The idea behind this exercise is for the class to generate data comparing companies in many different industries. This data will be used to compare these industries from an Operations and Supply Chain view to better understand differences. Be prepared for a lively class discussion for this session.
Step 1: Pick an industry that you find interesting. This may be driven by a company by which you would like to be employed or by some other factor. Within the industry, identify three companies that compete with one another. In order to ensure comparability, go to money.msn.com, find and enter the company stock symbol, and then go to Fundamentals, Company Report. The industry is in the first column, under Company Information. Find three companies that are in the same industry.
Step 2: Collect data related to each company. At a minimum, find the income per employee, revenue per employee, receivable turnover, inventory turnover, and asset turnover for each company. This data is available under “Fundamentals,” “Key Ratios,” and “Mgmt Efficiency” on the web-site. You might also find it useful to review the “Company Report” for each i rm. Here read the description of each company to better understand how they do business.
Step 3: Compare the companies based on what you have found. Which company appears to have the most productive employees? Which company has the best operations and supply chain processes? Which company is most efficient in its use of credit? Which company makes the best use of its facility and equipment assets?
Step 4: What insights can you draw from your analysis? Benchmarking is a process where one company studies the processes of another company (or industry) to identify best practices. What could your companies learn from bench-marking each other?