What Are the Different Types of Benchmarking Tools?

Benchmarking is to compare the activities of the enterprise with those who are best engaged in the activity, and then propose action methods to make up for their own shortcomings.

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is a process of comparing and analyzing the various aspects and links of the company's operations with competitors or first-class companies in and outside the industry. It is a means of evaluating own companies and researching other organizations. A method of internal development goals and transplanting external best practices into the operation of the company. Companies that implement benchmarking must constantly evaluate the products, services, and business performance of competitors or top-tier companies to discover strengths and weaknesses.

In general, Benchmarking is to give a reference value to all things that an enterprise can measure. Benchmarking can be a management system and a learning process, and it focuses more on process research and analysis.

Philip Kotler explained, "An average company has a 10-fold difference in quality, speed, and cost performance compared to a world-class company. Benchmarking is looking for how companies can perform tasks more than other companies. An excellent art. In fact, the ancient Chinese strategic masterpiece Sun Zi also mentioned that knowing oneself and knowing one another, not fighting one another in a hundred battles; Actually this is very simple.

The Benchmarking method originated from Xerox. Xerox was once synonymous with photocopiers, but after the Second World War, Japanese companies worked diligently to imitate American companies' management and marketing methods in many aspects. Japanese competitors stepped in to divide the market, from 1976 to 1982, the share fell from 80% to 13%. Xerox took the lead in performing benchmarking in the United States in 1979. President Cohen went to Japan in 1982 to study competitors, bought Japanese copiers, and analyzed its components from outside to inside through "reverse engineering", and learned that Japanese companies promoted by TQC. Comprehensive quality control to regain competitive advantage on copiers.

(1) Benchmarking of competitors can help determine and compare the components of competitors' business strategies.

(2) Through Benchmarking of first-class enterprises inside and outside the industry, valuable information can be obtained from the best companies and companies in any industry, used to improve the internal operations of the enterprise and establish corresponding catch-up goals.

(3) Cross-industry technical benchmarking can help cross-industry penetration of technology and processes.

(4) Through a comparative analysis of the competitors' Benchmarking and the needs of customers, we can find the shortcomings of the company, thus combining the market, competitiveness and goal setting.

(5) Through the benchmarking of competitors, the company's competitiveness, competitive intelligence, competitive decision-making, and their interrelationships can be further determined as three basic points for research and comparison.

One classification method is to divide the benchmarking into three categories according to the different levels of enterprise operations targeted, namely, the strategic-level benchmarking, the operational-level benchmarking, and the management-level benchmarking.

Benchmarking at the strategic level is to compare the company's strategy with the company's strategy and find out the key factors in a successful strategy.

The benchmarking of the operation layer is mainly focused on comparing costs and product differences, with emphasis on functional analysis, which is generally related to competitive costs and competitive differences.

Management's benchmarking involves analyzing the supporting functions of an enterprise, and specifically refers to "MIS" such as human resource management, marketing planning, and management information systems. Its characteristic is that it is difficult to measure with quantitative indicators.

Another classification method is to divide benchmarking into benchmarking for competitors and benchmarking for first-class companies. The former is generally limited to companies that produce similar products or provide similar services. The main purpose is to discover the advantages and disadvantages of competitors. Based on their advantages, learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses-based on their shortcomings, choose a breakthrough. The scope of the latter is much broader, and any good company can be selected. The advantage is that they can be more informed, and because there is no competitive relationship, there are fewer obstacles to information exchange.

Generally speaking, the benchmarking done to competitors is mainly the operation-level benchmarking, while the first-tier companies do more the management-level benchmarking. The main contents of benchmarking include: design, research and development, procurement, manufacturing, warehousing, transportation and logistics, sales, marketing, human resources machine labor relations, finance, management (planning, organization).

Benchmarking objects and learning topics

Here are the objects of Xerox Benchmarking at the time

The comparison results allow companies to understand their position and gaps, but they cannot tell companies how to close the gap or surpass their competitors. The process of comparison is the most important, because HOW-TO can be learned in the process.

The Xerox benchmarking process at the time was:

* Decide who to benchmark

* Confirm the organization of comparison

* Decide how to link data

* Determine current performance measurement unit

* Planned future performance levels

* Communicate the results of benchmarking surveys to increase your sense of approval

* Establish practical goals

* Development activity plan

* Perform clear activities and monitor development

* Readjusted benchmarking management

The general benchmarking process includes:

1. The implementation of benchmarking mainly includes determining content, selecting targets, collecting analysis data, determining action targets, implementing plans, and tracking results.

2. Determine the specific project to be benchmarked.

3. Choose a goal. After the link for benchmarking is determined, it is necessary to select a specific benchmarking object. In general, competitors and industry leaders are the first choice for benchmarking.

4. Collect and analyze data, including the situation of the company and the company being benchmarked (can be competitors or non-competitors). The analysis data must be based on a full understanding of the company's current status and the status of the benchmarked enterprise. The data must be primarily aimed at the business processes and activities of the company, not just the business results.

5. Determine the action plan. After finding the gap, what is to be done further is to determine the action objectives and action measures to reduce the gaps. These goals and measures must be integrated into the business plan of the enterprise.

6. Implement the plan and track the results. Benching is an effective way to find shortcomings, improve operations and achieve the best results. The entire process must include regular measurement and assessment of the extent to which the goal has been reached. If the goal is not achieved, corrective action is required.

Finally, it should be noted that researching larger processes requires more resources, and distraction is easy to lose focus. Researching smaller processes can have limited improvement results, and the two need to be balanced. ^[1]