Title: Comparative performance measurement in decentralised systems: the case of the Florida Benchmarking Consortium

Authors: Lawrence L. Martin, Laura P. Mikovsky

Addresses: Department of Public Affairs, University of Central Florida, 3280 Progress Drive, Orlando, Florida, 32816, USA. ' Department of Public Affairs, University of Central Florida, 3280 Progress Drive, Orlando, Florida, 32816, USA

Abstract: Performance measurement has become an established means by which local governments worldwide strive to improve public services. In the United States of America (USA), performance measurement is frequently combined with benchmarking. Benchmarking presupposes comparability of services and performance metrics. When each local government is free to create its own performance measurement system and select its own performance metrics, the result can be a |Tower of Babel| that precludes valid benchmarking. This article presents a case study of the Florida Benchmarking Consortium (FBC), a group of some 48 local governments that have come together in an attempt to develop common service definitions and metrics in order to facilitate benchmarking.

Keywords: performance measurement; benchmarking; Florida Benchmarking Consortium; FBC; local government; USA; United States; service definitions; metrics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPSPM.2010.033227

International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management, 2010 Vol.1 No.4, pp.376 - 389

Published online: 13 May 2010 *

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