IV. In the article below suggest the Russian and find the English equivalents for the

following:

1. global best practices knowledge base

2. a performance beacon for others to follow

3. to disturb a company into action

4. to uncover new ways to improvement

5. to motivate action by providing examples

6. to identify benchmarks

7. to update with the most current and complete information

8. компания, добившаяся наилучших результатов

9. оценивать деятельность к-л компании по сравнению с другой компанией

10. обнаружить пробелы, недостатки в деятельности

11. наметить направления деятельности, требующие усовершенствования

12. стремиться к совершенству

 

ARTHUR ANDERSEN GLOBAL BEST PRACTICES

WHAT IS BENCHMARKING?

 

The term “benchmarking” is taken from the world of geographic surveys and land mapping; a benchmark is a permanent imprint left by high water along the shore of a sea, lake, or river floodplain. In business, a benchmark is the imprint of the highest performer of a business process, a performance beacon for others to follow.

The process of benchmarking means to systematically measure your business performance against an outside group, for example, other businesses in the Global Best Practices knowledge base. Through benchmarking, a company uncovers gaps in its performance – areas to target for improvement.

Benchmarking is a practical tool for continuous improvement. It disturbs companies into action, uncovers new ways of improving business processes and activities, and motivates action by providing external examples. It helps ensure that a company strives for excellence.

The knowledge base enables us to help you identify benchmarks and best practices quickly and efficiently. The quantitative benchmarking tools show companies what is possible; the qualitative benchmarking tools show companies how to get where they want to go.

The Global Best Practices knowledge base is continually updated with the most current and complete information.

 

Quantitative Benchmarking Tools Qualitative Benchmarking Tools

Accounts Payable Design Product and Services

Accounts receivable Develop and Manage Human Resources

Close the books Develop Vision and Strategy

Contract Administration Execute Environmental, Health and

Safety

Controllership Management Program

Finance and Accounting Invoice and Service Customers

Human Resources Market and Sell

Information Technology Manage External Relationships

Innovation Manage Financial and Physical

Resources

Inventory management Manage Improvement and Change

Payroll Manage Information Resources and

Purchasing Technology

Sales Force Effectiveness Produce and Deliver for Service Oriented

Selling, General and Administrative Organizations

Expense Produce and Deliver Products and

Services

Tax Understand Markets and Customers

Transportation

Warranty and Claims

http://www. arthura…GlobalBestPracticeswhatisbenchmarking?

 

V. Interpret the following in English using your active vocabulary:

Термин «бенчмаркинг» является англоязычным и не имеет однозначного перевода на русский язык. Этот термин произошёл от слова “benchmark”, которое означает отметку на фиксированном объекте, например, отметку на столбе, указывающую высоту над уровнем моря. В этом смысле “benchmark” – это нечто, обладающее определённым количеством, качеством и способностью быть использованным как эталон при сравнении с другими предметами.

«Бенчмаркинг» представляет собой искусство обнаружения того, что другие делают лучше нас и изучение, усовершенствование их методов работы. На первый взгляд может показаться, что речь идёт о старом методе: предприятия, и не только они, всегда следили за конкурентами; их деятельность анализировалась и изучалась, лучшее использовалось. Однако на рубеже 70х годов некоторые предприятия стали использовать концепцию, в основу которой положено сравнение деятельности не только предприятий конкурентов, но и передовых фирм из других отраслей. Они начали учиться квантифицировать различия в управлении предприятиями.

Впервые термин “бенчмаркинг” в его современном значении появился в 1972 г. в Институте стратегического планирования. Эта исследовательская и консалтинговая организация, которая в Европе известна как Pims, показала, что для того, чтобы найти эффективное решение в области конкуренции, необходимо изучать, знать и перенимать опыт работы лучших предприятий, добившихся уже успехов в различных видах деятельности.

В 1979 г. американская компания Ксерокс приступила к проекту «Бенчмаркинг конкурентоспособности» для анализа затрат при производстве продукции, аналогичной продукции, выпускаемой японскими компаниями. Проект имел большой успех. Позднее бенчмаркинг получает широкое распространение среди специалистов США; его философия используется во многих фирмах, например, в “Dupont” и “Motorola”. В настоящее время бенчмаркинг считается самым эффективным направлением консалтинга.

Процесс эволюции бенчмаркинга аналогичен классической модели «перехода от искусства к науке».

Первое поколение бенчмаркинга интерпретируется как реинжиниринг или ретроспективный анализ продукта.

Второе поколение – бенчмаркинг конкурентоспособности – развивается как наука в 1976-1986 гг., благодаря деятельности фирмы Ксерокс.

Третье поколение бенчмаркинга развивается в период 1982-1986 гг., когда предприятия-лидеры качества выясняют возможность поучиться у предприятий вне их сектора или отрасли, а не исследуя конкурентов.

Четвёртое поколение бенчмаркинга – это стратегический бенчмаркинг, который рассматривается как систематический процесс, направленный на оценку альтернатив, реализацию стратегий и усовершенствование характеристик производительности на основе изучения успешных стратегий внешних предприятий партнёров.

Пятое поколение – глобальный бенчмаркинг рассматривается как будущий инструмент организации международных обменов с учётом культуры и национальных процессов организации производства.

 

Vocabulary Review

I. Translate into Russian:

regulatory environment; legal environment; pricing power; listed company; to cut a deal; fund managers; a profit gain of 15%; resistance to change; to abandon a project; to build up inventories; to get output in line with demand; customized packaging; to build up a competitive lead; to dispose of assets; to divest of a business; lean inventories; backlog of unsold goods

II. Translate into English:

управление системой поставок; система управления ТМЗ; возможность диктовать цены; сообщать о результатах финансовой деятельности; система оплаты труда в зависимости от стажа работы; доходность инвестированного капитала; жёсткая конкуренция; изготовить продукт по индивидуальному заказу; отпочкование компании; отслеживать прохождение товаров по системе

Unit 9

TQM

More than a Dying Fad?

Yes, the movement has its critics. But applied properly, the principles of

Total Quality Management can still deliver big payoffs. Here is how.

By Rahul Jacob

Sometime in the late 1960s, the Beatles abruptly ended a much publicized spiritual dalliance with Maharishi Mahesh Yogy. When the guru asked why they were leaving, John Lennon reportedly replied: “If you are so cosmic, you’ll know why.” Echoes of such disenchantment can be heard today when executives rail against Total Quality Management (TQM), the elixir of the Eighties. It was supposed to have had all the answers; it was supposed to turn lead to gold. It didn’t.

Signs of disappointment are everywhere. Surveys show that up to two-thirds of American managers think TQM has failed in their companies. The number of applicants vying for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the Holy Grail of quality buffs, peaked in 1991 and has since fallen sharply. And the wreckage of TQM programs has spawned a new kind of ambulance chaser: consultants who specialize in turning around failed quality programs, or what the Washington post has wryly labeled «Totaled Quality Management».

Is this backlash warranted? Short answer: No. It’s true that obsessively focusing on quality alone can take your eye off other critical variables - such as what your customers might want. Yes, many TQM programs have been badly executed, particularly those imposed from above in cookie-cutter fashion. And, yes, TQM is, as the refrain goes, no panacea. (What is?) But make no mistake: Thoughtfully applied and modified, total quality principles still represent a sound way to run a company.

For anyone who slept through the1980s, Ray Stata, CEO of integrated-circuit maker Analog Devices, interprets those principles:

“Total quality essentially involves attention to process, commitment to the customer, involvement of employees, and benchmarking of best practices. It is hard to believe you cannot benefit from that.”

That some managers are now loudly insisting they have not so benefited almost surely says more about the poor quality of their leadership than it does about the quality movement. Ranganath Nayak, a senior vice president with Arthur D. Little, maintains that uncritical belief in a magic cure-all is a particularly American business disorder. «The rest of the world is much less faddish,» he says.

Executives at Motorola and Federal Express - must-see stops since each won a Baldrige award - voice similar complaints about the quick-fix-seeking managers who visit them. Says Edith Kelly, vice president of purchasing and supply at Fed Ex: “People want to know if there is one thing that we do. But it’s really everything.”

Indeed, many companies that have successfully adopted TQM don’t even use the phrase “total quality” anymore; it has simply become a way of doing business. Wolfgang Schmitt, CEO of Rubbermaid, which began taking TQM companywide two years ago, prefers the decidedly less snappy label Continuous Value Improvement Process to describe that effort. Says he: “the term ‘total quality’ can be confined to manufacturing. We wanted to take it across the business.” Rubbermaid also wanted to underline the importance of other attributes, such as cost, service, speed, and innovation.

Think of total quality as older kin to the current hot managerial idea - reengineering. Both aim to increase productivity by rethinking processes, though reengineering, advocates argue, is more likely to come up with novel solutions because it starts with a more iconoclastic question - «should we be doing this at all? - rather than TQM’s “how can we do this cheaper, faster, or better?” The basic message, says Tom Vanderpool, a quality expert at Gemini Consulting, is that while “abandoning the TQM acronym may be correct, abandoning the principles is not.”

Five rules to live by - familiar, but no less important for that - usually determine the success of any total quality effort.

The CEO has to be involved. Ray Stata learned this hard way. He kicked off Analog Devices’ first TQM effort in 1983 after finishing a course at quality guru Philip Crosby’s school. Says Stata: “We gave them the books, and I said, ‘Quality’s free. Go do it. The effect was zero.” In 1986 he hired a capable vice president for quality, who helped the effort gain some zip for a few years. By 1990, however, he realized that all the «low-hanging fruit had been picked» and that if he wanted to get beyond easy steps, such as setting up teams, «making it happen was my job.»

Since then, Stata has been very visible at the company’s quality-improvement fests, part of an initiative started since 1990 to share success stories. He attends every session and makes a presentation. He also chairs Analog’s quality steering committee. Stata readily admits his earlier flip-flops hurt: “There is some closeted cynicism about quality in the company. Among the engineers, it isn’t even closeted They think it’s crap.” But spreading the word of TQ’s success - a rethinking of production processes that lowered chip defects and saved $1.2 million -a-year, for example - is making believers of the internal skeptics. Outsiders are impressed too: Last year Dataquest named Analog (1992 sales: $567 million) the best midsize semiconductor supplier for the second year in a row.

Rubbermaid’s Schmidt agrees CEO involvement is crucial to sustaining the momentum behind quality training, so he has taken 60 hours of it alongside other employees. «I’ve had to visibly be part of it,» he says. “People look to see if you just talk about it or actually do it.”

Customer focus is critical. But everybody knows that, you respond. Unfortunately, a reminder is needed because quality programs, with their single-minded championing of things like zero defects, for instance, are especially prone to tunnel vision and navel gazing.

Pepsi-Cola, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, demonstrated how to do it the right way two years ago. It surveyed 10,000 customers to develop 16 priorities for its new total quality effort. Example: Improving deliveries. This year Pepsi will see how it’s doing by polling 2,000 customers. Fed Ex lives by its Service Quality Indicator, which tracks how often customers experience the annoyance of late deliveries and misplaced packages, among other bothers.

Johnson & Johnson overhauled its quality effort a few years ago because it had gotten too inwardly focused.