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FAMP PROFIROIU Constantin Marius and SORRENTINO Daniela
CCASP BENCHMARKING IN ROMANIAN AND ITALIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: A TOOL FOR SCORING
OR LEARNING?

3. TRANSLATING THE BENCHMARKING IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

In the waves of renewals that characterized the last decades of public sector life, the quest for more

efficient management has been a leading objective. To this aim, the business environment, traditionally
based on the value for money principle, represented a main source of inspiration. In such a context, the
benchmarking has been considered a notably valuable efficiency tool, which, translated from the private

sector, could have brought recognizable benefits to the public one as well.

When considering benchmarking conceptualization in this latter, we can observe that, at least from a
normative perspective, the idea behind its implementation would be faithful to the private world

interpretation. For instance, Cowper and Samuels (2005, p.1), framing the benchmarking in the public
sector, defined is “as an efficiency tool [is] based on the principle of measuring the performance of one
organization against a standard, whether absolute or relative to other organizations”.

In a similar vein to the business world, the predicted efficiency gains can be reached by following a
specific process (Kenneth and Bruder, 1994; Parena et al., 2002). It generally starts by considering
those organizations’ key areas needing improvements, to then identify other excellence organizations in

those areas. Studying the performance of the benchmarked organization provides elements for PROCEEDINGS OF THE 11 TH ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ”Strategic Management for Local Communities” 30 th – 31 st October 2015 Bucharest
comparisons with the benchmarking organization itself, which can be in this latter imported. Anyway, in

order to make this process effective, it is fundamental to monitor the benchmarking results also after its
implementation.

Having this in mind, some consequential considerations arise. First, it shall follow that examples of best

practices may derive from very diverse types of organizations, even if having a different mission or
operating in other sectors. The implication for local public administrations would be that they could
benchmark organizations operating in the private sector as well. Believing that the benchmarking can be

fruitful only when made with regard to strictly comparable organizations, may lead LPAs to exclude most
of the private sector counterparts, on the grounds of the fundamental mission divergence. At the
contrary, it may be suggestable when seeking for efficiency improvements.

Furthermore, in order for the benchmarking to deliver the expected beneficial changes, its usage shall
not be conceived as a mere comparison with best practices, eventually leading to certain kinds of
scoring (ibidem). Rather, LPAs should be able to critically identify areas of improvements and to

implement examples of best practices, without neglecting to contextualize them in their own
organization.

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