Benchmarking - what is this term that entered the vocabulary of domestic entrepreneurs much later than management and marketing? At its core, this concept means the search and use in practice of someone else's positive experience. On the one hand, everything is clear and simple, but actually it is rather difficult to put this technique into practice. Nevertheless, recently this method of business management is one of the three most popular. So, benchmarking, what is it? Just a new term or opportunity to become a successful businessman?
Benchmarking: Pros and Cons
The experience of companies that apply benchmarking in practice does not always encourage the use of this technique. There are doubts that business giants and representatives of small companies are far from each other. Benchmarking processes is something large-scale and far from our realities. For this reason, managers of medium-sized enterprises do not particularly favor consultants who propose using other people's experience to solve pressing problems. Yes, and experienced marketers who know the benchmarking technique, what it is and how to apply it in practice, prefer to work for large companies, rather than small enterprises. In addition, this method involves a two-way exchange of information and experience. That is, to receive, you need to give. But, despite this, it is possible and even necessary to adopt the experience of competitors or foreign partners.
Benchmarking: what is it in practice
If you ignore the routine that takes a working day, you can see hundreds of companies that, one way or another, are in contact with yours. They have experience and knowledge, and your task is to make sure that they share what they have gained. But you should not expect that European suppliers or large manufacturers will suddenly want to share their experience with a company from Russia. But here your partners, dealers, suppliers with whom you have a good relationship, may become suitable candidates for the exchange of experience. In addition, the prosperity and growth of your business is in their interests.
Benchmarking: examples
The largest mobile operators in America and Europe create entire units, the main task of which is the search, processing and sale of information. Any of your calls or sent messages are marked on the mobile communications tower. This information is recorded, and the operator on its basis can track the movement of people in the city or region. In the modern world, the issue of geolocation is very important. Therefore, such information is very valuable. Knowing the demographic composition of the population is one thing, and understanding how many people go and on what matters is completely different. Consequently, benchmarking takes marketing research to a new level, makes them more accurate and focused.
Reasons for the popularity of benchmarking
Benchmarking - what is it? This is the use of other people's experience, which is very important in the era of globalization of business. Companies understand how important it is to study and then use the best achievements of competitors for their own survival. So, global competition can be called one of the reasons for the emergence and development of benchmarking. In order to keep up with their competitors, all companies, regardless of size and field of activity, must constantly study and put into practice experience in the field of production and business technologies.