Benchmarking is a practical tool, especially for competitor analysis. It enables a company to make well-founded comparisons with particularly "well-positioned" competitors in its (or another) industry, so-called best practice companies, and is based on defined reference values (key figures) as well as on the processes and structures of these best practice companies.
With benchmarking, a company can identify best practices and adapt them to its own company in order to then arrive at best practices. The aim of benchmarking is to do the "right things" (effectiveness aspect) and to do "things right" (efficiency aspect). Benchmarking can also be carried out between comparable parts of a company, e.g. between different production plants or sales areas.
Benchmarking is usually complex and should therefore be used primarily for longer-term planning and focused on areas with a particularly high potential for improvement.
There are currently no internationally standardized benchmarks.
See also:
Key performance indicators; organization; process optimization; re-engineering; open innovation; employer branding
Reference to QET guidelines:
Q06 Change Management; Q15 Processes; T15 Benchmarking; T16 SWOT