Case Study
Northlake Bookstore:
Benchmarking for Performance Evaluation

1

Content
• Ⅰ.Case overview
• Ⅱ.Strategic objectives of Northlake Bookstore
• Ⅲ.Benchmarking analysis from four perspectives
of BSC
• Ⅳ.Summary of strengths & weaknesses
• Ⅴ.Three steps for improvement

2

Ⅰ.Case overview
Where

Problem

Who

In Northlake
Bookstore
When

What to do

Textbook sales for this
fall had decreased from
the prior fall sales

Wendy-Manager
Chuck-Boss

In September 2004

•Employ benchmarking analysis to figure out the reasons behind the poor performance •Then identify how to sustain the excellence and improve the inferior performance •Further more, determine a long-term action plan for improvement

3

Ⅱ.Strategic Objectives
of Northlake Bookstore
Strategic Objectives

Excellent Service
To provide service
excellence for the
students, faculty, staff,
alumni and guests of
the University

To achieve high
customer satisfaction

A profit center
To contribute to the
overall profitability of
the University as well
as being efficient and
controlling costs.

To attain high
profitability

4

From strategy to action
--on the basis of BSC
Level 0
Objectives

Strategy
Objective

Level 1
Perspectives

Level 2
Indicators

Financial

Gross margin ratio
Total operation expenses ratio
Sales per sq.ft.of space
Ratio: selling to storage space
Sales per FTE employee / student

Customer

Customer satisfaction
Percentage of textbooks available First Day
Customer Queuing time at Registers

Internal process

Inventory turnover
Textbook sell-through
Days textbooks in Receiving area
Number of hrs store is open per Week

Learning and
growth

Cartons processed per employee hour
Employee satisfaction
Employee Turnover

5

The Analytical Hierarchical Process
(AHP)
1=equal importance to both elements in the matrix
3=moderate importance of one element compared with another
5=strong importance of one element compared with another
　

Internal
process

Financial

Customer

Internal
process

1

1/3 　

3

Financial

3

1

3

Customer
Learning
and growth

1/3 　
1/5

1/3 　
1/5 　

1
1/3 　

*Normalized averages are calculated by dividing the
row totals by the aggregate.

Learning
and growth

Total

Normalized
average*

5　

9.33
　

0.34 　

5　

12 　

0.43 　

3　
...

-0.3 -0.41 -0.70 -0.8 -1.6 -1.7 -12.79 -3.2 -3.7 -7.53 /full-time 0 0.049 0.06 0.1 0.17 0.2 0.3 0.34 0.429 0.43 0.477 0.5 0.77 0.95 025 1 1.00 1.20 1.6 1.7 1.73 1.8 1.9 1.90 1/3 1/5 10 100 11 11.7 112 12 12.1 12.10 12.5 12.6 12.9 124 13 13.4 13.7 14 14.4 15 16 16.9 17 18 19 2 2.0 2.07 2.5 2.6 2.7 20 20.1 20.7 20.70 20.80 2003 2004 21 21.3 21.4 22 22.50 229 23 23.40 23.70 24 25 25.80 26 26.4 27 27.50 27.73 28 28.23 28.5 28.70 29 3 3.0 3.1 3.10 3.3 3.4 3.7 3.8 3.9 30 30.1 30.90 313 33.2 33.7 338 36.30 36.7 37.60 383 4 4.5 4.60 4.67 4.7 41.49 444 46.7 47.00 47.5 475 488 4s 5 5.2 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 541 58.76 587 6 6.3 6.40 6.5 6.70 60.83 61 62.8 63.04 63.99 665 7 7.3 7.8 72.5 74.2 741 78.02 78.43 78.83 79.03 8 8.2 9 9.1 9.2 9.33 9.4 9.5 abil academ accessori accord accur accuraci achiev action activ advantag advertis advoc aggreg ahp alumni amazon analysi analyt analyz anoth area arrang assist associ attain attent avail averag back back-to-school bar basi begin behind benchmark best best-sal better bmk board book bookmark bookstor boss bsc build busi buy calcul campus carton case cashier categor center chang chuck chuck-boss close cloth coffe combin come communic compar comparison competit comput concept content continu contrib contribut control cooper cost cours creat current custom cut daili data day decid decreas demand detail determin develop divid doesn donat e.g effici element emphas employ employe environ equal evalu everi excel expens experi extern face faculti fall familiar faster feedback figur financi first fiscal focus four frequenc freshmen ft fte gap gather general get gift give good gross growth guest guid hardwar hierarch high high-margin hire histor hour hrs i.e identifi iii import improv inaccur incent incom increas indic inferior inform insid intern internet introduc inventori jit key know labor late latest learn lectur less level like line long long-term low low-margin lower make manag margin market materi matrix measur meet meter mix moder money month need net net-income-increas netincom netincome-increas new normal north northlak notic number object offici one one-stop one-year onlin open oper opportun optim order organ overal overview part part-tim past pay per percentag perform perspect photocopi plan poor postcard poster potenti ppt predict price print prior problem process product profit proper protect provid publish qualit quantit que queu ratio read readi real realiz reason receiv recogn reduc regist regular relationship rent requir result reward role row salari sale satisfact school sell sell-through sellthrough semest septemb serv servic set shop short show six skill smile softwar sold solid solv sourc space sponsor sport spring sq sq.ft.of staff statist steadi step stop storag store strateg strategi strength strong student studi summari sundri suppli supplier survey sustain swot system target tbd tenant term text textbook threat three three-month three-year thus time total train tri turnov turnoverssoftwar turnoverssuppli univers unload updat upon use util various vendor warehous way weak web week well wendi wendy-manag winter work worker year zero ⅰ ⅱ ⅲ ⅳ ⅴ