Best Practices

Over the past 27 years, I have tried to find some universal components of business - some way of comparing companies regardless of size, industry, and nationality. I did not find one but several universal laws of business that allowed us to compare and therefore build a model of the ideal. One such model was "Best Practices" where business operations can provide a competitive advantage over the competition. Before we start, let us define best practices and how does a company develop business operations that make them distinctive from the competitions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_practices: in business management, a best practice is a generally accepted "best way of doing a thing." A best practice is formulated after the study of specific business or organizational case studies to determine the most broadly effective and efficient means of organizing a system or performing a function. Best practices are disseminated through academic studies, popular business management books and through "comparison of notes" between corporations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benchmarking: benchmarking (also "best practice benchmarking" or "process benchmarking") is a process used in management and particularly strategic management, in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to best practice, usually within their own sector. This then allows organizations to develop plans on how to adopt such best practice, usually with the aim of increasing some aspect of performance. Benchmarking may be a one-off event, but is often treated as a continuous process in which organizations continually seek to challenge their practices

And a quick review of today's news on best practices:

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_
view&newsId=20060413005010&newsLang=en: Growth Strategies for Software Companies - Featuring Best Practices on Software Company Management Strategies. This collection of over 3,600 pages of best practices material is the definitive resource for software executives and an incredible resource that will have a direct financial impact on successfully growing your software business - and all major events you face along the way such as management team compensation, valuations, exit strategies, product development, working with financial partners and more

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060417/clm008.html?.v=39: The Best Practices Toolkit for Improving Quality Assurance in the Pharmaceuticals Industry
CHAPEL HILL, N.C., April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- as the cost and risk associated with Pharma R&D and drug launches rise, companies are faced with conflicting needs to reduce costs and ensure quality. Whether it is in the lab, clinical trials or a manufacturing facility, a lack of Quality Assurance can delay or destroy a successful drug launch. To assist executives in their strategic growth plans, analysts at Best Practices Research and Consulting have recently put together a toolkit for improving R&D Quality Assurance based on several recent studies with 10 of the top 20 Pharma companies. To view this toolkit please visit: http://www3.best-in-class.com/de286.htm

OK, so what does this common definitions and a random sample of news?

1. Most large (and very successful) companies have invested considerable time and energy into establishing an internal set of best practices as part of their operational DNA
2. This process usually entails some benchmarking to ensure their identification and development of best practices are not insular; a series of opinions with no basis in reality

Our approach to the benchmarking/best practices issue is to present you with a generic set as a starting point. One could argue that starting with 75% right is not sufficient, but as most business owners know – making progress on something "‘good enough"’ will always beat waiting for perfection. Moreover, startups and micro businesses need processes to benchmark against. When you are in the early business stages, you do what is necessary right now and worry about the future tomorrow.

We present you with a starting point and as the company grows, the best practices you develop will become unique and part of brand offer.

For more details on our 34 Best Practices, clink on our glossary.