Editorial

Citation

Heap, T.F.B.a.J. (2014), "Editorial", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 63 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-11-2013-0189

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Volume 63, Issue 1

Welcome to the first issue in this, the 63rd, volume of the IJPPM. We have increased the target number of papers per issue from six to seven, thus giving more value per issue! We have five standard papers and two reflective practice papers. By chance, in this issue India is well represented. Four papers originate from that part of the globe with the other three from Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and the USA. As is often the case, we also range across a variety of contexts from manufacturing to service, and from private to public sector. The focus in this edition is very much on organisational performance and has a quantitative “feel” – but the papers apply a variety of methodologies such as Balanced Scorecard, total productive maintenance (TPM) and Six Sigma. We trust you find something interesting and useful in the mix of papers contained in this issue.

The performance of the public sector, in general, and education, in particular, continues to be a major concern for governments and citizens; whether of developed or emerging countries. In the first paper Gomes and Valle study the performance of education systems in Brazilian municipalities and specifically examine the impact of organisational size, managerial quality and financial resources on the performance of their educational systems. Using multiple regressions on data sampled from over 500 municipalities they draw some useful conclusions to their study; for instance, there is no evidence that the quality of the political leadership affects the educational system performance. Further, municipalities that raise their money themselves, rather than relying on money from higher governmental authorities, are likely to perform better educationally.

The frequent appearance in past IJPPM issues of the Balanced Scorecard (BS) betrays its role as one of the dominant topics in performance management circles. Originally to be found in large organisations in developed economies, the BS is now applied in other environments thus raising interest in whether there are specific implementation issues to be confronted in these other situations. The authors of the next paper: Behery, Jabeen and Parakandi examine the transition to a BS from a more traditional financially oriented performance management system in a fast-growing SME in a developing country (the United Arab Emirates). One of the key findings is that the variability of managerial awareness and the different levels of managerial education about more modern, broader-based approaches can hinder effective implementation of the BS.

The performance improvement ideas that emerged from Japan over 40 years ago are still making an impression today; witness the next paper. In the first of our papers from India, Kumar, Soni and Agnihotri carry out a quantitative survey of the impact of the implementation of TPM in Indian manufacturing industry. The results show that TPM delivers a range of positive benefits to production performance, with a focus on quality and productivity. However, areas such as safety and morale still need further attention.

Just as the banking industry continues to attract general attention, it also attracts the interest of performance management professionals. In the fourth paper the authors demonstrate through the Hicks-Moorsteen total factor approach that there is major room for Indian banks to improve their performance. Sharma and Raina indicate various ways forward for both policy makers and bank managers that will lead to securing these performance improvements.

Nowadays many companies have to perform in the key area of outsourcing; an activity that involves selecting, evaluating and managing suppliers. The increasing importance of outsourcing means that its management is a significant determinant of competitive performance and that considerable risk is attached to supply inefficiency. Ganguly's paper focuses on decision making in the supplier assessment and selection process. He uses the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) but coupled with an approach to gauging risk (Dempster Shafer Theory) that he asserts has not been used before in supply chain management. He tests the model application in an Indian engineering company that requires a high service level in its supply chain, and demonstrates how the model can be used to objectively assess the performance of key suppliers.

In the next-to-the-last paper in this issue, Prashar presents a case study that demonstrates the use of Six Sigma to reduce the costs of poor quality in an Indian company repairing critical components of transport helicopters. The paper documents the practical process of applying the define, measure, analyse, improve and control (DMAIC) methodology in this maintenance and repair environment. Like any case study of this type the paper offers an insightful illustration of how performance improvement can be successfully achieved in practice.

Kumar, Clemens and Keller from the USA provide the last paper. Supply chain management continues to grow in importance and managing suppliers is a particular focus of attention. The authors concentrate on supplier management and present a case study on how to construct a simple, but powerful, approach to assessing the performance of suppliers via construction of a scorecard. They stress the need for data used in the scorecard to be of good quality and up-to-date, otherwise they see that the scorecard loses credibility and relevance. The also emphasise that at the heart of such scorecards are trade-offs since it is a rare supplier that can perform successfully across all evaluation criteria.

Tom F. Burgess and John Heap