If you translate the word "benchmarking" from English, it turns out: bench - place, marking - mark. That is, "make a notch," "mark the place." The meaning of this term will help to understand the Russian proverb: "The smart learns from the mistakes of others, a fool - from his own." So, benchmarking is the first part of the saying.
Seriously, this is a comparison of their activities with those of the most successful competitors. This analysis is carried out not for the sake of sports interest, but in order to draw the appropriate conclusions about their own developments, to detect errors and shortcomings. And then, after correcting them, move forward.
To illustrate the thought, let us recall another saying, now European. "Business is a bicycle: you pedal - you move fast, you stop pedaling - you fall." Standing still will not work - a recession will begin. Therefore, the most disastrous business for a business is to dwell on the success achieved. Do not invest in development and marketing.
Specialists distinguish four types of process of this economic phenomenon :
- general benchmarking is a comparison of your own performance and product sales with the performance of several of the most successful competitors;
- functional - comparison of individual parameters and indicators with similar indicators of the industry leader (studies are conducted by a group of specialists);
- competitive benchmarking - analysis of data on enterprises of the same industry as a researcher;
- internal - analysis of the activities of units within the organization according to parameters that can be similar.
For example, Hewlett-Packard once carried out functional benchmarking in order to close the gap with its Japanese competitors. The studied indicator accepted the payback period of the project. As a result of the study, a strategy for further product development was developed. Its results can be judged by the abundance of office equipment with the HP logo in every office.
The main difficulty determining benchmarking is that competitors are not inclined to share the secrets of their success. Commercial information is closed, and attempts to obtain it are classified as industrial espionage. Therefore, in the results there is a certain degree of error.
With some assumptions, common features can be found with international standards ISO-9000. The goals of benchmarking and ISO-9000 are to fix at a high level the standard not only for the final product, but also for each stage of the technological process.
A significant example of the concern "Ford". By 1986, the company’s activity has experienced a serious decline. The managers of the industrial giant conducted a benchmarking study, which resulted in the release of Ford Taurus - the group's first front-wheel drive model. The decision to equip the car with front-wheel drive was the result of an analysis of the activities of successful competitors - Chrysler and General Motors. In addition to all-wheel drive, other factors behind the company's lagging behind its closest competitors were taken into account in the production of cars. As a result, Taurus became the car of the year, and according to the results of sales for all time, it was recognized as one of the five best-selling cars from Ford.
It should be borne in mind that benchmarking is an instrument of constant impact on technological processes. In the case of a single use, the success will be temporary, as happened with the same Taurus: in the next few years, the analysis was not carried out, defects in the car caused complaints from car owners. This sharply reduced the sales volume of the mentioned brand.