Seven organisations win Best Practices awards at GBN Benchmarking Roadshow

India's first roadshow of quality improvement through benchmarking practices of some of the best Indian companies across diverse industry segments including manufacturing, services and banking, was showcased by Global Benchmarking Network (GBN) in Mumbai, last week.

The event included an executive workshop on structured benchmarking focusing on leadership and strategic planning, conducteed by benchmarking pioneer Dr Robert Camp.

GBN, which has its international secretariat in Berlin, Germany, was founded in November 1994 as a non-profit organisation by representatives from benchmarking centres in Germany, Italy, Sweden, the UK and the US. GBN comprises benchmarking centres in Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Malaysia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, UAE (Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai), UK and US.

As a network of benchmarking competency centres, GBN promotes and applies benchmarking knowledge, enhances communication, offers expert support, and establishes ethical and protocol expectations for affiliates and their members to demonstrate significant business results.

The GBN benchmarking roadshow in Mumbai, a hands-on educational workshop, hosted by BestPrax Club (India), an offshoot of India's quality pioneer Suresh Lulla's Qimpro Consultants, and Benchmarking Partnerships (Australia), was aimed at bringing to India Inc an emerging benchmark for ''disruptive'' transformation. The Roadshow is held in a different member country each year. The first Roadshow was held in Toronto, Canada last year.

The roadshow culminated with the announcement of awards following a round of presentations that served to highlight the emerging culture of continuous improvement through benchmarking, rapidly gaining increasing acceptance among corporates in the country. The roll of honour featured seven companies that had successfully leveraged benchmarking practices to effect rapid improvements across diverse functions from HR, Planning, CSR and others (See: Benchmarking practices of the winners).

• Best Prax Deployment Award: Birla White
• Best Prax Award for Leadership Governance: Tata Power, Eureka Forbes
• Compass Awards: Aditya Birla, Hindustan Zinc, Castrol, Yes Bank