Value Chain/Supply Chain Benchmarking and Studies Report Update

This is the latest revision of the supply chain and value chain benchmark report and studies list.

Recently, as I was searching for KPIs and metrics, I stumbled across the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

One of the few benchmarking services that I have found that specifically attempts to measure customer satisfaction, the ACSI is administered by the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan's Ross Business School. Research support is provided by the Business School, the American Society for Quality (AQS), and the CFI Group.

According to their information page:

ACSI reports scores on a 0-100 scale at the national level and produces indexes for 10 economic sectors, 43 industries (including e-commerce and e-business) and more than 200 companies and federal or local government agencies. In addition to the company-level satisfaction scores, ACSI produces scores for the causes and consequences of customer satisfaction and their relationships. The measured companies, industries, and sectors are broadly representative of the U.S. economy serving American households.

The ASCI website also lists corporate sponsorships from some of the premier firms in the United States. It is possible, according to the website, to obtain additional services that allow benchmarking with your peers, with companies outside your industry, and to use predictive capabilities to estimate how your performance in satisfying your customers will effect your future business performance.

The surveys are links which are clickable and should open to their respective sites. I envision that future additions will add more benchmark reports, provide a short description for the surveys, and identify what part of the value chain / supply chain is included in the report.If you are aware of a benchmarking study or resource that should be included in this report please let me know.

Marketing Metrics: 50+ Metrics Every Executive Should Master

If you rely on books, white papers, and journals to stay current in the theory and practice of value chain improvement you probably see a lot of the material that is disappointing. I thought I would pass along some of the resources that I have found helpful and tell you why. I have begun inviting others to provide a review of materials they find helpful.

Recently, I stumbled across Marketing Metrics: 50+ Metrics Every Executive Should Master by Farris, Bendle, Pfeifer, and Reibstein and published by Wharton School Publishing. Published in 2006, I found it only recently. It is one of those books that you know will prove to be a reference that you return to over and over again.

While the book was written for marketers, it is equally valuable for strategists and planners, operations and finance executives, and IT departments. Consultants and value chain executives should be expected to have more than a passing familiarity with the contents. I would use the list of metrics as part of a checklist for anyone who was trying to sell me an executive dashboard or business analytic solution.

This isn't an introduction to marketing and is not the starting point for someone who is trying to figure out how marketing fits into a value chain approach. On the other hand, you do not have to be a career marketer to understand how the metrics will provide insight into how your business is operating. Manufacturers may better understand what drives their customers by looking at retail measurements. An inventory planner may not know what "lift" is from a marketing perspective but they certainly understand the increased demand that is driven by promotion.

To help readers that are being introduced to the concepts or the measurements for the first time, the authors provide examples. The examples are mini-business cases that attempt to illustrate how and why the measurements are used in practical applications. Don't be surprised that this book reads like a reference / text book. It is readable and understandable.

Within the first chapter, the authors provide a Major Metrics List which details the measurements that they discuss and the section of the book that will discuss that metric. The book includes Chapters for:

• Shares of Hears, Minds, and Markets
• Margins and Profits
• Product and Portfolio Management
• Customer Profitability
• Sales Force and Channel Management
• Pricing Strategy
• Promotion
• Advertising, Media and Web Metrics
• Marketing and Finance

In each Chapter, there are sections that detail the definition of the metric, the purpose of the metric, how the metric is constructed, what the sources are for the data to compile the metric, and what other metrics or concepts might be related.

I have spent a considerable number of years looking at supply chain and financial metrics, I have spent less time looking at those performance measures that provide insight into how effectively a company market or spends its marketing dollars. I have seen many of these metrics before. I haven't seen all of these metrics in one place with the concise treatment they are provided here. (By the way, I count a lot more than 50 metrics that are described in the book).

So, if your business view of the value chain requires your understanding and measurement of demand generation activities this book probably belongs on your shelf.

In Search of Business Performance Measurement Standards

A sizable percentage of the people who find my blog for the first time are searching for specific answers. A number of you are trying to find a list of key performance metrics (KPIs) or how to calculate OTIF (on time in full), or how stock-outs effect revenue.


While a number of my posts deal with concepts, theory, and framework, the practical questions of how and what to measure have been one of the principle elements that have kept me interested in this area.


In the past few months I have been trying to use LinkedIn as a collaborative resource to find technical answers. I first tried to use the network tool to find benchmark programs and surveys but I had very little luck. Of course it is hard to determine whether I phrased the question poorly, few were interested in the subject, or the question didn't reach the right people.


Recently I asked people to identify their sources for KPI and metrics. I have been pleasantly surprised by the willingness of very knowledgeable professionals to share their experience. A number of them have volunteered to collaborate in the future.


As a result of the email exchanges with these professionals I am starting to assemble at least one other resource list that I will post and try to maintain as a living document - Metrics Resources.


The goal of my search has been a neutral respository of business metrics, preferably a handbook of definitions, formula, and discussions of how and why to collect them. While I haven't found that source, people have been identifying resources which have proven interesting and useful.


While the initial list is taking shape, here are a few of the initial resources:


The KPI Library - A web site of Key Performance Indicator (KPI) libraries for finance, IT, supply chain, project and other business processes.

The Palladium Group - A web site (formerly the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative) relies on Kaplan and Norton's books on the Balanced Score Card to support a consulting practice. The body of knowledge in the books provides the basic concepts required for using the Balanced Scorecard approach and their are a number of consultants who are apparently qualified to teach / assist in the area. (Books will be listed separately).

APICS - A web site for the Association for Operations Management is a source of information in operations management, including production, inventory, supply chain, materials management, purchasing, and logistics. The APICS Dictionary (will be listed separately) was a primary resource of Supply Chain Council members as they were developing versions of the SCOR Model.

APQC - A web site for the metrics, benchmarking, and a process framework. Most content is premium (available to members - membership requires a subscription fee).

Besides assembling this list for publication, I will be providing short monograms on metrics. I expect the first metric to be treated this way will be On Time In Full.

Finally, I will be asking for your input. What resources do you use to identify and deploy metrics? How do you compare the calculations and the source of the business metrics between two dashboard systems? What books, websites, blogs are important if you are a professional in the value chain area? I will include my library (even standard reference books like the MBA Desk Reference and a Pocket Guide to Financial Ratios) as well as sources of information that others find important. (I have begun asking people if they would be willing to help assemble an annotated bibliography - books, white papers, web sites, and blogs and a metrics dictionary. Unfortunately, I didn't ask them if I could mention them in my blog or point to their sites. Part of the learning curve).

If you know a source of standard business metrics please let me know.

Supply Chain / Value Chain Benchmark Studies Update

This is the latest revision of the supply chain and value chain benchmark report and studies list.



In this revision I have added The Hackett Group to the list. The Hackett Group maintains a proprietary benchmark database to support a benchmark service and their consulting group.

The surveys are links which are clickable and should open to their respective sites. I envision that future additions will add more benchmark reports, provide a short description for the surveys, and identify what part of the value chain / supply chain is included in the report.If you are aware of a benchmarking study or resource that should be included in this report please let me know.

Supply and Value Chain Benchmark Programs and Studies Update

This is the latest revision of the supply chain and value chain benchmark report and studies list.

In this revision I have added Ventana Research to the list.

The surveys are links which are clickable and should open to their respective sites. I envision that future additions will add more benchmark reports, provide a short description for the surveys, and identify what part of the value chain / supply chain is included in the report.If you are aware of a benchmarking study or resource that should be included in this report please let me know.

Supply and Value Chain Benchmark Programs and Studies Update

This is the latest revision of the supply chain and value chain benchmark report and studies list.

In this revision I have added Forrester Research to the list. Although their website highlights marketing, strategy, and information technology, a search in their research will reveal surveys and benchmark studies that are specific to value chain and supply chain operations. It does appear true that their recent studies in this area concentrate on CRM.

The surveys are links which are clickable and should open to their respective sites. I envision that future additions will add more benchmark reports, provide a short description for the surveys, and identify what part of the value chain / supply chain is included in the report.If you are aware of a benchmarking study or resource that should be included in this report please let me know.

Supply Chain / Value Chain Models - Business Process Model Wars Update

In 1998, only two years after the publication of the first Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model, the Voluntary InterIndustry Commerce Standards (VICS)Association released the Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (CPFAR)Model.

While many business process models provide frameworks for describing supply chain (good or bad) the CPFR reference model provides a general "best practice" framework for the collaborative aspects of planning, forecasting and replenishment processes.

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Process models are the "standards" or banners in the escalating battle for the hearts, minds, and dollars of analysts, technologists, consultants, business process engineers, program managers, and business leaders.

APQP - Advanced Product Quality Planning - Automotive Industry Action Group
CCOR - Customer Chain Operations Reference Model - Supply-Chain Council, Inc.
CPFR -Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment Model-Voluntary InterIndustry Commerce Standards Association
DCOR - Design Chain Operations Reference Model - Supply-Chain Council, Inc.
DFSS - Design for Six Sigma - (Multiple Models)
eTOM - Ehanced Telcom Operations Map - TM Forum
MSDF - Manufacturing System Design Framework - Lean Advancement Initiative
PCF - Process Classification Framework - APQC
SAP ES - SAP Enterprise Services Workplace
SCOR - Supply Chain Operations Reference Model - Supply-Chain Council, Inc.
SCMF - Supply Chain Management Framework - SCM-Institute
VRM - Value Reference Model - Value-Chain Group

Technical but related frameworks

FERA - Federated Enterprise Reference Architecture - CPDA
ITIL - Information Technology Infrastructure Library

Corrections, additions, and amplifications are welcome.