An expert diagnosis system for the benchmarking of SMEs' performance

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show that benchmarking allows SMEs to improve their operational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a fully implemented expert diagnostic system which evaluates on a benchmarking basis the performance of SMEs.

Findings

The research results with hundreds of SMEs show that benchmarking allows them to improve their operational and financial performance thus confirming the usefulness of benchmarking for SMEs, especially since traditional performance models for large enterprises do not apply well to SMEs.

Research limitations/implications

Based on data mining techniques, future work should allow us to significantly extend our knowledge on SMEs, and further improve our evaluation model of SME performance.

Practical implications

Practitioners and researchers should pay more attention to benchmarking as a valuable performance evaluation tool, not only for large businesses, but for SMEs as well.

Originality/value

The paper highlights the development and use of a benchmarking‐based “360‐degrees” performance evaluation system for SMEs.

Citation

St‐Pierre, J. and Delisle, S. (2006), "An expert diagnosis system for the benchmarking of SMEs' performance", Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 13 No. 1/2, pp. 106-119. https://doi.org/10.1108/14635770610644619