An AHP approach in benchmarking logistics performance of the postal industry

Abstract Purpose – To develop a new benchmarking process for continuous improvement against the market leader, and report a case study in the postal industry by employing the proposed benchmarking process. Design/methodology/approach – A double AHP methodology is developed in this paper to divide benchmarking process into two main parts: performance evaluation and continuous improvement. Both qualitative and quantitative factors have been taken into consideration. The first phase aims at evaluation of the performance of the benchmarked company and its competitors. The second phase aims at finding the best practice from a list of improvement alternatives based on the first phase. Findings – The proposed framework can evaluate the performance of the case company against its competitors. It can also help the company to select the best improvement alternative for implementation in order to enhance its performance on the weakest measures. Originality/value – The proposed benchmarking process in this paper can help the case company to identify its weaknesses and then select the best improvement alternative in order to improve its performance against the market leader. Although the postal industry is used to demonstrate the proposed framework, it can be applied to other industries with a little modification.