Benchmarking
benchmarkinga method of quality management which involves finding, replicating and improving the best practice in your industry. is another method of quality management.
Benchmarking involves finding the best practice in your industry and then copying your competitor but adding some extra value or USPUnique Selling Point to the product.
Benchmarking is common in the electronics industry where many market leaders have to face severe competition from imitators.
The major flaw with benchmarking is that it can take time. By the time you have a product superior to the market leader, a new market leader can have emerged from another firm's research and development programme.
| Benefit | Cost |
| Identifies best practice in the market which will improve performance if these methods are adopted by the organisation | May be difficult to gather required information from competitors |
| Can provide a goal for employees which will increase motivation | It can be time consuming to study techniques used by other companies |
| Can make the organisation more competitive in the market | Internal factors such as lack of finance may prevent the adoption of competitors practices |
| The company/product will only be as good as the benchmark set |
| Benefit | Identifies best practice in the market which will improve performance if these methods are adopted by the organisation |
|---|---|
| Cost | May be difficult to gather required information from competitors |
| Benefit | Can provide a goal for employees which will increase motivation |
|---|---|
| Cost | It can be time consuming to study techniques used by other companies |
| Benefit | Can make the organisation more competitive in the market |
|---|---|
| Cost | Internal factors such as lack of finance may prevent the adoption of competitors practices |
| Benefit | |
|---|---|
| Cost | The company/product will only be as good as the benchmark set |