Business and Competitive Analysis: Effective Application of New and Classic Methods, Second Edition

8. Benchmarking Analysis

Benchmarking is a method by which an organization identifies and examines key facets of another entity and then implements the learning from the examination into its own operations. Almost anything can be benchmarked, such as a campaign, product, service, practice, process, or strategy, as long as it can be satisfactorily defined, measured, and compared to similar features in the comparison organization. Properly used, benchmarking can be a powerful learning tool and help the benchmarking organization to gain advantages over competitors, such as reducing costs, increasing productivity, and better aligning product/service features to customer needs.

Background

The first application of benchmarking started in the mid-1950s ...