BENCHMARKING - PRACTICAL TOOLS IDENTIFY KEY SUCCESS FACTORS

The relevance of the researched topic lies in the growth of competition between business entities in both domestic and foreign markets. The processes of globalization and integration predetermine the constant search by enterprises for ways to gain competitive advantages in order to increase the loyalty of existing customers and obtain new ones, to seek access to new markets, and ultimately, increase profits. In such circumstances, the study of key success factors becomes an extremely important task for both business representatives and scientists. The purpose of the article is to review existing views on the process of defining and forming key success factors, as well as the issue of separating the essence of the concepts of “key success factors” and “key performance indicators”. To write the article, Ukrainian and foreign scientific publications in the field of marketing, management, international business and entrepreneurship have been analyzed. The article is devoted to the problem of increasing the competitiveness of Ukrainian enterprises through the development of key success factors. The article groups the main approaches to defining the concept of “key success factors”. The author’s interpretation of the concept of “key success factors” has been provided. Characteristics, that competitive advantages have to meet in order to be considered strategic success factors, have been identified. The main areas of key success factors have been formed and considered. It has been concluded that the competitive advantage of any product or service is constantly changing and unique, and therefore requires constant analysis of the market and economic situation, taking into account many factors that affect them. Recommendations have been provided on the effective use of key success factors by management of Ukrainian enterprises in order to increase the enterprise’s financial performance, improve its image, stabilize its economic condition, etc. The article presents scientific and practical significance for business representatives who seek to identify, investigate and improve the key success factors of their own enterprises and gain additional competitive advantages

COVID-19 has significantly changed the teaching-learning process and it may indeed be a permanent change. Schools, colleges and universities have had to switch to remote/e-learning in an attempt to continue their operations during the pandemic. Institutions have struggled to identify the key success factors necessary for effective e-learning. While there have been some studies that have identified a few key factors, there has not been a comprehensive review of the key success factors for effective e-learning. This paper fills that gap by presenting a detailed examination of the critical success factors required for effective e-learning. The results show that success in e-learning is a complex combination of key factors such as institutional/administrative support, systems configuration and technical design, the level of computer skills among learners, learners’ interpersonal behavior, e-learning readiness, learner motivation, computer anxiety, self-efficacy, instructors’ characteristics, environmental factors and the demand it imposes on learners of varying age and cognitive maturity.

Several authors and researchers have questioned the effectiveness of business process reengineering (BPR) as a holistic organizational approach especially after the demise of giant organizations all over the world. However, at a time of economic turbulence and uncertainty, BPR becomes instrumental in helping organizations reengineer existing processes and optimize them to better stay competitive and accelerate business. This paper addresses this criticism and proposes a framework that encompasses key factors that must be considered in any BPR initiative in order to ensure its success. As well as providing executives with a practical guide to consult when starting, planning, implementing and controlling the different activities needed to complete a reengineering project. The paper also identifies and elaborates on the key success BPR factors: 1) Organization wide commitment, 2) BPR team composition, 3) Business needs analysis, 4) Adequate IT infrastructure, 5) Effective change management, and 6) Ongoing continuous improvement. These key factors are presented in light of supporting literature.

Background and Objective:In general, the purpose of e-learning is to provide equal, free and searchable access to courses and to create a uniform learning environment for different people everywhere and to optimize the presentation of course materials for deeper learning. In such an educational environment, unlike traditional (teacher-centered) teaching methods, people benefit from the subjects to the extent of their capacity and ability. In e-learning, it is possible to achieve maximum productivity in education by combining different methods of presenting educational content such as text, audio and video, etc. Virtual education utilizes the capacity of computer networks, Internet technologies, satellite networks, and new digital sciences. In fact, the art of using network technologies is to design, select, transform, and manage the educational process. The purpose of this study was to investigate, identify, and rank the most important key factors in the success of the Persian language e-learning course in universities (Al-Mustafa society and Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin). Methods: This is an applied research in terms of the purpose, descriptive in terms of the method of data collection and cross-sectional study. The statistical population of this study was 60 Persian language instructors who taught at least one full term using the E-learning system. The main instrument for data collecting was a researcher-made questionnaire based on the Likert scale of 5 scales. Findings: The results of the research showed that the factor of content was considered as the first priority, technology as the second, students as the third priority, the organizational factor as the forth one, and the last priority was the general issue. In the study of the organizational factors, the educational- management strategies in organization gained the highest amount of 12.32, the highest percentage of variance 32.08 and the highest coefficient of reliability of 0.875, among the factors of student, the sub-factor trust, adaption and response to the needs with the special value of 8.094 and the variance of 27.93 was the most important sub-factor. Also, in determining the factors of content, the factors affecting content production with a specific amount of 5.314, indicated the highest percentage 42.151 of the total variance related to the factors of content. The applicability of technology with a specific value of 6.07 and 36.54 percent of the total variance was the most important sub-factor of the factor of technology. The leadership and strategic factors with the specific value of 10.404 and 26.035 percent of the total variance proved to be the most important sub-factor in general factors. Conclusion: Based on the set of attitudes of success factors in the use of e-learning in higher education centers, this study aims to prioritize these factors in teaching Persian to foreigners. In this research, these two questions have been answered: What are the key factors of success in using the Persian language virtual education system as a second/foreign language from the perspective of teachers of these courses? And what is the priority and importance of these key success factors identified in the education system of the country's universities? In response to the first question, the findings show that from the perspective of teachers of Persian language e-learning courses to foreigners, the content factor ranks first, the technology factor ranks the second, the student factor ranks third, and the general factor is the last after the organizational factor. Also, in answer to the second question, each of these factors has several sub-factors. ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS ©2019 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers. =====================================================================================

Electronic government has proven a watershed in the domain of public administration, despite being difficult to pin down precisely. Indeed, the government-to-government (G2G) arena is one of the least studied aspects of this newly established field of knowledge, despite its importance in fostering cooperation and collaboration between government agencies, mainly with respect to the management of their knowledge, in order to increase the effectiveness of public administration. The main scope of this article is to present some key success factors for building G2G enterprises successfully. It also aims to show how public agencies themselves can benefit when they are electronically linked to others, thereby innovating and streamlining their working processes, in order to achieve greater agility and efficacy at reduced cost. In order to pinpoint the key G2G success factors, a single explanatory and successful case study approach was used, namely one involving the Brazilian Central Bank (BCB) and the Brazilian Justice Department (BJD). The BacenJud system developed by the Brazilian Central Bank was analyzed in a more detailed manner. This case—considered a success—shows how this G2G project made it possible for both the Brazilian Central Bank and the Brazilian Justice Department to achieve greater agility and effectiveness regarding the processing of legal demands made by the Brazilian Justice Department, thereby handing down its sentences at reduced cost. Furthermore, this study examined the factors that had a clear nationwide impact on the success of this endeavor in the realm of the Justice Department. Therefore, this article intends to answer the following research question: From the case study analyzed, what are the key success factors in the implementation of government-to-government processes between public agencies in Brazil?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamics and key success factors in the development of communities of practice (CoP).Design/methodology/approachA qualitative case study, using in‐depth interviews, was conducted in a multinational company (MNC) in Singapore.FindingsThe findings indicate that CoPs can facilitate the creation, sharing and utilisation of knowledge in an organisation, positively affecting its strategy, operations and bottom line. The key factors that nurture CoPs to promote innovative learning and knowledge‐sharing environments are leadership, culture and individual motivation.Practical implicationsThe findings indicate the value of informal CoPs in promoting innovative cultures with high levels of collaboration among organisational members.Originality/valueThis is an empirical study that reveals the dynamics of CoP development in an MNC and the key success factors of CoP development from the point of view of the employees in the company.

Improving the quality and performance of the healthcare environment can assist service providers in developing reliable, cost-effective, and long-lasting healthcare processes, allowing them to improve care delivery and patient outcomes. In a healthcare environment, retail pharmacies play an important role, mainly supporting the coordination of the supply chain because, in addition to the government sector, retail pharmacies are the point where people get medicines. Because of the increasing demand for the retail pharmacy sector, there is an urgent requirement to improve their performance to offer a better service. This study aims to identify key success factors associated with retail pharmacies in Sri Lanka and determine the impact of identified success factors on the performance measures. A literature survey and experts' opinions identified the key success factors of Sri Lankan retail pharmacies. There was a total of 21 key success factors identified. A survey was done with 45 retail pharmacies in Sri Lanka, conducting interviews and questionnaires mainly with pharmacists, pharmacy owners, and pharmacy assistants. This study shows the relationship of key success factors with operational performance, financial performance, and customer satisfaction. Despite analyzing the success factors and performance measures separately, identifying the direct relationship between key success factors and how they have impacted the retail pharmacy performance based on the different aspects of indicators in Sri Lankan retail pharmacies is not yet considered in the literature published in the last decade. This study's findings will help increase the overall performance of retail pharmacies in Sri Lanka, enabling patients to experience a better service.

Purpose: The first and second articles in the trilogy introduced shared services as a business model and the various models through which a shared services business can and must evolve to create value. The purpose of this third and final article in the trilogy of articles is to identify the key success factors required to successfully manage a shared services business unit. Methodology: A comprehensive literature study was conducted in order to identify the key success factors required to successfully manage a shared services business unit. This was followed up with an empirical study to determine if organisations that have implemented shared services as a business model are using any of these identified factors to successfully manage their respective shared services business units. Findings: In the article, a framework is generated to help organisations understand the key success factors required to successfully manage a shared services business unit. This work has further potential in that the key factors required can also be used not only in the normal brick and mortar organisations, but also in virtual organisations. Implications: This article presents a comprehensive approach to understand the key success factors required to manage a shared services business unit. These findings are important as they can be applied to a conventional organisation as well as a virtual organisation. Value: This article provides an understanding of the key success factors required to manage a shared services business model. When these key success factors are used as a basis for the management of a shared services business unit, it will continuously create value for the organisation.

An empirical study of key success factors for Six Sigma Green Belt projects at an Asian MRO company

This paper aims to share the key success factors leading to the successful reuse and repurposing of decommissioned structures in Malaysia from the lens of Malaysia’s regulator in the Upstream Oil & Gas sector. PETRONAS via Malaysia Petroleum Management ("MPM") has been vested by the government of Malaysia the custodianship in the overall management of petroleum resources throughout the lifecycle of upstream oil and gas assets. MPM is the governing body for the country's petroleum development since PETRONAS was established in 1974. of the nation’s oil & gas resources with the goal to, "Maximize Long-Term Value from Oil & Gas as a Resource Owner for PETRONAS and the Nation".From the context of decommissioning, MPM manages the liabilities for all upstream petroleum facilities in Malaysia, specifically to strategize, regulate, promote, and drive decommissioning execution that are safe, cost-effective and with the least impact to the environment. Malaysia’s decommissioning activities are expected to intensify as considerable assets have been operating beyond their design life and/or approaching their economic limit. For the past 20 years, Malaysia has seen various types of decommissioning projects with varying decommissioning options. To date, more than 60% of decommissioned facilities have been converted to artificial reefs, reused or repurposed, vis-à-vis total removal for onshore disposal. The first key success factor involves having a shared vision among relevant stakeholders. In our pursuit to achieve sustainable development goals, both industry and academia successfully collaborated in the repurposing of a decommissioned X-mas Tree from a subsea field in Malaysia and handing it over to Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS ("UTP") to be used for learning and research. In another example of having a shared vision, MPM had completed an integrated decommissioning project in April 2023, which yields a net positive impact by reducing development cost through the reuse and refurbishment of the topsides, instead of constructing new. The second key success factor being collaborative synergiesas evidenced by MPM’s drive for collaboration amongst Operators, which led to the success of Malaysia’s first reuse of a decommissioned trunkline for another field’s hydrocarbon evacuation. Through the reuse of this pipeline, the receiving field achieved development cost compression and timely first gas delivery. Next, adoption of new technologies is the third key success factor, proven by the success of a platform relocation off-the-coast of Terengganu. The execution of this first platform relocation in Malaysia involved a one-piece lift removal method of a wellhead platform equipped with suction piles (which is not a norm in Malaysia). After being removed from the decommissioned field, the platform was re-installed in the neighboring new field within 3 days, increasing execution efficiency. In conclusion, MPM aspires to proliferate reuse and repurposing in the decommissioning space going forward. Disused assets may be reused at the same location or alternate locations as deemed fit, with potential repurposing in renewable energy generation, aqua-farming, offshore research centre and eco-tourism, to name a few. Having a shared vision, promoting collaborative synergies as well as adopting new technologies are key success factors to achieve sustainable development goals, cost-effective execution, and increased operations efficiency. MPM is confident that more key success factors will be unveiled over time. With the support from Operators and other solution partners, MPM will continue to be the enabler and shaper of safe and sustainable decommissioning in Malaysia.

Exploration and production in deepwater (>500m) has expanded greatly during the past decade, with approximately 58 BBOE discovered, more than half since 1995. Despite this rapid emergence, deepwater remains an immature frontier, accounting for less than 5% of the current world-wide total oil-equivalent resources. Only about 20% of the discovered deepwater resources are developed and less than 5% have been produced. The global deep water exploration success rate was about 10% until 1985, but has since averaged approximately 30%, driven by remarkable success in the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa. Whereas the world-wide discovery of giants has fallen off in recent decades, the discovery rate of deep water giants is rapidly increasing. Most exploration activity has been concentrated within only three areas of the globe, with a majority of the discovered resources in the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, and West Africa. Consequently, large portions of the world"s deepwater margins remain lightly explored. Deepwater gas exploration is extremely immature, reflecting current infrastructure and economic limitations, but destined to become a major future focus. Most of the currently most active deepwater exploration frontiers and associated resources are located along passive margins, downdip from productive Tertiary delta systems, in depocenters confined by mobile substrate. In simplest terms, petroleum systems responsible for the majority of the discovered resources can be classified as either early rift (lacustrine) or later passive margin (marine). Ninety percent of the resources are reservoired in turbidites, primarily of Cenozoic age. A key success factor is targeting "high kH" reservoirs, which have high flow rates and well ultimate recoveries. These commonly occur within ponded minibasins associated with mobile substrate, where stacked turbidites result in high net pay per area. Other key exploration success factors have been seismic DHI"s, identification of stratigraphic traps, and improved reservoir architecture prediction. Leading companies are moving into non-DHI plays and other geologic settings, including pre-Tertiary objectives and areas lacking major updip reserves. Recent trends suggest several themes for future deep water exploration:a continuation of established plays, which are still at an immature stage of drilling,going beyond the established formula, to basins lacking updip production, unconfined basins, compressive margins, and targeting pre-Cenozoic, non-turbidite, and non-DHI objectives,increased gas exploration, as pipeline networks and liquefaction technology advance in conjunction with increased demand,going deeper, both ultra-deep water and deeper drilling depth, including subsalt, sub-detachment, and sub-volcanic targets, andnew business opportunities which may arise in areas currently not open due to government monopolies, moratoriums, and international boundary disputes. New frontiers with these characteristics are being actively leased, but it remains to be seen whether the deepwater play will continue to add reserves at the rate of recent years.

Do We Really Know How to Manage Brand Extension Success?

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are critical in promoting financial inclusion and socio-economic development, particularly in marginalized regions. The success and effectiveness of these institutions heavily rely on leadership and group management. This study examines the relationship between leadership, participation, group management, morals, and key success factors for MFIs in Chaiyaphum, Thailand. A quantitative study used a questionnaire to collect data from 396 MFIs. The study revealed a substantial positive correlation between leadership and group management and key success factors. Notably, leadership exhibited the strongest correlation among the variables analyzed. This implies that effective leadership practices and efficient group management significantly contribute to achieving key success factors in microfinance institutions. This study also developed a predictive equation that demonstrated a remarkable level of accuracy in predicting key success factors for MFIs. The equation accurately captured and predicted the interplay between the identified factors and the key success factors for microfinance institutions. The findings highlight the critical importance of leadership and group management in driving the key success factors for MFIs in Chaiyaphum. It underscores the significance of strong leadership capabilities and the implementation of effective group management strategies to enhance the overall performance and sustainability of MFIs. This study also has practical implications for developing and managing MFIs in Chaiyaphum and beyond. By leveraging the findings of this study, policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders can gain valuable insights into the factors that contribute to the success of microfinance institutions and make informed decisions to support their growth and impact.

Today Supply chains of organizations need to developing knowledge in order to achieve competitive advantages. Hence, knowledge management (KM) plays an important role in supply chain to create, build, maintain and utilize knowledge in this way. KM adoption in the supply chain needs high investment as well as few changes in the culture in whole of organization. The aim of this paper is to identify and prioritize the key success factors (KSFs) of KM adoption in the supply chain. In this study after reviewing the literature, the most important success factors of KM adoption were identified and classified in 16 KSF. Then this factors analyzed by best-worst method technique. Also, an empirical study presented to illustrate the proposed method and demonstrate its effectiveness. Therefore, for complete the questionnaire, was used the opinions of 10 experts. A total of 16 KSFs were identified through extended literature review and expert's opinion. The results of the study showed that Supports of Top management, Integration of knowledge and information flow and Organization structure are the three most important KSFs of KM adoption in the SC. The case of this study should pay attention and concentrate to these KSFs with higher priority for effective KM adoption in supply chain and implement them progressively to greatly improve the efficiency of the whole supply chain performance.

Background: Cosmetic products are one of the most important fields of consumer market. Strategic marketing plan and creating competitive advantages through recognizing of key success factors has become as a main core competency of active firms in this area. Based on this, the aim of our study was to identify the key success factors of cosmetic products' marketing in the Iran's market. Methods: To do this, knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of consumers in Iran were evaluated and key success factors were identified based on the mix marketing theory. Deep interviews and closed-ended questionnaires were used to collect data. The randomized sample population of this study was 1200 people. Results of KAP analysis were classified in seven clusters and then Topsis technique was used to analysis each cluster. Results: Results showed that there are a significant relationship between attitude and practice and also between knowledge and practice because of t-values greater than 1.96 and path coefficient greater than 0.1. Moreover, the results indicated that the most and the least important factors for success of cosmetics' marketing are place (distribution and dispensing) and price, with sorted Cli of 0.9 and 0.1 respectively. Conclusion: It demonstrates that appropriate sales and distribution strategies, scientific and enough information and strong marketing at the point of purchase are the most important key success factors in the marketing of cosmetics, and price has a minimum drawing effect on cosmetics' marketing.