SITPRO is pleased to announce that we have completed the initial phase of our benchmarking project and are preparing to start the next phase of this study.
Two companies took part in the pilot study, which was announced in the February 2002 issue of SITPRO News. The study looked at the operations of these companies in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France. This preliminary research has established a viable methodology for measuring the regulatory cost of international trade on a consistent basis.
Although the project is at an early stage, it has demonstrated the real value of analysing international transactions. For example, differences between regulatory costs in different countries have already emerged.
The next phase of the project is to expand the study to include more companies, which will help reinforce the benchmarks and ensure that the methodology is robust. This will then enable SITPRO to open the project up more widely.
SITPRO hope that our benchmarking methodology will be applied internationally and we are going to carry out a study in the United States, funded by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which will commence in late October.
David Wakeford, SITPRO's Chief Executive, said, "Benchmarking offers numerous opportunities to improve performance in the international trade arena. This project will play an important role in future trade facilitation work."
For further information about the benchmarking project, please contact Michelle Walden at SITPRO (michelle.walden@sitpro.org.uk 
).
Return to SITPRO News: Issue 40, October/November 2002