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WHAT IS BENCHMARKING?
Benchmarking is the process of determining who is the very best, who sets the standard, and what that standard is.
DEFINITION OF BENCHMARKING:
“The process of identifying ,understanding,
and adapting outstanding Practices and
processes from organizations anywhere in
the world to an organization to improve its
performance”
by

American Productivity and Quality Centre
EVOLUTION OF BENCHMARKING:
The method may have evolved in the early 1950s, when W. Edward Demingtaught theJapanese the idea of quality control. Other American management innovations followed.
The best example is Toyota Motor Corporation’s following the footsteps of Ford Motor Corporation
The term “benchmarking”  emerged when the idea took ground in US during 1980s when Xerox, Ford and Motorola became the pioneers of benchmarking in USA.
Robert Campdefines it:
“Benchmarking is the search for industry best practices that lead to superior performance”.
CONCEPT OF BENCHMARKING:
LEVELS OF BENCHMARKING
There are three levels of benchmarking:
1. Internal benchmarking (within the company)
2. Competitive or strategic benchmarking
(Industry and competitors)
3. Benchmarking outside the industry.
TYPES OF BENCHMARKING:
PROCESS OF BENCHMARKING:
It involves various phases namely
PLANNING
ANALYSIS
INTEGRATION
ACTION
MATURITY
COSTS INVOLVED IN  BENCHMARKING
Visit Costs
Time Costs
Benchmarking Database Costs
SELECTED BENCHMARKING PROCESSES OF SOME COMPANIES:
Benefits achieved by theorganizations that have successfully completedtheir benchmarking programs.
There are three sets of benefits:
1. Cultural Change
2. Performance Improvement
3. Human Resources
Benchmarking model
Advantages of benchmarking
(1)Benchmarking helps identify the gaps between the organization that is undertaking the benchmarking assessment and best practice.
(2)Undertaking benchmarking can lead to improvements being incorporated into processes and systems delivering gains in efficiency and effectiveness
(3)Benchmarking can help align improvement activity with strategic goals and objectives
(4) Improves organizational quality
(5)Leads to lower cost
(6)Exposes employees to new ideas and broadens organization’s perspective
(7) A catalyst for learning and increase employee satisfaction
(8)Raise the level of potential performance and sharing of best practices
(9)Understanding world-class performance in-depth
(10) Encourage and stimulate innovation
Pitfalls of benchmarking:
Project not aligned with competitive strategy
Outcome cannot be adequately measured
Scope of project too large
Omission secondary but important measures
Failure to establish a baseline
Xerox -CASE
The company invented the photocopier in 1959 and maintained a virtual monopoly for many years
“Xerox” became a generic name for all photocopiers
By 1981, however, the companies market
shrunk to 35%
The company instituted the quality improvement plan, which was later known to the world as Benchmarking
The benchmarking process resulted in: Quality problems cut by two-thirds, manufacturing costs cut
in half, development task cut by two-thirds, direct labor cut by 50% and corporate staff cut by 35%
while increase in volume.
conclusion
“If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will
succumb in every battle
If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every
victory gained you will suffer a defeat.
If you know yourself and your enemy, you need not
fear of a hundred battles.”