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Benchmark, But Do It Right

Posted October 16, 2009 7:20 AM

Benchmarking your company's performance against your competitors provides a great beginning in the quest for improvement. But many organizations run into trouble almost from the get-go. A key issue is not being clear about why you're making the effort, and how to interpret the results. For example, you may take longer to fill an order than the competition, but you need to look more deeply at underlying reasons—are your orders more complex, are you more accurate? Does your company make effective use of benchmarking exercises?

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Milo Guru Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: "Dancing over the abyss." Posts: 4884 Good Answers: 243	#1 Re: Benchmark, But Do It Right 10/18/2009 10:48 PM
	Lets start with your initial description:"Benchmarking your company's performance against your competitors provides a great beginning in the quest for improvement." If you are benchmarking against your competitors, you are not really benchmarking, you are doing a 'competitive analysis.' Benchmarking, if it is to be effective, is against not ones competitiors, but against those companies, who are best in class for the process being 'Benchmarked.' Ritz carlton or Disney for service; Walmart for logistics and oppressively miserable wages, GM for how to turn a large fortune into a small one. Ford for how to recall over 14 million vehicles and still have an ongoing business. Comparing against one's competitors only proves that one lacks ambition. And it can provide misleading 'satisfaction' at one's 'score' taking the drive for further continuous improvement out of your group, when further improvement is possible. "Benchmark against the best, and have the courage to change, or don't waste everybody's time and resources" milo __________________ People say between two opposed opinions the truth lies in the middle. Not at all! Between them lies the problem, what is unseeable,eternally active life, contemplated in repose. Goethe
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