Foster Business Library


Benchmarking Resources


Foster Business Library research guides are aimed at University of Washington students, faculty, and staff, highlighting resources available to them; users not currently affiliated with the university may be unable to access some of these resources.
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Foster Business Library Databases:

The Foster Business Library offers an extensive collection of over fifty databases on its homepage; see under Databases. For a complete list of Foster databases, see the List of All Business Databases. Access to these databases from off campus requires that you first go to the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. These resources may not be accessed from off campus except by those with a valid UW Net ID and password. For more information on Foster business databases, click Databases, A-Z. For information on which Foster business databases to use, see the Database Index. For information on accessing Foster databases from off campus, see Database Access. For guidelines on responsible database usage, see Database Usage.

  • Conference Board Business Knowledge Research:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under List of All Business Databases.   A searchable database of full-text research reports on the latest issues in business and economics. Economics material includes U.S. and global economic indicators and analysis as well as forecasts of regional, national, and international economic conditions.

    A search for Benchmarking, in the 37-page PDF Cumulative Index of topics, retrieved seven references.

  • Gale Virtual Reference Library:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under List of All Business Databases.   The Gale Virtual Reference Library is a database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research; go to Business for three major business sources:   the Encyclopedia of American Industries (4th ed., 2005), the Encyclopedia of Business and Finance (2001), and the Encyclopedia of Small Business (2nd ed., 2002).

    See Benchmarking, in the Encyclopedia of Business and Finance.

  • Gartner Research:   Under Business Databases on the Foster Business Library homepage. The Gartner Research database provides in-depth analysis and market intelligence for the information technology industry. It covers the full range of products and technologies associated with computer hardware, software, communications products, financial services, electronic business, and healthcare application software worldwide. Ten industries are covered in depth:   banking, education, energy, government, healthcare providers, insurance, investment services, manufacturing, media, and retail. Access to this database, on campus or off, requires a valid UW Net ID.

  • Social Sciences Citation Index: This database "is a multidisciplinary index, with searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of the social sciences. It indexes more than 1,725 journals spanning 50 disciplines, as well as covering individually selected, relevant items from over 3,300 of the world's leading scientific and technical journals. It "provides access to current information and retrospective data from 1956 forward."

    A search in this database for Benchmarking retrieved over six hundred references.

  • PsycINFO: This database contains citations and summaries of journal articles, book chapters, books, dissertations and technical reports in the field of psychology and on the psychological aspects of many disciplines including business. Over 1,300 periodicals are surveyed by this database, dating from 1987 for English language material. This database is produced by the American Psychological Association which adds 55,000 references annually.

    A search in this database for Benchmarking retrieved over eighty references.

    Web Resources:

    Unlike library databases, Web resources are available wherever you have web access; they do not require that you access them via the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. When using web resources, be sure to evaluate the credibility of these resources. For a subject index to web resources, see Business Resources on the Web on the Foster Business Library homepage.

  • The American Productivity and Quality Center:   This nonprofit organization is supported by nearly 500 companies, government organizations, and educational institutions; it performs and disseminates research on productivity and quality. Its website provides resources on topics such as performance measurement, organizational effectiveness, knowledge management, customer-focused systems--and benchmarking.

  • Performance Plus:   The Canadian government site for business, Strategis, provides this benchmarking tool, Performance Plus, which is described as "an on-line performance benchmarking tool. It provides detailed financial and employment data on more than 600 business sectors across Canada, including more than 30 performance benchmarks to help small businesses determine how they measure up against their competitors."

  • BenchNet: the Benchmarking Exchange:   This site appears to be a network for those interested in benchmarking and best practices, to exchange information. While it is aimed at members, some information is available to non-members, including What is Benchmarking?, Benchmarking Surveys and Polls, Benchmarking - Past, Present and Future, and Useful On-Line Resources.

  • Benchmarking Associations:   Many associations have been formed to create and improve benchmarking in professional fields. For benchmarks specific to a profession, service, or industry, try a Google search for such an association.

  • Wikipedia:   This free online user-created and maintained encyclopedia can be a good starting point for an orientation to a topic. See their entry for Benchmarking.

    Foster Business Library Reference Collection:

    The Foster Business Library Reference Collection consists of business handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other quick reference tools. It is located behind the Reference Desk in Foster, arranged by call number. Reference materials cannot be checked out; they may only be used in the library.

  • The Blackwell encyclopedic dictionary of organizational behavior.
    This one-volume offers 500 essays (500 to 1,000 words in length) from 180 authorities on current knowledge and thinking about the key concepts of organizational behavior.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD30.15 .B455 1995 v. 6.

    See Benchmarking on page 31.

  • The Blackwell encyclopedic dictionary of human resource management.
    This volume comprises 600 essays on all aspects of human resource management, written by 225 experts.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD30.15 .B455 1995 v. 9.

    See Benchmarking and competitor analysis on page 22.

  • The Blackwell encyclopedic dictionary of operations management.
    This slim volume covers topics in operations management in an A to Z arrangement of essays, some very short and some of them much longer.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD30.15 .B455 1995 v. 10.

    See Benchmarks on pages 8 to 10.

  • The encyclopedia of management.
    This one-volume covers 348 management topics, arranged alphabetically from Activity-Based Costing to Zero-Sum Game.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD30.15 .E49 2000.

    See Benchmarking on pages 45 to 48.

  • Business: the ultimate resource.
    This 2,200-page single volume is "designed to offer a wide range of insights, information, and practical guidance on every aspect of management" via 2.5 million words of text from 200 contributors, with 700 illustrations and 150 maps, in seven major sections including best practice, a management library, business thinkers and management giants, a business dictionary, a world business almanac, and a guide to business sources.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD38.15 .B878 2002.

    See Benchmarking, starting on page 295, as well as the checklist A program for benchmarking starting on page 488; see also business information sources for Benchmarking on pages 1,911 to 1,913.

  • The handbook of organizational culture & climate.
    This new reference work includes 23 essays by major scholars on various aspects of organizational culture and climate research.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD58.7 .H363 2000.

    See references to Benchmarking in the chapter on Managerial ideologies, organization culture, and the outcomes of innovation on pages 261 to 278.

  • The IEBM handbook of human resource management.
    This volume covers human resource management, global dimensions of the topic, focal policy areas in this field, industrial and labor relations and biographies of key individuals in the field.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5549.17 .I33 1998.

    See Benchmarking in the context of Total Quality Management on pages 305 and 306, with examples of success at Xerox, Ford, and Motorola.

  • Human resources management and development handbook.
    This oversized 1,400-page handbook covers all aspects of human resources and is aimed at human resources managers and practitioners, with long essays on each topic and references for further reading.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5549.5 .M3 .H85 1994.

    See Competitive Benchmarking on pages 135 and 136.

    Foster Business Library Books:

    The Foster Business Library maintains a collection of over 70,000 books on all business topics. To search for materials on all three campuses of the University of Washington, go to the UW Libraries Catalog, in the upper left corner of the Foster Business Library homepage. Search by keyword, title, author, series, etc.

    To limit the results of your search just to materials in the Foster Business Library collection, use the Modify or Limit options at the top of the search results and change the library location to Foster Business Library. Availablity is indicated on the right of each online catalog record. First, note in which collection, within Foster, your materials are in, since the library has ten different Collections, each in a different location and often with differing arrangements. "Available" indicates that the book should be on the shelves under that call number and available for you to check out. "Due" and a date indicates that the book is already checked out to someone and is due back on the date indicated; you can have the "Request/Place Hold" feature to recall the book for your use.

    If the material you want is not in the collections of the University of Washington, you can use the "Search Summit" feature to repeat your search in the combined holdings of over thirty cooperating libraries in Washington and Oregon. Use the "Request This Item" feature in Summit to have books in those library sent here to Foster for you to check out.

    The Foster general stacks collection is located south of the main part of the Foster Business Library, through the two pass-throughs into the basement of Balmer. The arrangement is by call number, from A (at the east end, near the Copy Center) to Z (at the far west end).

    A keyword search for Benchmarking, limited to the Foster Business Library location, produced a list of over thirty records. A review of those records indicates that the LC Subject Benchmarking  (Management) is the appropriate subject term. A search for this subject produced a list of over eighty records, including over twenty records in the Foster Business Library. Many of these books are shelved in the Foster Business Library General Stacks collection around the call number HD62.15.

    Examples in the Foster Business Library's collections include:

    A search for the Subject Benchmarking (Management) -- Case studies produced a list of just three records, including two records in the Foster Business Library (from the 1990s).

    A keyword search for Best Practices, limited to the Foster Business Library, produced a list of sixty records. There is no subject term for Best Practices.

    Foster Business Library Articles:

    Articles in academic journals, magazines, trade periodicals, and newspapers are one of the best sources for any kind of research. While the Foster Business Library offers a large periodicals print collection, comprising over 800 titles, articles are most easily accessed online, 24/7, in such fulltext article databases as EBSCO Business Source Premier, Factiva, LexisNexis Academic, Newsbank Infoweb, and ProQuest Databases. These article databases are available in the library or from off-campus, and provide access to over 10,000 periodicals and millions of articles.

    Library access to most ProQuest databases will terminate at the end of spring quarter 2008, except for ProQuest NewsStand, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Historical New York Times, and the Historical Wall Street Journal. For more about this change, see UW Libraries Providing New Databases. After this change, comprehensive article searches should be performed in EBSCO Business Source Premier, Newsbank Infoweb, and ProQuest NewsStand. Also, after this change, links to the articles below will be broken.

    ProQuest Databases:

    This database--actually, a family of over two dozen databases--offers full text articles for over 10,000 publications, including scholarly journals, magazines, trade and industry periodicals, newspapers, and reports on a very wide range of topics. To find articles on specific topics, search by word or phrase by keying your search phrase into the search box--or search for your topic in the Topic Guide.

    Your search terms will be highlighted in red in each article.

    As an example, a basic search in this database for Benchmarking, in all databases, produced over 16,000 articles, including over 2,800 scholarly articles, over 270 magazine articles, over 5,000 articles in trade and industry periodicals, and over 2,600 newspaper articles. A similar search for Best Practices produced over 57,000 articles, including over 4,400 scholarly articles, over 1,200 magazine articles, over 16,000 articles in trade and industry periodicals, and over 10,000 newspaper articles.

    Go to Topic Guide in this database to search by subjects and narrowing terms. The subject term used in this database for benchmarking is SUB(Benchmarks). A subject search for this term produced a list of more than 7,000 articles. This search can be narrowed by one or more of eighty terms, from Acquisitions & Mergers to Best Practice to Case Studies to Volatility. For instance, a search for SUB(Benchmarks) and SUB(Case Studies) produced over 230 articles.

    Examples of articles from these searches include:

    Help:

    24 December 2001; updated 3 October 2007.   Peter Stevens, Business Librarian, stevens@u.washington.edu, 206-543-4360.