latest issues - non members see available titles

Best Practice Case Studies

Read one of our best practice case studies:

Design thinking doubles new product development
The following five step design thinking process was used by PB to improve postal services:

Posing strategic questions to find opportunities: e.g., 'How can PB develop solutions that meet the needs of customers that use postage stamps?'
Focusing on discovering customer needs: The PB team visited small businesses of all types and observed practices, attitudes, frustrations and desires.
Brainstorming and prototyping to radically change ways of meeting customer needs. Early prototypes helped PB understand what customers actually wanted.
Creating value propositions that solved significant user needs: e.g.,'a distinctive, easy-to-use replacement for stamps with a price point well below alternatives.'
Testing and refining value propositions in real life: i.e., the PB team experimented with several versions and decreased costs without sacrificing usability and tested customer acceptance.

Over a four-year period the rate at which new products were released for product development more than doubled.... read more

Lean product development initiative achieves breakthrough performance levels
To improve its product development process, the Department for Technical Studies and Installations (TSI), a Belgian Armed Forces department responsible for project-based engineering work, employed several lean approaches. Pipeline VSM, rough-cut capacity planning, kanban systems, standardization, and supplier partnerships were the primary methods for promoting flow. Two Lean Product Development principles were of major importance: 1) the visualisation of functional queues to identify bottlenecks and root causes of waste, and 2) Enablers for pull thinking to reduce functional queues at the bottlenecks. The TSI also introduced a performance measurement system to identify and track key indicators of lean performance. TSI achieved breakthrough improvement on a number of key performance measures including: project throughput, project WIP, completions within targeted lead-time, and effort/lead-time, which increased from 5% to 20%.... read more

Problem Based Learning strategy in Nurse Education programme
To aid students to become more constructive learners, a US Bachelor of Science in Nursing programme implemented ran a pilot problem based learning (PBL) process. A professor was appointed facilitator, coach and mentor and simple directions and a few boundaries allowed for group self-organisation, freedom of interaction, and emergent direction to occur. Two weekly clinical hours were set aside for PBL. Students were empowered to control their process plan provided deadlines were met. Leadership emerged naturallyand students learned to take risks for the benefit of the project. At the end of the programme 82% of the 35 students were usually or always satisfied with the PBL strategy. Final papers excelled compared with those of previous years.... read more

E-commerce solution helps bank win regional Risk Management award
In 2011, the Bank of America Corporation Merrill Lynch, an American global financial services company, won the Global Finance Best Banks for Risk Management in the North American region. The Bank provided online portals, which enabled its clients to gain a clearer view of their cash and liquidity and allowed them a single view of their accounts. Access also gave them a range of tools to view and analyse data across all aspects of treasury, cash management, debt and investments. The bank also advised client companies on `process improvements` they could undertake to make their working capital do more for them.... read more

Research requests
Fresh information added every month in answer to your requests. Submit your issues for next month. How this service works

Last month's requests	Currently being researched
1. Corporate Governance 2. Leadership 3. Risk Management 4. Codes of Ethics	1. Design Thinking 2. Employee Communications

Remember

To regularly check out the bpir.com for benchmarks, best practices and business excellence. We know you will find valuable knowledge and we always welcome your feedback, so if you have time, please email any comments about our services to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

If you are currently not a member of the BPIR, or wish to upgrade your membership then please review our membership offerings at JOIN NOW.. you won't be disappointed.

Note; this newsletter has been sent to you because you have subscribed to it or to the BPIR.com or one of its partner services, you have recently contacted us about the resource, or we believe you wish to be on the list for other reasons. If you wish to be removed from the newsletter emailing list or wish to change your email details, click here to unsubscribe, or send "(old email address) chg to (new email address)" to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . In either case you will need to use or quote the email address by which we contact you - or we may not be able to find you to unsubscribe.

BPIR Newsletter - No. 2 2012

BPIR Best Practice Newsletter No. 2 - 2012
Visit BPIR.com \| Forgot your password? \| Not a member?

Hi,

Welcome to our second newsletter of 2012 – sharing with you best practices, improvement tools, and events. (Non-members of the BPIR can read the newsletter but will be unable to access some of the links).

Best Practice Report: Knowledge Management

KM has gained popularity as IT advances have facilitated the development and implementation of KM strategies. Advanced technology can speed up the cycles of business monitoring and decision making, and thereby create the flexibility to manage organisations in a much more responsive way. It has been observed that top performing organisations tend to employ analytics extensively, which enables them to enhance both their performance and competitive position. This confirms the words of Jack Welch: “an organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.” read more..

Read other best practice reports

Upcoming Events

Benchmarking for Excellence, UK 14-15 & 20-21 March, Philippines 27-28 March.

How to Use the EFQM Excellence Model workshop, Birmingham, 29 March. Organiser: The British Quality Foundation.

Quest for Quality workshop, Toronto, 11 April & 2 May. Organiser: Excellence Canada.

Framework for Excellence webinar, Online, 23 April. Organiser: Excellence Canada.

World Business Capability Congress, Auckland, 5-7 December 2012. Organiser: Centre of Organisational Excellence Research (COER) and New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation and New Zealand Organisation for Quality (NZOQ).

** See BPIR Events Calendar for more events

Latest News

Top 10 Emerging Technologies in 2012 - How the no. 1 emerging technology can help you survive in the "way too much information" age!!.. .... read more

Corporate Governance - from vision to action - What is required to implement a good governance and anti-corruption measures? .... read more

What is Governance? A simple but non-trivial overview - What is corporate governance and what is the role of board of directors in corporate governance? .... read more

How to get $820 for each $1 spent using a Business Excellence Programme - A very interesting results of a research st,udy aimed to evaluate the net social benefits of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Programme. .... read more

Excellence Makes People Happier at Work - A research study to explore the correlation between business excellence programmes and employee engagement, morale and satisfaction. .... read more

Design Thinking: a pathway for innovation - What is design thinking? and why it is important in facilitating innovation process. .... read more

Quality and Innovation for Growth - How quality & innovation helped a company to win 9 awards. .... read more

Graphing Marathon Measures # 3 - Scatter Diagram - Tips and rules on how to use scatter diagrams. .... read more

Spotlight on Events

World Business Capability Congress The congress is being organised by the Centre for Organisational Excellence Research, New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation and New Zealand Organisation for Quality with key partners the Asia Network for Quality, Asia Pacific Quality Organization, Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development, BPIR.com Limited, Economic Development Agencies New Zealand, Global Benchmarking Network, Institute of Management Consultants New Zealand, Ministry of Economic Development and New Zealand Institute of Management.

The congress will be held from the 5th to 7th of December 2012 in Auckland, New Zealand

Call for Papers
The theme for the Congress is: “Driving Excellence> Innovation> Productivity> Export Growth”

We are now “Calling for Papers” – this is your chance to speak at a major international conference and share your experience, best practices or your leading edge management research.
Submit your Abstract/Bio by the 1 April.

This is an opportunity for:

b) Business employees, managers, CEOs, consultants to present and share best practices (perhaps for the first time at a major conference)

This Congress is combining the International Benchmarking Conference, New Zealand Organisation for Quality Conference, and the New Zealand Business Excellence Awards.

Make sure you include this conference in your diary and travel plans for 2012!

Spotlight on Self-Assessment

Team Work Evaluation – This self-assessment helps managers to evaluate the organization’s teamwork performance. ....read more (go to category 7.4)

Employee Engagement – This self-assessment will provide guidance in regard to levels of employee engagement within an organisation. Gaps can be identified and addressed as appropriate. ....read more (go to category 7.4)

Occupational Safety – This self assessment outlines important concepts related to safety in the workplace and provides an opportunity to consider how practices could be improved. ....read more (go to category 7.4)

Featured Publications

- The Business Journal
- Journal of Economic Issues
- Comparative Economic Studies

- Economic Indicators
- Growth Strategies
- Harvard Asia Pacific Review

Members read the latest issues - non members see available titles

Best Practice Case Studies

Read one of our best practice case studies:

Building an organisational culture of learning
To build a culture of learning an Australian Hospital implemented a process called Facilitation of Learning in Practice Settings (FLIPS). A facilitator built rapport with the Nurse Unit Managers (NUM) meetings and in-service sessions. Learning in practice was encouraged through promoting connections with staff and between staff and students, and reward and recognition was used to embed positive practices. Staff that exhibited characteristics and behaviours that make them stand out were selected as Champions and promoted the new culture, engaged key stakeholders and developed new champions. Reward and recognition strategies reinforced learning attitudes and behaviours. FLIPS became contagious, and staff became knowledgeable about positive learning interactions. Staff reported that they no longer wanted to leave the environment they had helped create... read more

Employee Assistance Programmes helps reduce anxiety and stress
To help reduce financial related anxiety and stress among its employees Bon Secours Health System, a US health service provider, provided flexible schedules to help employees meet their financial needs. Part-time workers were invited to request full-time employment for a while or ask to increase part-time hours to qualify for benefits. Another programme `Putting the Pieces Together` provided special classes to assist any employee’s unemployed spouse in a job search.. read more

Training & Development Programme decentralised in global organisation
In response to the economic downturn Amway, the US based direct selling company, decentralised its learning function. The company dumped a range of training programmes that didn`t align with business goals, established job competencies for all 17,000 global employees, and put learning resources at people`s fingertips. The competencies provided a road map to pursue the necessary training. Employees with specific knowledge were placed into searchable `expert directories` that all 17,000 employees were able to access. Training was driven by subject-matter experts and employees accessed learning and shared knowledge and best practices. Corporate trainers coordinated resources, facilitated learning opportunities and dealt with programme administration. The company reported the change had generated an `amazing` amount of learning... read more

Lean new product development achieves cycle time reductions
To transform its traditional product development process (PD) into a lean product development process (LPD) a US manufacturer developed a five-step framework: 1) problem definition, 2) analysis of current state, 3) lean strategy formulation, 4) development of future state, and 5) implementation. Current processes were benchmarked and then analysed, using Value Stream Mapping, cause-and-effect matrix, and design structure matrix. Non-value added activities and root causes were identified, and the PD process redesigned by eliminating, combining or adding tasks. Customer and business requirements were mapped and lean strategies were employed to optimize the NPD process and the NPD organisation. The improvement strategy was implemented in 2 phases: `quick win` improvements and then an 80% completion in 12-months. A 32% reduction in cycle time was achieved in the first phase.. read more

Research requests
Fresh information added every month in answer to your requests. Submit your issues for next month. How this service works

Last month's requests	Currently being researched
1. Design Thinking 2. Customer complaints/compliments and suggestions 3. Quality Awards 4. Gap Analysis	1. Corporate Governance 2. Leadership 3. Risk Management 4. Codes of Ethics

Remember

If you are currently not a member of the BPIR, or wish to upgrade your membership then please review our membership offerings at JOIN NOW.. you won't be disappointed.

Call for Papers

5 - 7 December 2012

www.WorldBusinessCapabilityCongress.com

In December, New Zealand will host the World Business Capability Congress incorporating the 27th NZOQ Conference, 7th International Benchmarking Conference, and New Zealand Business Excellence Awards. The theme of the congress is “Driving Excellence> Innovation> Productivity> Export Growth”.

The Congress is being organised by the Centre for Organisational Excellence Research, New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation and New Zealand Organisation for Quality with key partners the Asia Network for Quality, Asia Pacific Quality Organization, Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development, BPIR.com Limited, Economic Development Agencies New Zealand, Global Benchmarking Network, Institute of Management Consultants New Zealand, Ministry of Economic Development and New Zealand Institute of Management

This is your chance to speak at a major international conference and share your experience, best practices or your leading edge management research. This is an opportunity for:

a) Academics to present peer-reviewed conference papers and get them fast-tracked into leading journals (such as • Q-NewZ Magazine • TQM Journal • Measuring Business Excellence Journal • International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management • International Benchmarking Journal • International Journal of TQM and Business Excellence)

b) Business employees, managers, CEOs, consultants to present and share best practices (perhaps for the first time at a major conference)
Papers are now being sought on Developing Business Capability, Leadership, Strategy, Customer and Market Focus, Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management, Human Resource Focus, and Process Management. The best papers will be considered for the Best Paper Award, and fast-tracked for publication in one of the local or international journals.

Don’t miss this Congress! We are expecting a full-house of 500 registrations and a fantastic experience for all! If you have not been to New Zealand before then this is an excellent opportunity to combine a world-class conference with a visit to one of the most beautiful and stunning countries on earth!!!

Visit 100% Pure New Zealand (video)

BPIR Newsletter - No. 6 2011

BPIR Best Practice Newsletter No. 6 - 2011
Visit BPIR.com \| Forgot your password? \| Not a member?

Hi ,

Seasons Greetings and a Happy New Year in 2012 from the BPIR team! Welcome to our sixth and last newsletter of 2011 – sharing with you best practices, improvement tools, and events. (Non-members of the BPIR can read the newsletter but will be unable to access some of the links).

Best Practice Report: Customer Service Excellence

Organisations that want to provide outstanding customer service have to address every aspect of customer management with equal intensity. Top-notch workflows and supply chain performance are essential to excellent customer service. But, so too are the underlying emotions. trust and control customers experience during interactions with an organisation. Emotions, trust and control often drive, or subconsciously reinforce, how customers perceive service interactions. Organisations that take the time to understand each of these elements can discover opportunities to create improved, excellent customer services. When looking to provide outstanding customer service, success is measured in terms of how a customer benefits from the help that an organisation offers. The ability to create unique value for customers differentiates an organisation from its competitors; this, in turn, enables a company to set a fair price for what it offers the customer. read more..

Read other best practice reports

Upcoming Events

Benchmarking for Excellence, Doha (Arabic) 10-11 January, Singapore 1-2 March, Philippines 27-28 March.

6th Quality Conference in the Middle East, Dubai, 30 January - 2 February. Organiser: Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-University (HBMeU).

6th International Benchmarking Conference, Dubai, 6-7 March. Organiser: Dubai Quality Group (DQG) and Global Benchmarking Network (GBN).

World Business Capability Congress, Auckland, 5-7 December 2012. Organiser: Centre of Organisational Excellence Research (COER) and New Zealand Organisation for Quality (NZOQ).

** See BPIR Events Calendar for more events

Latest News

Four Organizations Win 2011 Baldrige National Quality Award - For the first time in Baldrige award history 3 organisation out of the 4 Winners are from healthcare sector. .... read more

Founder of BPIR.com is awarded the Harrington/Ishikawa Medal for 2011 - Dr. Robin Mann was awarded the Harrington/Ishikawa Medal, read the full post to know the reason.

Armand V. Feigenbaum Lifetime Achievement Medal - Achievement Medal was presented to a research professor of the Academy of Math and System Sciences, Shanghai. .... read more

Service Excellence Initiatives in Europe - An interesting research about service excellence uptake in Europe. .... read more

Dispute Resolution for a Brighter Outcome - A proactive and cost effective approach for dispute resolution. .... read more

Business Excellence Chile - First issue of Business Excellence Chile newsletter. .... read more

Singapore Business Excellence Awards 2011 - 9 organisations have won the prestigious Spring Singapore business excellence awards. .... read more

Spotlight on Events

6th International Benchmarking Conference. Benchmarking, according to most studies, is now at least “a top five tool” with some studies now positioning it as “the No.1 tool for helping organisations to become more productive and better at what they do”. The 6th International Benchmarking Conference will be held in Dubai, 6-7 March. This is a Global Benchmarking Network (GBN) and Dubai Quality Group (DQG) event and brings together experts on benchmarking from around the world.

World Business Capability Congress Centre of Organisational Excellence Research (COER) and New Zealand Organisation for Quality (NZOQ) jointly are organising the World Business Capability Congress incorporating the 27th NZOQ Conference and the annual conference of the Global Benchmarking Network (GBN) the 6th International Benchmarking Conference. The conference includes the New Zealand Business Excellence Awards dinner.

The congress will be held from 5 to 7 December 2012 in Waipuna Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand

Call for Papers..
Take advantage of a fantastic opportunity to speak at the conference and share your experience, organisation’s best practices or your leading edge management research.
Submit your Abstract/Bio right now... Don't miss this one!!!

Make sure you include this conference in your diary and travel plans for 2012!

Spotlight on Self-Assessment

Board Development – This assessment tool can help you to guide a group discussion about your organisation's board development process. ....read more (go to category 1.1)

Return on Sales – This self-assessment tool will help to you to assess the impact of your sales training. ....read more (go to category 4.2)

Innovation Process – This self-assessment tool aims to assess how well your organisation manages the process of innovation......read more (go to category 6.2)

Featured Publications

- Chemical Engineering Progress
- Engineer
- Engineering Management Journal

- Industrial Engineer
- Foundry Management & Technology
- Petroleum Economist

Members read the latest issues - non members see available titles

Best Practice Case Studies

Read one of our best practice case studies:

Leadership development maintained in spite of reduced training budget
Even though its training budget was reduced the US Environmental Protection Agency, was able to maintain its high-value leadership training programmes. The organisation blended online courses in situational self-leadership with structured classroom work and paired participants with executive coaches for leadership sessions to discuss and practice what was learned. Frontline leaders also received training related to succession planning and performance management and emerging leaders were required to complete rotational assignments to complement formal course work. The informal tools helped to rekindle technology investments in 2010.. read more

Roadmapping integrated into strategic planning
To support integrated strategic planning, Orona, a Spanish lift company, used technology roadmapping to identify future technologies and associated R&D projects. Roadmapping helped organise, prioritise, and complement the project ideas, coming from creativity workshops, brainstorming sessions, and technology watch, by providing a future vision based on state-of-the-art constraints. Ultimately, roadmapping helped the company identify key areas of research and the projects related to them.. read more

Knowledge management in a Taiwanese company
Taiwanese semiconductor company launched a Knowledge management (KM) project in the late 1990`s. The project centred KM on Knowledge groups of about 30 employees within departments. Group members established mutual understanding of one another and acquired information via daily interaction. Workers found problem-solving partners when needed and groups helped streamline the learning curve for new employees and reduced the chance for errors to occur repetitively. When customer complaints came in all related departments collaborated to fix problems. Solutions from different groups were analysed and compared to find the best solution. The system proved so successful that the number of Knowledge groups grew from five in the first year of implementation to over a hundred in the third year.. read more

Human Resources Strategy wins Singapore Quality Association award
The National Library Board of Singapore (NLB) won the 2010 Singapore Quality Association People Excellence Award for its human resource (HR) strategy. The NLB had used its HR strategy to transform itself from a custodian of printed materials to a gateway of knowledge. Among other things the NLB: 1) developed separate career development tracks for library professionals, managerial staff and domain specialists to enhance staff professionalism; and 2) developed a collaborative environment through learning and knowledge sharing, by leveraging on electronic systems, cross-functional project teams, and staff designated as knowledge champions. Thie startegy helped the NLB to make workforce changes that supported its transformation.. read more

Research requests
Fresh information added every month in answer to your requests. Submit your issues for next month. How this service works

Last month's requests	Currently being researched
1. Leadership 2. Strategic Planning 3. Knowledge Management 4. HR Management	1. Design Thinking 2. Customer complaints/compliments and suggestions 3. Quality Awards 4. Gap Analysis

Remember

If you are currently not a member of the BPIR, or wish to upgrade your membership then please review our membership offerings at JOIN NOW.. you won't be disappointed.

Regards,

Neil Crawford
------------------
General Manager
BPIR.com Ltd
Business Performance Improvement Resource (BPIR)
Centre for Organisational Excellence Research (COER)
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"To know the road ahead, ask those coming back" - Chinese Proverb

Note; this newsletter has been sent to you because you have subscribed to it or to the BPIR.com or one of its partner services, you have recently contacted us about the resource, or we believe you wish to be on the list for other reasons. If you wish to be removed from the newsletter emailing list or wish to change your email details, click here to unsubscribe , or send "(old email address) chg to (new email address)" to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . In either case you will need to use or quote the email address by which we contact you - or we may not be able to find you to unsubscribe.

© 2011 BPIR.com Limited & Massey University

BPIR Newsletter - No. 5 2011

BPIR Best Practice Newsletter No. 5 - 2011
Visit BPIR.com \| Forgot your password? \| Not a member?

Hi ,

Welcome to our fifth newsletter of 2011 – sharing with you best practices, improvement tools, and events. Non-members of the BPIR can read the newsletter but will be unable to access some of the links.

Best Practice Report: Target Marketing

Target marketing-or the segmentation of markets-is a strategy for focusing an organisation’s energies and resources on those areas where it can reap the greatest rewards. Target marketing is largely about the alignment of products and services that match the needs of a selected customer base. The target market could be an area of specialisation such as financial advice, a specific industry, or products and services that have been customised to meet specific requirements. High ROI can be gained through the use of target marketing. read more..

Read other best practice reports

Upcoming Events

8th China Shanghai International Symposium on Quality, Shanghai, 31 October - 5 November. Organiser: China Association for Quality.

Benchmarking for Excellence, Abu Dhabi 27-29 November, Doha (Arabic) 28-29 November, Doha 30 Nov-1 Dec, Kuwait 6-8 December.

Benchmarking for Performance and Best Practice, Kuwait, 4-5 December. Organiser: Gulf Lead Consultants (GLC).

6th Quality Conference in the Middle East, Dubai, 30 January - 2 February. Organiser: Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-University (HBMeU).

World Business Capability Congress, Auckland, 5-7 December 2012. Organiser: Centre of Organisational Excellence Research (COER) and New Zealand Organisation for Quality (NZOQ).

** See BPIR Events Calendar for more events

BPIR Message

I was lucky enough to be speaking at the Global Business Excellence Conference in Singapore, 17-20 October 2011. This was a fantastic event attended by more business excellence award winners than probably any other event worldwide. The event was co-organised by the Singapore Productivity Association, Asian Productivity Quality Organisation and SPRING Singapore. Two award dinners were held - one for the winners of the Global Performance Excellence Award - 18 award winners in total with 6 at the world-class level, and one for the winners of the Singapore Quality Award - with a truly remarkable 8 award winners at the world-class level (6 SQA winners and 2 more with Special Commendations as previous winners)!

Singapore’s focus on business excellence is unparalleled. Business excellence permeates right through its society and undoubtedly has played a significant part in its economic and societal success. If one looks at virtually any international comparison data, Singapore is usually a top ten achiever; Ease of Doing Business (No.1), Customer Service in the Public Sector (No.1), Transparency and Accountability (No.1), World Competitiveness (No.2), Innovation (No. 3), Education System (No.3), Lowest Homicide Rates (No.4), and the list goes on!! Other countries would do well to learn from Singapore’s success. Indeed, Singapore is generously helping other Asian countries through its role as the Asian Productivity Organisation’s Centre for Excellence for Business Excellence. For more information on its work refer to our tailored website. Here you can also read a report I wrote on the Impact of Business Excellence/Quality Awards on Enterprises - this studied business excellence in India, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

Dr Robin Mann, Co-Founder BPIR.com Limited, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Latest News

Project management - A Necessity for Business Excellence - The importance of project management in achieving business excellence .... read more
Graphing Marathon Measures 2 - Run Chart Run - Real life application of Run chart .... read more
Value creation selling helps your customers succeed - Value creation practices and how customers benefit from your help .... read more
9 Tips to Mental Toughness - Tips for you to gain more mental toughness in everything you do .... read more
Relationships: is social media a help or a hindrance? - How to make social media a great help for your business .... read more
40 Lessons to Learn from Southwest - Learn 40 best practices from the most profitable US airline company .... read more
Benchmarking is the most popular improvement tool in 2011 - Top 10 most popular improvement tools .... read more
Facilitation … A Much Needed Skill - How to effectively conduct a successful workshop or meeting .... read more

Spotlight on Events

Benchmarking for Performance and Best Practice - The conference of Benchmarking for Performance and Best Practice, Kuwait 4-5 December focuses on the applications and challenges of benchmarking at the country and organisational levels. The conference is being organised by Gulf Lead Consultants, a BPIR.com partner and member of the Global Benchmarking Network (GBN).

Benchmarking for Excellence training workshops have become hugely popular. These workshops provide “Certified Benchmarking Training – Level 1” on TRADE Best Practice Benchmarking – ensuring that benchmarking projects are conducted in a professional manner leading to new innovations and breakthrough improvements. Workshops are planned in Chile, India, Kuwait, New Zealand, Singapore, Qatar, UK and the UAE in the next few months. In-House workshops are also available.

2011 Australian Business Excellence Conference and Awards,17 November. This year’s conference will examine the key drivers for Organisational Excellence, with leading experts and practitioners from Australia and around the world to discuss and demonstrate how forward thinking leadership and management can implement the Business Excellence Framework. At the conference, we will also be unveiling the 2011 winners of the Australian Business Excellence Awards. In addition to this, we will also be running pre- and post-conference workshops to cover a boarder spectrum of knowledge into the Business Excellence Framework.

World Business Capability Congress Centre of Organisational Excellence Research (COER) and New Zealand Organisation for Quality (NZOQ) jointly are organising the World Business Capability Congress incorporating the 27th NZOQ Conference and the annual conference of the Global Benchmarking Network (GBN) the 6th International Benchmarking Conference. The congress will be held from 5 to 7 December 2012 in Waipuna Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand

Invitations for speakers/papers will be issued in the next couple of months. Submitted papers will be eligible for top international journals. Make sure you include this conference in your diary and travel plans for 2012!

Spotlight on Self-Assessment
Have you used any of our self-assessment tools lately? We have over 50 to assess all aspects of your organisation from how your organisation develops its strategy to how it serves its customers. Here are three typical examples:

Marketing – Assess your marketing process and help you to guide a group discussion about your organisation's marketing process ....read more
Outsourcing Preparedness – This self-assessment tool will assist in the preparation of an outsourcing initiative. Consideration is given to the organisation’s preparedness for the transition, the method of evaluating prospective providers, and how to minimise employee stress during the transition period ....read more
Trainer Competency – Assess the competencies and key actions of capable trainers ....read more

Featured publications
Did you know BPIR provides full access to over 600 excellent business publications providing, in total, over 1,000,000 articles and reports? Here are a few of the titles from the "Labour and Industrial Relations" category (one of 23 categories):

- Employee Benefit Plan Review
- Industrial & Labor Relations Review
- Management Services

- Monthly Labor Review
- SuperVision
- Workforce Management

Members read the latest issues - non members see available titles

Best Practice Case Studies

Read one of our best practice case studies:

Award winning bank delivers customer service excellence

In 2011, Deutsche Bank, a Germany-based international banking corporation, won the Global Finance Best Banks for Payments and Collections in the Western Europe region. The Bank:

Invested in capabilities to help companies better manage their receivables; and to realise the streamlined benefits of SEPA direct debits and centralised receivables.
Launched FX4Cash Receivables to give companies greater control over their foreign exchange flows without having to maintain an account with the bank, or in a particular currency.
Invested in new payment channels such as mobile for corporate bulk payments and remittances.. read more

E-Commerce solutions win excellence award

In 2011, Basware, a Finland-based provider of PurchasetoPay solutions and services for automated invoice processing optimisation won the Global Finance Best Banks for Best Treasury Management Systems & Services Providers. The company:

Extended the benefits of e-invoicing to companies of all sizes.
Developed a range of innovative solutions that made the transition from paper to electronic much easier for companies.
Developed an on-demand product that provided SMEs with access to up-to-date tools for invoice automation.
Provided scanning and capture of invoices.
Extended its reach globally through interoperability agreements with suppliers and networks.. read more

Payments & Collections services win bank award for excellence

In 2011, Nordea Bank, a Sweden-based financial services group, won the Global Finance Best Banks for Payments and Collections in the Nordic region. The bank:

Built an impressive distribution network and customer base across the Nordic and Baltic region.
Achieved strong brand recognition.
Provided a range of money market funds dominated in euro and major Nordic currencies.. read more

Customer service - Retail sector worst in UK customer service

A 2011 survey by ORC International into customer service received responses from over 1000 UK respondents. The survey revealed that the retail sector ranked poorest, with 17% of respondents unimpressed with their experiences, followed closely by broadband suppliers, banks, train operators and local councils. The survey also showed that 58% of consumers in London reported bad customer service in the past month, followed by the West Midlands 55%, the South East (54%). and the East Midlands (52%). Welsh consumers reported the biggest improvement in standards over the past five years.. read more

Research requests
Fresh information added every month in answer to your requests. Submit your issues for next month. How this service works

Last month's requests	Currently being researched
1. Banking Industry 2. Customer Service Delivery 3. Business Excellence 4. Employee and Customer-Related Benchmark	1. Leadership 2. Strategic Planning 3. Knowledge Management 4. HR Management

Remember

If you are currently not a member of the BPIR, or wish to upgrade your membership then please review our membership offerings at JOIN NOW.. you won't be disappointed.

Regards,

Neil Crawford
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General Manager
BPIR.com Ltd
Business Performance Improvement Resource (www.BPIR.com)
Centre for Organisational Excellence Research
neil@bpir.com
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"To know the road ahead, ask those coming back" - Chinese Proverb

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