By using historical data, a firm can trace its performance over
a number of years in order to determine whether the firm’s
performance has improved or whether it has deteriorated.
The SPM tool can be used to point out problem areas that are
affecting the firm’s performance. The SPM ratios can further
be used as a benchmarking tool to compare the firm against
similar firms within the industry. For the purpose of this
study, the SPM is used to analyse the impact of using road
transport as an alternative to rail transport.