Lesson Drawing: The Congruence of Policy Transfer and Benchmarking

Abstract

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 This paper attempts to examine the concepts of policy transfer and benchmarking. It provides a critical review of the underpinnings of both concepts and tries to demonstrate similarities between them. Political scientists define policy transfer as a process of learning in which government policy makers (of various kinds) across the globe observe the responses of their counterparts to similar problems. Policy transfer encompasses various activities through which knowledge is used in the development of policy anywhere in time or space. In marketing, benchmarking is defined as searching for best practices that lead to better or even excellent performance. In other words, it is a structured procedure that analyzes a process to find improvement opportunities. Based on empirical studies of the privatization of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and marketing excellence in the Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the authors attempt to discuss similarities between policy transfer and benchmarking and identify basic criteria that underpin them.