Practical Benchmarking: A Manager's Guide to Creating a Competitive Advantage

Benchmarking, the process of identifying, understanding and adapting outstanding business practices, is rapidly proving itself to be an essential management tool. Whether it is being used as part of a formal quality management system, a convenient measure of business performance, or a well-structured means to improving competitiveness, benchmarking now affects many departments in a broad variety of companies. This step-by-step guide to implementing a benchmarking system within an organization explains in detail the practicalities of benchmarking, and assesses the value of, and differences between, the four main types of benchmarking: internal benchmarking; competitive benchmarking; non-competitive benchmarking; best practice/world class benchmarking. Packed with detailed cases of benchmarking in practice, the book also includes valuable action checklists that managers can easily apply to their own organizations.