Benchmarking
In the market economy, competition decides which products, ideas and procedures are successful. The suppliers mutually glance attheir respective competitors.
Benchmarking means the periodic as well as continuous comparison and measuring of the own products, services and processes to the best competitors or also with recognized market leaders of other or similar industries. In comparison to these, differences to the own business shall be recognized and thus possibilities for improvement been shown.
Ideally, not only individual elements, for example pricing - or the personnel policies are examined but all components of business success of the chosen model. Also the hardly tangible components like business culture and the public image are compared.
It is thus no product imitation but the open wish to be judged by the accomplished standard of the best competitors and learning from them.
Meanwhile, "institutional benchmarking" is becoming more frequent driven e.g., to judge the effect of the German tax system on foreign investors, foreign countries are evaluated and deductions for the own action drawn.
The following issues - frequently in combination - in the framework of industries or function benchmarks are:
- Product qualities
- Response intervals
- Pricing
- Organizational structures
- Budgets (for Marketing and
Advertisement)
- Distribution channels
- Output and price observations
(Cf. also more extensive listing of possible "comparison fields" to
the evaluation of the client-specific strengths and weaknesses of
SWOT-analysis).
Possible logging instruments, that we cover:
- Storechecks / POS-ascertainments
- Expert interviews
- Salespersons - and / or customer questionnaires
- Data base inquiries
- Plant inspections
- Catalogue order and evaluation
- Test purchases
- Asking for tenders
- Service tests.
Of outstanding importance particularly at interviews is the convincing positioning of the respective project.