Benchmarking and best practices in transport sector

Opis książki:

Wstęp
Benchmarking has recently become a new, very popular and useful methodological approach in economic research, apart from deductive and inductive reasoning, which is the basis for the science of economics. In cases where optimization methods are insufficient or unreliable, and where we cannot quantify everything, frequently comparative research based on benchmarking allows us to develop strategies of achieving competitive advantages based on perfect or even ideal solutions. They are identified by means of comparative analyses of activities and solutions used by competitors or market leaders.
Today benchmarking research is used not only by individual companies or institutions, but by whole branches, sectors of economy or even economic systems (hence the idea of the Lisbon strategy). One might formulate a thesis that benchmarking research gives an impulse not only to search for the best solutions in the real world but also to search for certain ideal model solutions, which in the future may unpredictably change a branch, sector or a specific company. The refore, benchmarking should not be limited to comparisons of certain practices or solutions at a given moment but it also should be useful in research on the dynamics of certain processes and activities.
The active development stage of benchmarking research methodology in transport began in Europe only ten years ago. One of the first most comprehensive publications in this field entitled Transport Benchmarking. Methodologies, Applications & Data Needs (ECMT-EC, OECD, 2000), was prepared aft er the international conference organized in 1999 by the European Conference of Ministers of Transport and the European Commission. To popularize the use of benchmarking in the European transport, at the beginning of this decade the European Commission initiated scientific research within the scope of priorities of the 4th and 5th Framework Programs. Growing competition in transport and logistics may stimulate the widening the scope of methodological research and implementation of the best practices in management of transport, logistics and supply chains.
Recognizing the importance of benchmarking for transport economics research, a group of academics, Ph. D. students and collaborators of the Department of Transport at the Warsaw School of Economics have undertaken research on possibilities and areas, in which benchmarking tools might be applied to shape competitive advantages of entities operating in the transport market. Th e research relates both to entities operating in diff erent segments of the transport market and to separate modes of transport (rail transport, air transport, urban transport).
The scope of the research includes entities in the Polish, European as well as global markets.
The book is divided into four parts, each one of them consisting of two chapters. It opens with a chapter, which is an insight into the issues of benchmarking, explaining the virtue of this idea, its evolution, types as well as the scope, in which benchmarking analysis might be applied in transport research.
The first part begins with a chapter that presents the essence and objectives of benchmarking in the field of European Union transport systems. This method has been used as a comparative tool for road transport in individual EU countries.
Also the European Union policy related to benchmarking has been discussed. The second chapter focuses on companies active in the Polish rail freight market. Within the framework of intramodal analysis basic transport performance results, market share of public and private rail operators have been compared and also key competitiveness factors have been indicated.
The following part concerns issues related to benchmarking in air transport. The benchmarking analysis presented in the first chapter is focused on strategic alliances in the airline market. In the research both external (comparison of global alliances) and internal (examination of cooperative relations inside the alliance groups and the integration level within these groups) benchmarking have been used. The author points to the growing cooperation and ever stronger internal integration within the alliances. Benchmarking research allows the companies to choose the best practices and tendencies, which provide support not only to individual alliance partners, including PLL LOT - the member of Star Alliance, but to the whole alliances active in the airline sector. The next chapter presents the specifics of applying benchmarking research to airport analyses, including the most problematic parts of such an analysis. The most oft en used research methods have been mentioned and briefl y characterized. Further, the basic requirements as to the team conducting benchmarking research have been identified.
The third part includes chapter on fares and infrastructure access charge comparison in passenger transport. Benchmarking analysis has become one of the most important tools of evaluating the eff ectiveness of air transport infrastructure management. The level and principles of calculating charges for the use of airport infrastructure at European airports are compared in the first chapter. Diff erentiation of airport charges and the scope of used reductions are more and more soft en becoming the tool of competitive struggle between airports. Comparative analyses of airport charges are an important tool when taking a decision by air car riers about launching a new route.
Th e next chapter deals with the best practices in urban transport. Charges applicable in the biggest Polish cities have been analyzed and compared with the results of another researches. Diff erences between Polish urban transport systems and the way how the urban transport is organized in other cities under research in Central and Western Europe (Prague, Berlin, Helsinki and London) have been pointed to. Overcoming them applying the best practices is one of the conditions of implementing customer orientation and gaining new passengers.
The final part focuses on quality issues in passenger services. The first chapter in this section presents European Commission`s policy and eff orts with regards to quality and eff ectiveness of the provided railway transport services and guaranteeing the passengers their rights. In the final chapter the availability, standards and the level of services off ered to disabled people in the Polish air transport have been analyzed and these services have been compared to the developments in the Spanish market. Recently in the EU member states a number of very important regulations, the full implementation of which should ensure easier air travel for the disabled, have been introduced. In order to relate to the best practices in this respect, the disabled passenger services in the US and Canadian aviation have been synthetically presented and evaluated.
Individual authors of single chapters have presented applications of diff erent forms of benchmarking in transport research - from competitive benchmarking to the best practices, both within one country and at the international level, in relation to individual enterprises, alliance groups and selected sectors. Th e authors are aware of the need to continue research activities on issues related to benchmarking in transport, especially among international research groups, which will improve research tools and will contribute to dissemination of best practices in the transport sector.

Książka "Benchmarking and best practices in transport sector" - Elżbieta Marciszewska, Jana Pieriegud (red.) - oprawa miękka - Wydawnictwo Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie. Książka posiada 196 stron i została wydana w 2009 r.