Cycle of success: a strategy for becoming agile through benchmarking

Small companies are facing intense pressure to transform their processes in order to improve the agility of their operations. With the assistance of the Small Business Development Center for Enterprise Excellence, affiliated to the University of Texas at Arlington, small manufacturers are successfully transforming their operations by benchmarking and improving the agility of their processes. During the last six years of this center’s operation, a particular sequence of strategies labeled the cycle of success has proven to be very successful for companies attempting an agile transformation through benchmarking. The cycle of success, which includes the strategies of networking, benchmarking, mentoring and continuous improvement, is presented along with case studies of four companies which have utilized it effectively. In each case study, a brief description of how the company used the cycle of success and the results of their efforts are provided.