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Domestic benchmarking example. What is benchmarking - types, methods, examples of this competitor analysis tool

Domestic benchmarking example. What is benchmarking - types, methods, examples of this competitor analysis tool

Hello! Today we will tell you in simple words what benchmarking is and how this tool is useful for business.

Currently, in any field of activity it has assumed a global scale. Managers of many companies understand that it is necessary to comprehensively study the positive experience of competitors in order to predict their own successful future. In order to keep up with more successful competitors, they use benchmarking.

What is benchmarking in simple words

The term “benchmarking” is very close to the concept of “marketing intelligence,” but marketing intelligence is the collection of practically confidential information, unlike benchmarking.

Benchmarking is a way to study the activities of competing companies in order to adopt their positive experience and apply data about it in their activities.

The purpose and objectives of benchmarking

The main purpose of benchmarking is to establish how likely a certain activity is to succeed.

To fully illuminate this concept, it is worth considering in more detail the main tasks of benchmarking:

Determine how competitive the company is and what its weaknesses are;
Determine what changes need to be made;
Develop a plan to improve the company’s activities;
Develop new approaches to doing business;
Set long-term goals that are more global than current ones.

Types of benchmarking

Benchmarking can be divided into several types:

Functional – allows you to compare how individual functions of a particular manufacturer or seller work with more successful sellers, but working in similar conditions;
General benchmarking – represents a comparative analysis of the production and sales indicators of goods of one manufacturer with similar indicators of another, more successful manufacturer;
Competitive – comparison with competitors who operate at a higher market level. For example: a company that operates in the regional market chooses for comparison a company that has already entered the international level. This data may be considered more important, but it is not easy to obtain;
Interior – comparison is made between processes within the company that are as close as possible to each other. In this case, data is easy to collect, but the information is quite biased;
Strategic benchmarking – it is a procedure for finding a new development strategy that will ultimately lead the company to achieve the highest level of performance. It is he who determines the goals that the company will have to achieve;
Cost benchmarking – when carried out correctly, it allows you to reduce costs, as well as identify the factors that influence their formation.

Publications, various lists of prize-winners and winners in the “quality” category of various awards, as well as various databases (audit, consulting) are used as sources of information.

To conduct benchmarking, a special working group is usually created. It is better to include specialists from different structural divisions of the company in such a group. This increases the chances of an objective assessment of the information received.

Benchmarking methods and stages

The benchmarking methodology includes certain stages:

A specific business function of the manufacturer or seller is selected;
Select the parameters by which the comparison will take place. This may be one criterion, or it may be a group;
Information about similar manufacturers or sellers is collected;
The information received is carefully analyzed;
A draft of the changes that will be made to this function is being developed;
An economic justification for the planned changes is being prepared;
Changes are introduced into the practical activities of the company;
The progress of implemented changes is monitored and a final assessment is given.

The result will greatly depend on how well the collection of necessary information is organized.

What indicators are compared during the benchmarking process?

Can be compared:

Volumes of products produced or services provided;
Financial efficiency;
Business processes.

Benchmarking is not industrial espionage

Benchmarking and industrial espionage should not be confused. These are two completely different and dissimilar concepts. Benchmarking compares your products or services with similar ones. Situations also arise when competing companies exchange experiences by mutual desire.

In addition, most often benchmarking uses publicly available information, that is, it can be obtained through surveys and analyzing pricing policies.

The fine line between industrial espionage and conducting research can be called competitive intelligence.

In our country, several companies often unite in order to confront competitors using benchmarking. Examples include the experience of several pharmaceutical companies that have established the exchange of information among themselves, while denying access to it to foreign competitors. Or the same cooperation in the banking sector: to solve the problem of long queues, a large bank adopts the experience of another bank (increasing the number of ATMs, reducing fees for using online banking, developing automation of many processes).

Disadvantages of benchmarking

It is necessary to search for a benchmarking partner;
Sometimes the services of consultants are required;
If the organization does not have experience in benchmarking, significant costs will be required in the early stages;
The necessary changes are not always welcomed and accepted by the organization’s employees, although they are aimed at increasing the level of productivity;
Not all general methods may apply to a specific organization.

How to benchmark a company yourself

There is simply no procedure that suits every company. Each company develops it themselves.

We can give only a few tips that you can rely on in the process:

Select for comparison only those processes or services whose performance is unsatisfactory. Comparing indicators with which everything is in order will only lead to a waste of time and money;
Do not select too extensive a list of indicators or processes for analysis;
Prepare the company or enterprise for the fact that changes in activity are planned;
Gather a group of highly qualified specialists;
Use the appropriate software to make the process easier.

An example of benchmarking in an enterprise

The example of the Ford automobile company is very illustrative. In the 90s of the last century, benchmarking was carried out in order to improve the company's shaky position in the market. The company's specialists conducted internal research on a large number of car models to study the advantages of each and identify the models that were preferred by consumers.

For each criterion, the best car in its class was identified, and based on this, a strategy was developed to exceed the highest performance.

The result of the analysis was a car that received the title “Car of the Year”. Gradually the peaks achieved were lost again.

The company's management ultimately came to the understanding that benchmarking is a continuous process and cannot be considered a one-time process.

To summarize, I would like to say that benchmarking allows you to find out why a competing company has achieved significant success in its field of activity, and what specific actions led to a positive result. Analyzing just one of these indicators will not provide a complete picture of the company’s activities. Comparisons must be made based on similar indicators in similar areas of activity.

In simple words, benchmarking(eng. Benchmarking) is a comparison with the best. When collective farmers in Soviet films demonstrated their achievements at agricultural exhibitions and visited each other to exchange best practices, it was not called benchmarking, but in essence that is what it was. When Nikita Khrushchev visited American farms and admired the corn harvest and milk yield, he, too, was engaged in benchmarking.

Benchmarking helps improve business processes relatively quickly and at the lowest cost. It allows you to understand how leading companies operate and achieve the same or better results. The value of benchmarking is not only that it eliminates the need to reinvent the wheel. By carefully studying the achievements and mistakes of other companies, you can develop your own most effective business model.

Benchmarking is not just about copying the systems used by successful companies. This approach may not produce the desired results due to differences in business structures. The main thing is to adapt these principles for internal use. It is thanks to this that the benchmarking system can be effective not only with direct competitors in the market, but also with companies whose target audiences are completely different. You can even analyze the work of enterprises from a completely different field of activity.

Competent benchmarking of a company can radically improve its functioning, but only if there is an understanding of its own processes. When comparing two business models, you need to have a good understanding of both, otherwise you won't get a clear picture of the big picture. Therefore, you first need to analyze the production processes in your company, and only then start benchmarking.

Goals and objectives of benchmarking

Sharing experiences, as well as studying other people's work, has always been beneficial. But we cannot say that this happens in 100% of cases. Some organizations are so far apart in various respects that benchmarking may not be useful. In this regard, the need for this step must first be justified, that is, the company’s strategic goals must coincide with the need to conduct such a study. Benchmarking is a full-fledged business management tool, since its goal is to improve the system and increase the competitiveness of the company in the long term. This goal is achieved through solving specific issues.

In the process of comparing business schemes of different companies, two main tasks are solved:

Calculation of indicators of your own enterprise and comparison of them with the selected standard.
Analysis of other people's experience and its implementation in your company.

How to make a company a market leader: the experience of X-fit

Irina Tumanova, executive director of X-Fit, told the General Director magazine how X-fit managed to become a market leader from a small company.

The functions of benchmarking are as follows

To give management an idea of the current state of affairs in the company, to overcome stagnation in the management sector.
Strive for improvement.
Find out in time that the organization is lagging behind in a certain area.
Identify the company's resources and identify weaknesses that need to be overcome.
Set difficult but realistic goals for the company.
Find out priorities in optimizing work.
Determine the level of the company in comparison with the best in the world.
Calculate the degree of lag of the company.
Identify the best management systems and put them into practice.
Prepare an action plan to correct activities.
Connect the long-term development plan with the company's self-improvement efforts.
Find previously unused technologies or management methods.
Focus on those factors that bring undoubted benefit to the enterprise.
Achieve large-scale improvements in the organization’s performance, a “breakthrough.”
With the help of other people's experience, free the company from the “need” to learn from its own mistakes.
Create a principle of continuous improvement in the organization.
Reduce financial costs to improve the company's performance.
Reduce risks when introducing new methods.
Raise key financial indicators.

Benchmarking objects

Products and services. This position is the first one targeted for benchmarking. The activities of a competing company are analyzed, and the points due to which its business is more successful than yours are highlighted. After this, it becomes clear what needs to be done to increase the productivity of the native company. There is one point here. In the case of manufactured material products, it is somewhat easier to use benchmarking than in the situation with services. The fact is that it is much more difficult to obtain the information necessary for research on the last parameter. You need to at least analyze the production field and conduct several interviews with competing companies.

Financial indicators. Benchmarking financial indicators is not so difficult, of course, if you know where and what to look for. Typically, such information is publicly available. By organizing a study on financial efficiency, you can determine possible achievements and goals that should be set for yourself. Material investments for carrying out such an analysis require very little, and can be completed in a short time.

Business processes. Business process research is the most effective part of benchmarking. To maintain competitiveness in the market, a company must develop the business as a whole, constantly invest various kinds of resources into it and control all operations. The capabilities of a particular organization can be “calculated” by its business processes. This type of analysis is especially important in a situation where two enterprises directly compete with each other, offering the same products to the consumer. The organization that manages to increase competitiveness as efficiently as possible at the lowest cost will be the winner.

This study on the benchmarking system is primary. It is with the help of such an analysis that specialists subsequently outline all the further steps that need to be taken to increase the profitability of the company. But to do this, it is necessary to carefully study the entire chain of work of a competing company, starting from its suppliers and ending with the labor organization system. By the way, it is not at all necessary to limit yourself to studying the activities of just one organization. It is useful to take note of related enterprises working with the same products and benchmark their business processes.

Strategies. No business can function properly without a strategy. You can improve the performance of your own company by carefully analyzing the strategy and organization of work of a competing company. True, obtaining comprehensive information in this case is not so easy. Often such data is a closely guarded company secret. When benchmarking a strategy, you must first use logic, and only then the research will bear fruit.

Staff. Thanks to personnel benchmarking, you can compare the activities of your own HR services with those of the world's leading companies on several indicators. Having received the results of the analysis, the company's management will be able to manage personnel more efficiently. Before starting the comparison, you should determine the main performance indicators of the HR service. Some managers consider this department almost a burden for the company, steadily and unjustifiably absorbing financial resources. But this is far from true. The fact is that the work of the HR service in one way or another affects the quality of activity of many departments. Sometimes this happens in such an indirect way that the benefits of this department are difficult not only to evaluate, but even to notice. Therefore, carefully conducted benchmarking is needed, with the help of which you can obtain specific indicators of the performance of the HR service, as well as identify problems that require immediate intervention.

Functions, groups and organizations. Using benchmarking, specialists collect information not only about the products produced by a competitive company, but also exactly how this is done. Each enterprise has a certain internal structure and labor organization. It is precisely the clarification of all such details that is part of the task of benchmarking on this topic. Moreover, attention is often paid to the most insignificant, at first glance, nuances. For example, the professional qualities of employees of a competing company. The analysis carefully examines the total number of personnel in the company being studied, the groups created, their functions, etc.

To facilitate the benchmarking process in this case, various kinds of websites are often created, with the help of which contacts between specialists are established. Thanks to this, research costs are significantly reduced, because in order to obtain information there is no need to pay for the travel of employees of the analytical department, and the quality of the incoming data does not suffer.

Types of benchmarking

Internal benchmarking. Based on the name, it is clear that this type of research is carried out exclusively within the company. For comparison, processes, goods or services that are closest in parameters are taken. The advantage of the method is that the analysis can be carried out without much difficulty, since there are no difficulties in collecting data. The downside is that research opportunities are very limited, which may result in biased results.

Competitive benchmarking. The analysis is carried out on the basis of comparing the products and services of your company with the products and services of a direct competitor company, and the latter can operate both in the local, regional or international market. This type of benchmarking will be more useful if you choose an international organization for comparison.

Functional benchmarking. In such a study, the processes of one's own company are compared with similar processes of another. The difference from other types of benchmarking is that the company chosen as the standard operates in a completely different area. The advantages of this method are that it requires less effort to obtain objective data, using absolutely ethical and legal methods.

Generalized benchmarking. Companies that have the best indicators of processes and approaches in a certain field of activity are selected for analysis. Moreover, information about the work of these organizations is publicly available. For example, there are many publications about the production system in Toyota or Motorola. An analysis is carried out of the processes and approaches most suitable for one’s own company, which, after appropriate adaptation, are introduced into work.

Lean Manufacturing: Small Steps for Big Goals

Benchmarking examples

Internal benchmarking at Hewlett-Packard

Direct competitors from Japan were ahead of Hewlett-Packard Corporation in many respects. In particular, products were produced of no less quality, but at a faster pace. The question arose about maintaining the competitiveness of the company. Hewlett-Packard decided to analyze its research and development efforts to find effective methods to speed up production.

The company compared the activities of its divisions using the payback period of the project as a criterion. In order for the products to meet the real requirements of consumers, the technology of deploying quality functions was used.

The result of the benchmarking was the company's decision to introduce a methodology called Six Sigma. Production optimization consisted of complete documentation of the process, measuring characteristics and reducing the variability of their values. There was also a constant search for ways to improve the algorithms. If you look closely, Hewlett-Packard Corporation operated almost according to the DMAIC principle (Define, Measure, Analize, Improve, Control).

Competitive benchmarking at Ford

The Ford Corporation could not compete with its rivals in many design parameters. In addition, according to consumers, its products were not functional. It got to the point where the company's profits fell catastrophically. She was able to return the market only after a completely new family of Taurus passenger cars was created. This car had to at least not be inferior to competitors' models. To achieve this effect, a benchmarking analysis was carried out. The company's specialists organized a survey among the population to find out which properties of the machines are the most popular. After that, we selected the cars on the world market that best meet the specific requirements of potential customers. The task of Taurus was not only to reach their level in various characteristics, but also to surpass it.

Benchmarking studies were carried out taking into account a huge number of car brands, and it did not matter whether they were direct competitors of the company or not. For example, cars such as the BMW and Opel Senator never competed with the Ford Taurus, but they had some features that were attractive to buyers. About 400 parameters of more than 50 car models were analyzed. New products at Ford were developed and implemented based on the principles of DMADV (Define, Match, Analyze, Design, Verify - definition, measurement, analysis, development, verification). The result was not long in coming. Soon the Ford Taurus became the car of the year and came out on top in sales.

Unfortunately, the success did not last too long. There were certain shortcomings in the Taurus transmission that undermined the car's reputation. Due to the constant improvements that followed, the company began to deviate more and more from the original concept. As a result, by the end of the 90s of the last century, Taurus sales decreased by almost seven times. They tried to correct the situation, but in 2006 the production of this family of cars ceased. However, we learn from mistakes, and Ford is no exception. The main lesson this time was the understanding that benchmarking of competing enterprises is not a one-time event. Such studies should be carried out regularly in order to update results and adjust activities. In general, the Six Sigma methodology says almost the same thing: searching for sources of variation not only provides certain knowledge about the level of competitiveness of the company, but also shows a schedule of its changes. As a result, company management has the opportunity to take into account not only the short-term effects of implementing certain improvement programs, but also the future consequences of the decisions made.

Functional benchmarking at General Motors

General Motors Company in 1982-1984 conducted a benchmarking analysis, with the help of which it tried to find a way to improve the quality and reliability of products through alternative management options. At that time, as part of the “competition” with Japan, most companies began to pay increased attention to the quality of the product, believing that this parameter was the main one in the struggle for competitiveness. General Motors carried out research based on data from well-known companies: Hewlett-Packard, 3M, John Deer. Before starting the analysis, experts from General Motors outlined 10 hypotheses about the factors that most strongly influence product quality. These hypotheses had to be confirmed using information from partner companies also conducting benchmarking work.

An objective comprehensive assessment of the quality management systems adopted in the companies participating in the research was formed. As a result, a connection was discovered between the quality of goods and the efficiency of enterprises. Moreover, largely thanks to this research, a little later the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award appeared, and then a series of ISO 9000 standards, which established general requirements for quality management systems. General Motors was 14 years ahead of research on the criteria of the Baldrige model, as well as the requirements of ISO 9000 standards. This gave the company and its partners an undeniable advantage over competitors. The fact is that customers considered their products to be of significantly higher quality than the products of other companies operating in the same field.

But, as is typical for many benchmarking analyses, this study also suffered from a lack of regular study of the company's working conditions and production processes. Instead of constantly improving itself, General Motors was satisfied with the advantage it had achieved. And then she completely switched to following the requirements of the industry standard QS 9000 (the latter is a modified version of ISO 9000, taking into account the characteristics of the automotive industry). General Motors also regularly competes for the Malcolm Baldrige Award and masters the Six Sigma methodology. But now all automobile enterprises are doing this, and the quality management system must constantly develop.

General benchmarking at Xerox

There are plenty of examples where benchmarking helped a particular company in a difficult situation. However, one of the most famous is Xerox's comparison of its logistics system with those of more successful enterprises. Xerox unwittingly confirmed the correctness of the American scientist William Daming, who argued that a crisis experienced by an organization often provokes an increase in quality. It forces managers to take certain measures to get the company out of trouble. In the late 70s of the last century, Xerox began to succumb to pressure from competitors from Japan. Over the 10 years from 1974 to 1984, the firm's return on assets dropped from 22% to 4%. Xerox decided to try to get out of the crisis and find more suitable management methods using benchmarking.

Fuji Xerox, a Japanese subsidiary of Xerox, played a significant role in the research. The company analyzed three main parameters: its own processes and costs, the costs and processes of its branch, as well as similar components of competitors. Thanks to this research and public information on market prices for copiers, Xerox specialists were able to determine the cost of operations of competitors, and after this, calculate the areas in which they showed better financial performance. As a result, the company was able to assess the size of the gap between itself and its rivals, but it was not immediately possible to eliminate it. Only after turning to the experience of the world's leading companies was Xerox able to catch up with competing firms in those areas where it had previously lagged significantly behind. But benchmarking in that situation did not play the role of the genie in the lamp, capable of getting rid of all the troubles.

The 90s came, and digital technologies replaced analogue technologies. At the same time, Xerox switched from a cumbersome functional structure to a simplified design. Much less attention has been paid to improving production processes than before. Gaining leadership in the copier market by improving the quality of products and conducting research has not only been forgotten, but has been temporarily excluded from priority tasks. From Xerox's experience, benchmarking is a tool that can help a company improve, but nothing more. This is not a panacea, and certainly not a magic wand that, by waving it, can solve all problems. In some situations, simply copying the experience of more advanced enterprises may not help.

Are benchmarking tools suitable for small companies?

If a mid-market company decides to undertake such an analysis, it may have questions:

Don't give up on benchmarking just because there's a lot of work ahead. If you properly use all the opportunities provided by benchmarking, you can take your company to a completely different level.

Stages of benchmarking: from choosing an object to implementing changes

Benchmarking is not an equation that can be solved in a strictly defined way. There is no single system; each company uses its own developments. But all activities can be divided into several stages:

1. At the first stage, you need to select a benchmarking object, analyze it and detail it. It could be some kind of process, service or product produced by the enterprise. Here it is important to decide on the following points: what resources the company can afford to allocate to this research; Is a one-time event planned or will this practice become regular.

2. At the second stage, the characteristics that need to be analyzed are determined. The object of analysis can be certain process parameters, consumer properties of a product or service.

3. The third stage is the appointment of specialists who will conduct benchmarking. It is advisable to hire people from different departments. This will give you the opportunity to take a broader look at the research object both in your own company and in the benchmarking partner company.

4. The fourth stage is the actual selection of partners. These can be serious enterprises whose success in implementing the characteristics that interest you is undeniable (you determined the characteristics themselves at the second stage). You can take one or several companies as partners. During internal benchmarking of an organization, partners will be related divisions of the company; processes within the enterprise or manufactured products will be analyzed.

5. At the fifth stage, the collection and analysis of data necessary for further comparison begins. Often the information received needs to be processed. The fact is that different companies may describe the same technical characteristics of a product in different ways. Everything will need to be brought to a common denominator.

6. The sixth stage of benchmarking is to assess the company’s ability to catch up with the leading organization in terms of the required characteristics. Assessment methods may be different, for example, using GAP analysis.

7. At the seventh stage, specialists determine what changes are needed in the operation of the enterprise to achieve a specific result. The overall picture should be based on the results of adapting the acquired knowledge to the conditions of one’s own company.

8. The eighth stage is devoted to developing strategic goals and drawing up plans to achieve them. Much depends on the scale of the proposed changes. Plans may relate to the organization of production, management system and other aspects of the company's activities.

9. At the ninth stage, previously approved plans are implemented. Moreover, this process requires constant monitoring. If necessary, plans are adjusted as they progress.

10. The last stage is to decide on repeated benchmarking to solve new problems, if, of course, the previous ones were successfully implemented.

2 approaches to benchmarking

Benchmarking wheel

Stage 1. Planning.

Creation of a team of professionals.
Selecting parameters for research.
Determination of the process (product, service) that needs comparison.

Stage 2. Search. Selecting benchmarking partners or other data sources.

Stage 3. Data collection. Selecting a method for obtaining information according to certain parameters.

Stage 4. Analysis. Comparing indicators and finding out the extent to which your company lags behind the one selected for benchmarking. Development and communication of recommendations for improving performance.

Stage 5. Adaptation of the result. Making necessary changes to an organization's product, service, process, or strategy.

Xerox approach

Xerox has proposed its own approach to benchmarking, consisting of five phases and 12 steps.

Phase 1: Planning.

Find out what exactly needs to be compared.
Find a benchmarking partner.
Outline a way to obtain data and start collecting it.

Phase 2: Analysis

Determine how large the gap is between companies in terms of performance indicators.
Develop and provide future levels of these indicators.

Phase 3. Agreement

Connect the results obtained and the acceptable gap in terms of indicators.
Define functional goals.

Phase 4. Action

Development of a further action plan.
Implementation of individual activities in the company with tracking of the company's progress.
Adjustment of comparison of indicators.

Phase 5: Completion

Taking the lead.
Incorporating the experience gained into the company's activities.

Typical mistakes in using benchmarking

1. Some people perceive benchmarking as a kind of inspection of the organization. But this is far from true.

With the help of benchmarking research, you can get certain useful numbers, but the system itself is aimed at finding out what these numbers mean, that is, you can find out where the enterprise ranks in certain positions.

2. Many are confident that certain basic parameters have long been developed and do not require any improvements.

It is not possible to apply such a system in a company simply because any market is not monolithic. There are differences in customer preferences, availability of resources, production conditions, etc. You need to find partners who will share their experience in achieving goals, and also tell you whether your company is capable of reaching such heights.

3. Another common mistake is a lack of attention to the client’s needs.

Some companies, after conducting benchmarking, are so carried away by the need to reduce costs while simultaneously increasing the quality of goods that they completely stop paying attention to what the direct consumer needs from the product. To avoid such a mistake, it would be a good idea to use a specially developed comprehensive system of business indicators - a “balanced scorecard”.

4. The desire to do everything at once will most likely not give positive results.

Managers who decide to benchmark absolutely all of the company's systems at the same time are making a big mistake. First of all, it's expensive. Secondly, it takes too much time. Everything needs to be done gradually, analyzing one system after another.

5. Inconsistency also leads to failure.

There are several points to note here. The use of benchmarking must be consistent with the company's strategy and not conflict with other initiatives. The process of implementing benchmarking must be directed and controlled by management.

6. It would be a mistake to set yourself non-specific, too “vague” tasks.

Sometimes benchmarking is tasked with analyzing communications between company employees. But the question is how can this be measured and in what units? Therefore, it is better to choose more specific goals for research, for example, to evaluate the system of distribution of powers in the company.

7. Conducting benchmarking without a pre-prepared platform makes no sense.

A similar situation may arise when the study of some processes in competing companies or the search for benchmarking partners begins before data on the same processes in one’s own organization is obtained.

8. An insufficiently comprehensive analysis of the research partner can be a fatal mistake.

If both your own and your partner’s time is wasted, then this will not lead to anything good. The existing code of such research states that if you are able to obtain the necessary data or solve the issue yourself, then there is no need to bother your partner about this.

Iwao Kobayashi “20 Keys – Methods for Creating a Quality Work Environment.”

This paper describes a system of 20 keys that organizations can use to improve their performance. This technique is convenient to use for benchmarking. The sequence of actions derived by the author is extremely simple, transparent and useful. With its help, the fundamental problems of producing goods and providing services are solved. Admittedly, the method proposed by Kobayashi, unlike many others, guarantees the achievement of the necessary results with less time and effort. The book not only combines world achievements in increasing productivity into a single whole, but also interconnects individual systems with each other.

Rob Rader, Benchmarking Strategy to Improve Profitability.

After reading this book, you can easily understand the basic principles, methods and rules of internal and external benchmarking. It is easy to learn how to select samples and guidelines for planned research, based on studying the company’s activities and analyzing the needs of all stakeholders. The book discusses methods by which you need to collect benchmarking data and implement the experience of other firms in your own organization. The author talks about the code of conduct for participants in the process and the rules for reporting the results of the analysis.

Rob Rader advises how to properly use benchmarking as a tool for organizational development, as well as to develop a strategy for using the newfound advantages. By following the recommendations of the book, an ordinary well-performing company can be turned into a world-class company.

Harrington H.J., Harrington J.S. “Benchmarking at its best! 20 steps to success."

This publication is practically a benchmarking of benchmarking itself. By studying all the recommendations proposed in the book, you can improve both the work of any division of the company and its entire activity as a whole.

The authors review successful research methods, from purchasing products from a competing company to analyzing the production process. This guide will help you choose the best way to conduct benchmarking.

The work used huge amounts of data from Ernst&Young. The language of the book is completely uncomplicated and free of jargon, which in many cases is very important. After reading this publication about benchmarking, you can find out how some companies using this technique achieved a 2000% increase in production in just eight months. Maybe you can do something similar?

Using the experience of leaders in your industry, focusing on their proven developments in organization, production, management, etc., it is easier to achieve a comparable level for your company and even gain an advantage. A method based on a scrupulous analysis of other people’s experience, with the introduction of the best practices, the purpose of which is to optimize and increase the efficiency of one’s own business, is called.

How to effectively use competitor analysis (and more)

Before starting the research, the first step is to select a standard whose effective operation and commercial success are undoubted. Direct competitors, enterprises in the same industry, and even companies operating in completely different areas, but the most advanced in terms of organization of production, management and marketing, can be used as a standard.

There are several types of benchmarking:

Competitive. Involves a comparative analysis of competitors (similar products, implemented business processes, competitive advantages).

General. The best practices of companies in any industry other than the one in which the company using benchmarking operates are studied and adopted.

Functional. The work of individual departments, the performance of specific functions (personnel management, procurement, logistics, etc.) of similar companies, not necessarily competitors, are compared.

Naturally, in the case of direct competitors, no one will reveal their cards voluntarily. Several analysis techniques are used here: purchasing competitor’s goods and studying their advantages, surveying employees of related companies (common suppliers, for example), direct purchase of information, attracting leading employees of a competitor to work in your business. The most important thing is not just to study and understand the pros and cons of others, but to identify your own mistakes and shortcomings and introduce the best into your business.

Why blind imitation doesn't work

Through benchmarking, examples of better and more efficient solutions and practices are tailored to a specific business. It is important not to use direct copying, but to synthesize something of your own, since simply copying the leader, who is taken as a standard, inevitably puts your business in the role of eternal catch-up. It is important to understand the purpose of introducing someone else’s experience, to compare the cost of innovation and the magnitude of the achieved result. For example, an ERP management system is not needed for a small company.

Benchmarking must be carried out continuously so as not to stagnate, not to lose competitive advantage and to constantly stay ahead. It is an ongoing process of improving business performance based on evaluating the products, services and performance of the strongest companies. This is constant analysis, development and implementation of improvements, business optimization.

Examples of successful benchmarking

One example of a classic method of analysis and implementation is considered to be the development of the XEROX Corporation, which includes 10 steps divided into four stages:

Preparation. The benchmarking object is identified, comprehensively assessed in terms of money, all available information is analyzed, and an enterprise is selected for comparison.

Analysis. The main parameters (quality, time and money costs, customer satisfaction) are compared, ineffective ones are identified, and the reasons why others do better are determined.

Implementation. Goals are set and optimization strategies are determined, the enterprise achieves awareness of the need for changes, and a plan for them is drawn up. Changes are implemented with mandatory effectiveness monitoring.

Repetition. Over time, all innovations become standard on the market and require updating. Therefore, benchmarking is carried out according to a new cycle.

In the course of analyzing the effectiveness of other companies, XEROX changed the procedure for storing finished products, launched two-level distribution (by the way, for the first time in Russia), accelerated the assembly of products in areas where manual labor was required, etc. Studying and implementing the best practices of many companies has provided XEROX with a competitive advantage.

A case in point are benchmark comparisons conducted by Ford. Benchmarking was carried out in the nineties in order to improve the company's shaky position. A global study of more than 50 car models was conducted to study their benefits and consumer preferences. Determined for each attractive property

Sabatkoev T. R., Sultanov R. R. Logistics and supply chain management. 2012. No. 2 (49). pp. 25-32.

In this article, we describe the benefits of integrating counterparties not only within a single supply chain, but also between counterparties in different supply chains around the world. To date, there is no single methodological approach to integration with companies outside the supply chain. However, with a thoughtful approach to providing your information, all risks from integration between counterparties of different supply chains are minimized, and the benefits of integration with counterparties from other supply chains make it possible to significantly improve the efficiency of each individual company, increasing its competitive advantages. Next, we will show what basic issues integration can solve at the macro level, what modules the system should consist of, and what principles the work should be guided by.

Ermakov S. A. Scientific works of the Labor Market Research Laboratory. WP15. National Research University Higher School of Economics, 2011. No. 01.

Russia is the world leader in the share of smokers among the adult population. It is believed that the negative impact of smoking on wages is manifested through additional loss of working time and a decrease in labor productivity caused by deteriorating health among smokers. Our calculations based on data from the Russian Monitoring of the Economic Situation and Health of the Population (RMES) revealed that monthly fines in the earnings of smokers are equal to 4.3%. The results obtained show that throughout the country, smoking addiction causes damage to the national economy in the amount of more than 183.6 billion rubles. per year from possible underproduction of the total product, associated to a large extent with the decrease in productivity caused by smoking.

For the first time, the textbook systematically comprehends domestic experience in the development of social investments and social partnerships, assessing their effectiveness, including using the author’s findings obtained from participation in the development and implementation of a number of federal and regional projects and programs; activities of organizations ensuring the development of social investments and social partnerships; participation in the expert group of the Ministry of Regional Development on single-industry towns. Some of these developments are priority ones and a certificate of authorship has been obtained for them. The main text is accompanied by reference material: a list of international and domestic organizations involved in social and humanitarian expertise; characteristics of international social reporting standards; methods for assessing the effectiveness of social investments and social partnerships; list of recommended literature; glossary. Designed for teachers and students at undergraduate and graduate levels in the faculties of management, sociology, and applied political science. Can be used in practical activities to organize effective social investments and social partnerships, in the development and implementation of social policy at the corporate and regional levels.

Gorshenin V.P., Molodchik A.V., Sviridova L.V. and others. Nizhny Novgorod: University Book, 2005.

The article is devoted to one of the popular tools of strategic analysis - benchmarking, aimed at finding sources of increasing business efficiency through analysis of the company's activities in comparison with advanced management and technological practices. Over the past 3 years, benchmarking has been a leader in popularity among management tools.

The problem of improving the quality and availability of services is systemic. The level of quality and availability of services depends on many factors related, first of all, to the satisfaction of service recipients, compliance with regulatory requirements for the provision of services, the presence of orientation towards the preferences of service recipients, as well as the efficiency of executive authorities, local governments, organizations related to the provision of services. Ensuring sustainable growth in the quality of provision of state and municipal services is a priority task of the government of the Yaroslavl region. The paper analyzes the experience of implementing a benchmarking system for the quality of public services in the Yaroslavl region in 2010. Benchmarking the quality of public services in the Yaroslavl region is understood as a mechanism that will allow on an ongoing basis to assess the level of quality of service provision, including the satisfaction of service recipients, and identify existing shortcomings in the provision of services. and take measures aimed at improving their quality.

One of the main tasks of any industrial enterprise is to make a profit based on the production of high-quality and competitive products. For the most part, production companies in the meat industry are not full-cycle enterprises, i.e. are divided into farms engaged in raising live cattle and poultry, slaughterhouses, meat processing plants and meat processing plants. The latter are the final link in the supply chain of raw materials of animal origin. For such companies, it is important to organize the procurement process in such a way as to constantly have a sufficient quantity of high-quality meat resources for production and to minimize losses associated with the forced sale, often at a discount, of excess volumes of incorrectly calculated and purchased raw materials in order to prevent their spoilage, and also avoid unnecessary costs associated with their storage. We bring to your attention one of the options for solving this problem.

Sabatkoev T. R., Sultanov R. R. In the book: Flexibility and adaptability of global supply chains. St. Petersburg: 2012. pp. 147-153.

In this article we describe a system that allows you to organize effective inventory management for 40 suppliers of various perishable products. The presented system consists of modules that can be improved individually: demand planning, inventory management, procurement planning and KPI reporting. The described system was implemented in a real distribution company specializing in perishable food products for 600 SKUs, which made it possible to increase inventory turnover by 7% while maintaining the customer service quality indicator at the same level.