Benchmarking on the example of a Russian company. Benchmarking: examples. Are benchmarking tools suitable for small companies?

In simple words, benchmarking(Eng. Benchmarking) is a comparison with the best. When collective farmers in Soviet films demonstrated their achievements at agricultural exhibitions and paid each other visits to exchange best practices, this was not called benchmarking, but in fact it was exactly that. When Nikita Khrushchev visited American farms and marveled at corn and milk yields, he also did some benchmarking.

Benchmarking helps to improve business processes relatively quickly and cost-effectively. It allows you to understand how leading companies operate and achieve the same or better results. The value of benchmarking is not only that there is no need to reinvent the wheel. By carefully studying the achievements and mistakes of other companies, you can develop your own maximum efficient model business.

Benchmarking is not just copying the systems used successful companies. This approach may not give the desired results due to differences in business structures. The main thing is the adaptation of these principles for internal application. It is thanks to this that the benchmarking system can be effective not only with direct competitors in the market, but also with firms whose target audience is completely different. You can even analyze the work of enterprises from a completely different field of activity.

Competent benchmarking of the company can radically improve its functioning, but only if there is an understanding of their own processes. When comparing two business models, you need to be well versed in both, otherwise you won't get a clear picture of the big picture. Therefore, you first need to analyze the production processes in your company, and only then proceed to benchmarking.

Goals and objectives of benchmarking

The exchange of experience, as well as the study of other people's developments, has always been beneficial. But we can not say that this happens in 100% of cases. Some organizations are so far apart in various ways that benchmarking may not be useful. In this regard, the need for this step must first be justified, that is, strategic goals companies should be in line with the need for such a study. Benchmarking is a full-fledged business management tool, since its goal is to improve the system and increase the competitiveness of the company in the long term. This goal is achieved through the solution of specific issues.

In the process of matching business schemes various companies two main tasks are solved:

Calculation of indicators of your own enterprise and comparing them with the selected standard.
Analysis of someone else's experience and its implementation in your company.

How to make a company a market leader: the experience of X-fit

Irina Tumanova, Executive Director of X-Fit, told the magazine " CEO”, how from a small company X-fit managed to become a market leader.

Benchmarking features are as follows

To give an idea to the management about the current state of affairs in the company, to overcome stagnation in the management sector.
Strive for improvement.
Find out in time that the organization is lagging behind in a certain area.
Identify company resources and identify weaknesses to overcome.
Set challenging but realistic goals for the firm.
Determine priorities for optimizing work.
Determine the level of the company in comparison with the best in the world.
Calculate the degree of backlog of the company.
Reveal best systems management and include them in the work.
Prepare an action plan for corrective action.
Link a long-term development plan with the company's self-improvement efforts.
Find previously unused technologies or management methods.
Focus on those factors that bring undoubted benefits to the enterprise.
To achieve large-scale improvements in the work of the organization, a “breakthrough”.
With the help of someone else's experience, rid the company of the "need" to learn from their own mistakes.
Establish the principle of continuous improvement in the organization.
Reduce financial costs for improving the work of the company.
Reduce risks when introducing new methods.
Raise the main financial indicators.

Benchmarking objects

Products and services. This position is the first one that benchmarking is focused on. The activities of a competing company are analyzed, points are highlighted due to which its business is more successful than yours. After that, it becomes clear what needs to be done to increase the productivity of the native company. There is one moment. It is somewhat easier to use benchmarking in the case of manufactured tangible products than in the case of services. The fact is that it is much more difficult to obtain the information necessary for research on the latter parameter. It is necessary at least to analyze the production field and take several interviews with competing firms.

Financial indicators. Benchmarking financial indicators is not so difficult, of course, if you know where and what to look for. Typically, this information is publicly available. By organizing research on financial efficiency, you can determine the possible achievements and tasks that should be set for yourself. Material investments for carrying out such an analysis require very little, and you can meet it in a short time.

Business processes. Business process research is the most effective part of benchmarking. In order to remain competitive in the market, a company must be engaged in the development of the business as a whole, constantly invest various kinds of resources in it and control all operations. The capabilities of a particular organization can be "calculated" from its business processes. This type of analysis is especially important in a situation where two enterprises directly compete with each other, offering the same product to the consumer. The organization that has managed to increase competitiveness as efficiently as possible at the lowest cost will win.

This study on the benchmarking system is primary. It is with the help of such an analysis that specialists subsequently paint all the further steps that need to be taken to increase the profitability of the company. But for this it is necessary to carefully study the entire chain of work of a competing company, from its suppliers to the labor organization system. By the way, it is not at all necessary to be limited to the study of the activities of only one organization. It is useful to take note of related businesses that work with the same product and benchmark their business processes.

Strategies. No business can function properly without a strategy. You can improve the performance of your own company by analyzing in the most careful way the strategy and organization of the work of the competitor firm. True, it is not so easy to obtain comprehensive information in this case. Often such data is a closely guarded secret of the company. When benchmarking a strategy, it is necessary, first of all, to use logic, and only then the study will bear fruit.

Staff. Thanks to personnel benchmarking, you can compare the performance of your own HR departments with those of the world's leading companies in several indicators. After receiving the results of the analysis, the company's management will be able to manage personnel more efficiently. Before starting the comparison, you should determine the main performance indicators of the HR service. Some managers consider this department almost a burden for a company that is steadily and unjustifiably absorbing financial resources. Only this is far from true. The fact is that the work of the HR service in one way or another affects the quality of the activities of many departments. Sometimes this happens in such an indirect way that the benefit of this department is difficult not only to evaluate, but even to notice. Therefore, carefully conducted benchmarking is needed, with the help of which you can get specific indicators of the activities of the HR service, as well as identify problems that require immediate attention.

Functions, groups and organizations. Using benchmarking, specialists collect information not only about the competitive company products, but also how it is done. Every company has a specific internal structure and organization of work. It is precisely the clarification of all such details that is included in the task of benchmarking on this topic. Moreover, attention is often paid to the most insignificant, at first glance, nuances. For example, professional qualities competitors' employees. The analysis carefully examines the total number of personnel in the company under study, the groups created, their functions, etc.

To facilitate the process of benchmarking, in this case, various kinds of websites are often drawn up, with the help of which contacts are established between specialists. Thanks to this, research costs are significantly reduced, because to obtain information you do not need to pay the road for employees of the analytical department, and the quality of incoming data does not suffer.

Types of benchmarking

Internal benchmarking. Based on the name, it is clear that this type of research is carried out exclusively within the company. For comparison, processes, goods or services that are closest in parameters are taken. The advantage of the method is that the analysis can be carried out without much difficulty, since there are no difficulties in collecting data. The downside is the very limited opportunities for research, as a result of which biased results are possible.

Competitive benchmarking. The analysis is carried out on the basis of comparing the products and services of your company with the products and services of a direct competitor company, and the latter can operate both locally, regionally or international market. This type of benchmarking will be more useful if you choose an international organization for comparison.

Functional benchmarking. In such a study, the processes of one's own company are compared with similar processes of another. The difference from other types of benchmarking is that the firm chosen as a benchmark operates in a completely different area. The advantages of this method are in less effort to obtain objective data, and by absolutely ethical and legal methods.

Generalized benchmarking. For analysis, companies are selected that have in a certain field of activity best performance processes and approaches. Moreover, information about the work of these organizations is in the public domain. For example, there are many publications about the production system at Toyota or Motorola. An analysis is made of the most suitable processes and approaches for the company's own, which, after appropriate adaptation, are introduced into the work.

Lean: small steps for big goals

Benchmarking examples

Internal benchmarking at Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard Corporation was ahead of its direct competitors from Japan in many ways. In particular, products were produced no less high quality, but at a faster pace. The question arose about maintaining the competitiveness of the company. Hewlett-Packard decided to conduct an analysis of research and development activities to find effective methods to speed up production.

The company compared the activities of its divisions, using the payback period of the project as a criterion. In order for the products to meet the real requirements of consumers, the technology of deploying quality functions was applied.

The result of the benchmarking was the decision of the company to implement a methodology called Six Sigma. The optimization of production consisted in the complete documentation of the process, the measurement of characteristics with a decrease in the variability of their values. The search for ways to improve the algorithms was also constantly conducted. If you look closely, Hewlett-Packard Corporation acted almost on the principle of DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analize, Improve, Control - definition, measurement, analysis, improvement, control).

Competitive benchmarking at Ford

Ford Corporation in many design parameters could not compete with its rivals. In addition, according to consumers, its products were not functional. It got to the point that the company's profits fell catastrophically. She was able to return the market only after a completely new family of Taurus passenger cars was created. This machine was obliged to at least not yield to competitors' models. To achieve this effect, a benchmarking analysis was carried out. The company's specialists organized a survey among the population in order to find out which particular properties of cars are the most popular. After that, they chose the cars on the world market that best meet certain requirements. potential clients. The task of Taurus was not only to reach their level in various characteristics, but also to surpass it.

Benchmarking studies were carried out taking into account a huge number of car brands, and it did not matter whether they were direct competitors of the company or not. For example, cars like the BMW and Opel Senator have never competed with the Ford Taurus, but have some features that appeal to buyers. About 400 parameters of more than 50 car models were analyzed. Ford developed and implemented new products based on the principles of DMADV (Define, Match, Analyze, Design, Verify - definition, measurement, analysis, development, verification). The result was not long in coming. Soon Ford Taurus became the car of the year and came out on top in sales.

Unfortunately, the success didn't last too long. The transmission of the Taurus revealed certain flaws that undermined the reputation of the car. Due to the constant improvements that followed, the company began to deviate more and more from the original concept. As a result, by the end of the 90s of the last century, Taurus sales decreased by almost seven times. They tried to correct the situation, but in 2006 the production of this family of cars ceased. However, they learn from mistakes, and Ford is no exception. The main lesson this time was the understanding that benchmarking of competing enterprises is not a one-time event. Such studies should be carried out regularly in order to update the results and adjust activities. In general, the Six Sigma methodology says almost the same thing: the search for sources of variation not only provides certain knowledge about the level of competitiveness of the company, but also shows a graph of its change. As a result, company management has the opportunity to take into account not only the short-term effects of the implementation of certain improvement programs, but also the future consequences of decisions made.

Functional benchmarking at General Motors

General Motors in 1982-1984. carried out benchmarking analysis, with the help of which she tried to find a way to improve the quality and reliability of products through alternative management options. At that time, as part of the "competition" with Japan, most firms began to pay increased attention to the quality of the goods, believing that this parameter is the main one in the struggle for competitiveness. General Motors did data-driven research famous companies: Hewlett-Packard, 3M, John Deer. Before proceeding with the analysis, experts from General Motors outlined 10 hypotheses about the factors that most affect product quality. These hypotheses had to be confirmed with the help of information from partner companies that also carry out benchmarking work.

An objective comprehensive assessment of the quality management systems adopted in the firms participating in the research was formed. As a result, a relationship was found between the quality of goods and the efficiency of enterprises. Moreover, largely due to this research, a little later, the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award appeared, and then the ISO 9000 series of standards, which established General requirements to quality management systems. General Motors was 14 years ahead of research on the criteria of the Baldridge model, however, as well as the requirements of ISO 9000 standards. This gave the company and its partners undeniable advantages over competitors. The fact is that customers considered their products to be of much higher quality than the products of other firms working in the same field.

But, as is typical of many benchmarking analyses, this study also suffered from the lack of regular study of working conditions and production processes in the company. Instead of constantly improving itself, General Motors was satisfied with the advantage achieved. And then she completely switched to following the requirements of the industry standard QS 9000 (the latter is a modified version of ISO 9000, taking into account the characteristics of the automotive industry). General Motors also regularly competes for the Malcolm Baldrige Award and masters the Six Sigma methodology. But now all automobile enterprises are engaged in this, and the quality management system must be constantly developed.

General Benchmarking at Xerox

There are enough examples when benchmarking helped a company in a difficult situation. However, one of the most famous is Xerox's comparison of its logistics system with systems from more successful businesses. Involuntarily, Xerox confirmed the correctness of the American scientist William Deming, who argued that the crisis experienced by the organization often provokes an increase in quality. He forces executives to take certain actions to get the company out of trouble. In the late 1970s, Xerox began to succumb to pressure from Japanese competitors. For 10 years, from 1974 to 1984, the return on the firm's assets dropped from 22% to 4%. Xerox decided to try to get out of the crisis and find more suitable management methods with the help of benchmarking.

Fuji Xerox, the Japanese branch of Xerox, played an important role in conducting the study. The company analyzed three main parameters: own processes and the costs, expenses and processes of its affiliate, as well as those of competitors. Thanks to this research and open information on market prices For copiers, Xerox was able to figure out the cost of competitors' operations, and then figure out the areas in which they showed the best financial performance. As a result, the company was able to assess the size of the gap between itself and its rivals, but it was not immediately possible to eliminate it. Only after turning to the experience of the world's leading companies, Xerox was able to catch up with competing firms in areas where it had previously lagged far behind. But benchmarking in that situation did not play the role of a genie from a lamp that could get rid of all the troubles.

The 90s came, and digital technologies came to replace analog technologies. At the same time, Xerox switched from a cumbersome functional structure to a simplified scheme. Improvement of production processes began to pay much less attention than before. Gaining leadership in the copier market by improving the quality of goods and conducting research is not only forgotten, but temporarily excluded from priority tasks. It follows from Xerox's experience that benchmarking is a tool that can help a company improve, but nothing more. This is not a panacea, much less a magic wand, waving which, you can solve all problems. In some situations, the usual copying of the experience of more advanced enterprises may not help.

Are benchmarking tools suitable for small companies?

If a medium-sized firm decided to do such an analysis, then it may have questions:

Don't give up on benchmarking just because there's a lot of work ahead. If you use all the opportunities provided by benchmarking correctly, you can take your company to a completely different level.

Benchmarking stages: from object selection to implementation of changes

Benchmarking is not an equation that is solved in a strictly defined way. unified system not here, each company uses its own developments. But all activities can be divided into several stages:

1. At the first stage, you need to select the benchmarking object, analyze and refine it. It can be some process, service or product produced by the enterprise. Here it is important to decide on the following points: what resources the company can afford to allocate for this study; a one-time action is planned or such a practice will become regular.

2. At the second stage, the characteristics that need to be analyzed are determined. The object of analysis can be certain process parameters, consumer properties of a product or service.

3. The third stage is the appointment of specialists who will conduct benchmarking. It is desirable to take people from different departments. This will give you the opportunity to take a broader look at the object of research both in your own company and in a benchmarking partner firm.

4. The fourth stage is the actual choice of partners. These can be serious enterprises whose success in implementing the characteristics you are interested in is undeniable (you identified the characteristics themselves at the second stage). As partners, you can take both one company and several. With internal benchmarking of an organization, related divisions of the company will act as partners, processes within the enterprise or manufactured products will be analyzed.

5. At the fifth stage, the collection and analysis of data necessary for further comparison begins. Often the received information needs to be processed. The fact is that in different companies the same specifications product may be described in different ways. Everything will need to be brought to a common denominator.

6. The sixth stage of benchmarking is to assess the company's ability to catch up with the leading organization in terms of the required characteristics. Valuation methods can be different, for example, using a GAP analysis.

7. At the seventh stage, specialists determine what changes are needed in the work of the enterprise to achieve a specific result. The overall picture should be based on the results of adapting the acquired knowledge to the conditions of your own company.

8. The eighth stage is devoted to the development of strategic goals and drawing up plans to achieve them. Much depends on the scale of the proposed changes. Plans may relate to the organization of production, management systems and other aspects of the company.

9. At the ninth stage, the previously approved plans are being implemented. Moreover, this process requires constant monitoring. If necessary, plans are adjusted in the course of implementation.

10. The last step is to decide on re-benchmarking to solve new problems, if, of course, the past ones were successfully implemented.

2 approaches to benchmarking

Benchmarking wheel

Stage 1. Planning.

Creation of a team of professionals.
The choice of parameters for the study.
Definition of the process (product, service) that needs to be compared.

Stage 2. Search. Selection of benchmarking partners or other data sources.

Stage 3. Data collection. Selecting the method of obtaining information according to certain parameters.

Stage 4. Analysis. Comparison of indicators and finding out the extent to which your company lags behind the one chosen for benchmarking. Development and transmission of recommendations for improving performance.

Stage 5. Adaptation of the result. Making necessary changes to an organization's product, service, process or strategy.

The Xerox Approach

Xerox has come up with its own approach to benchmarking, which consists of five phases and 12 steps.

Phase 1. Planning.

Find out exactly what to compare.
Find a benchmarking partner.
Map out a way to get data and start collecting it.

Phase 2. Analysis

Determine how big the performance gap is between companies.
Develop and provide future levels of these indicators.

Phase 3. Approval

Associate the results obtained and the allowable gap in indicators.
Define functional goals.

Phase 4. Action

Development of a further action plan.
Implementation of individual events in the company with tracking the progress of the company.
Adjustment of comparison of indicators.

Phase 5. Completion

Leading out.
Bringing the experience gained into the company's activities.

Common Mistakes in Benchmarking

1. Some perceive benchmarking as a kind of audit of the organization. But this is far from true.

With the help of benchmarking research, you can get certain useful numbers, but the system itself is aimed at finding out what these numbers mean, that is, you can find out where the enterprise is in one position or another.

2. Many are sure that some basic parameters have been developed long ago and do not need any improvements.

It is not possible to apply such a system in a company simply because any market is not monolithic. There is a difference in customer preferences, availability of resources, production conditions, and so on. You need to find partners who will share their experience in achieving goals, as well as tell you whether your company is capable of reaching such heights.

3. Another common mistake is the lack of attention to the needs of the client.

Some firms after benchmarking are so carried away by the need to reduce costs while increasing the quality of goods that they completely stop paying attention to what the direct consumer needs from the product. In order to avoid such a mistake, it would be nice to use a specially developed integrated system of business indicators - a "balanced scorecard".

4. The desire to do everything and immediately positive results, most likely, will not give.

Managers who decide to benchmark absolutely all systems of the company at the same time make a big mistake. First, it's expensive. Second, it takes too long. Everything must be done gradually, analyzing one system after another.

5. Inconsistency also leads to failure.

Several points can be noted here. The use of benchmarking should be consistent with the company's strategy and not conflict with other initiatives. The process of implementing benchmarking must be directed and controlled by management.

6. It would be a mistake to set unspecific, too “vague” tasks.

Sometimes benchmarking is tasked with analyzing communications between company employees. But the question is, how can this be measured and in what units? Therefore, it is better to choose more specific goals for research, for example, to evaluate the system of distribution of powers in the company.

7. Benchmarking without a pre-prepared platform does not make sense.

A similar situation may arise when the study of some processes in competing firms or the search for benchmarking partners begins before data on the same processes in their own organization is obtained.

8. An insufficiently complete analysis of the research partner can be a fatal mistake.

If both your time and your partner's time is wasted, then it will not lead to anything good. The existing code of such research states that if you are able to obtain the necessary data or solve the problem yourself, then you do not need to worry your partner about this.

Iwao Kobayashi "20 keys - a technique for creating a quality work environment."

This paper describes a system of 20 keys with which organizations can improve the efficiency of their activities. This technique is convenient to use for benchmarking. The sequence of actions deduced by the author is extremely simple, transparent and useful. With its help, the fundamental problems of the production of goods and the provision of services are solved. Admittedly, the method proposed by Kobayashi, unlike many others, guarantees the achievement of the desired results with less time and effort. The book not only combines world achievements in productivity improvement, but also implements the interconnection of individual systems with each other.

Rob Rader Benchmarking strategy as a means to improve profitability.

After reading this book, you can easily understand the basic principles, methods and rules of internal and external benchmarking. It is easy to learn how to choose samples and benchmarks for planned studies, based on a study of the company's activities and an analysis of the needs of all interested parties. The book discusses the methods by which you need to collect benchmarking data and implement the experience of other firms in your own organization. The author talks about the code of conduct for participants in the process and the rules for reporting on the results of the analysis.

Rob Rader advises on how to use benchmarking as a tool for organizational development, as well as for strategizing how to use the benefits gained. By following the recommendations of the book, an ordinary well-performing company can be transformed into a world-class company.

Harrington H.J., Harrington J.S. "Benchmarking in at its best! 20 steps to success.

This publication is practically a benchmarking of benchmarking itself. Having studied all the recommendations proposed in the book, you can improve both the work of any department of the company, and all its activities as a whole.

The authors review successful research methods, from the purchase of products from a competing firm to the analysis of the production process. With this guide you can choose the best way benchmarking.

The work used huge amounts of data from Ernst & Young. The language of the book is completely uncomplicated and free from professional jargon, which in many cases is very important. After reading this book on benchmarking, you can find out how some companies have achieved a 2000% increase in production using this methodology in just eight months. Maybe you can do something similar?

Hello dear buyers!

In this publication, we continue to review various purchasing tools from the wonderful book "Purchasing chessboard" by consultants A.T.Kearney. Today we will look at one of these tools , how product composition benchmarking.

Increasing differentiation, reduction life cycle product and the growth of product diversity make sourcing more and more complex. As a result, it is becoming more and more difficult to apply volume consolidation methods or achieve economies of scale. Therefore, the first step in this case will be the use of appropriate tools to bring order into the resulting chaos. Using analysis and benchmarking, it is possible to identify potential improvements that can be realized through the joint efforts of the R&D and production departments.

A sample of competing products is sent to multiple vendors for component analysis. Suppliers provide offers both for the product as a whole and for its components. Combining best offers, the best concept is selected, while the buyer has an understanding of the production costs of suppliers.

Product Composition Benchmarking includes seven steps:

1) coordination of the approach with suppliers: it is necessary to identify new potential suppliers (other than existing ones) based on their portfolio, competencies and abilities;

2) identification of relevant competitive products;

3) preparation of appropriate costing templates;

4) receiving corrected templates from suppliers;

5) evaluation of proposals;

6) definition of potential savings:

Determination of the supplier with the lowest price for each of the products within the existing cost estimate;

Product reconfiguration using the lowest cost components;

Determination of the lowest production costs

7) determination of target costs

result product composition benchmarking is a reliable analysis of compared competitive products.

good example of product composition benchmarking is an example benchmarking of rear-view mirrors at a car manufacturer

An automobile manufacturer decided to benchmark the composition of a product for rear-view mirrors after obtaining the consent of four suppliers (2 existing, 2 new) to participate in this process. The engineering and purchasing team decided to include two products from direct competitors and two products from competitors from low cost countries in the process.

The following components were used for the costing templates: housing, hinge mechanism, adjusting knob, hanger, frame, and mirror glass. Parts and materials have been determined for each individual element. Suppliers were asked to determine the cost of key product elements and development services, including overheads. For a better understanding of the benchmarking procedure, a joint meeting was held with suppliers.

A few weeks later, the results were available with corresponding potential savings, optimal functionality and efficient production processes. Minor functional differences between competing products have been identified and financially assessed. Negotiations and subsequent Feedback provided to each supplier.

A potential savings of 27% on the entire product was identified, broken down as follows: 5 to 10% for the body, 15 to 25% for the hinge mechanism, 5 to 15% for the frame, 25 to 30% for mirror glass, from 30 to 35% - for additional indirect costs.

Thus, as the example above shows, product composition benchmarking is quite effective purchasing tool allowing you to get up to 30% savings.

Business in Russia continues to develop and master new management tools that make it possible to improve the quality of business processes and increase the competitiveness of organizations in the market. Benchmarking is one such tool.

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Modern large enterprises already consider this analysis as an important tool for their development strategies, and small and medium-sized businesses are often not even familiar with the concept of benchmarking and the meaning of this term. But such ignorance does not yet speak of this tool as useless, but quite the opposite, benchmarking can be used to increase the competitiveness of some small businesses.

There are many different definitions of this concept, and in order to fully understand what it contains, you should familiarize yourself with several of them.

The name benchmarking comes from two English words branch (height) and mark (mark).

There are the following definitions of this concept:

Benchmarking- the process of comparing the company's performance with the world's best organizations existing in the same market segment in order to make appropriate changes and maintain their success.
Benchmarking- a method of comparative analysis in order to apply the data obtained in practice to improve the efficiency and quality of the company's activities.
Benchmarking- the process of carefully reviewing the business processes of organizations and their performance, with the aim of comparing their activities with those of industry-leading companies and corporations, in order to use the obtained data to approximate and even overtake enterprises of the best in a single class.
Benchmarking– search for the best practices for the enterprise, leading to increased productivity and development.
Benchmarking- a development standard in which similar business processes should be analyzed and measured.

The phrase "Benchmarking" can mean:

Be smart and wise enough to recognize that there is always a competitor who is superior in some way.
To have sufficient wisdom not only to recognize, but also to adopt knowledge and skills from a direct competitor in order to catch up with him, and then get around him.

It is benchmarking today that allows you to quickly enough with minimal cost improve the activities of organizations. By understanding how industry-leading enterprises operate, one can reach the same heights, and possibly even surpass direct competitors. By carefully studying the achievements and mistakes of others, an entrepreneur can form his own strategy of action, which will be as effective as possible for his enterprise.

There is an unspoken rule in benchmarking: “If one entrepreneur came up with and succeeded, then another businessman who applied the same strategy in the same industry is likely to succeed.”

Historical edit

The use of this business tool began in the 80s of the 19th century. Many recognize Xerox as the pioneer or discoverer of this technique, because it, faced with more successful foreign competitors, copied their strategy and managed to outperform them in the market.

To implement their plans, the representatives of the company were faced with the task of answering sequentially two questions:

Which firm is the leader?
How did this company operate to be successful?

These questions are the basis of benchmarking today and still remain relevant.

Following Xerox, there were many others who chose to use this method or similar ones, thereby expanding the scope of benchmarking and refining the power of this tool.

The expansion of this business tool has led to the fact that the search for companies for analysis is no longer limited to considering direct competitors, but also affects other companies in the same field of activity or even in another. AT recent times analysis became more and more reduced to the search for answers only to the second question.

Analysis, search and identification of successful strategies of competitors is not all. It is quite a difficult job of a different kind to implement such a course of action in a particular organization.

Main types

There are the following types of benchmarking:

Interior. An analysis of a particular process within the organization itself that allows the compilation of indicators of processes that are similar or analogous.
Competitive. It is a process of comparing the main characteristics of an organization and comparing these parameters with the parameters of competitive organizations, in order to study specific products, intended capabilities and methods of administering work.
Functional. Analysis and comparison of certain indicators of companies (two or more) with the same business data of an enterprise that is the best and operates in identical conditions.
General. Is a comparison of the key indicators of production and sales of the company with the key indicators common to a large number competitors doing the same entrepreneurial activity. This type of benchmarking allows you to identify the main investment areas.

Phases

The competitive analysis process itself can consist of 4 main phases, each of which includes some steps.

Phase #1 - Preparation

The first step is to determine the object of the competitive analysis process. The value and level of relevance of an object intended to perform the tasks and main functions of the organization is measured and studied. In this process, areas are identified in which serious difficulties arise, probed narrow places and areas of particular interest are identified.
Thresholds are set in order to derive a score of success. The selected objects will be further considered depending on some of the most important aspects of the activity with the help of financial units. These aspects may include: costs, time, quality level, etc.
To conduct the most accurate and capacious analysis, additional informational resources such as: fairs, seminars, reports, business plans, surveys target audience, supplier surveys, exchange processes, inspection production capacity, reference data, chambers of commerce, information in the media, literature, etc.
Search for the main enterprises for comparative analysis. The selection of such organizations should be carried out not only within their market area. Other branches of activity may offer the most decisive and innovative methods suitable for companies engaged in completely different activities. An enterprise that is not a direct competitor is much more willing to provide more full information for more detailed comparison and analysis.

Phase #2 - Analysis

Based on the values and factors of the organization's work selected at the first stage, the most inefficient processes, services, products and technologies, the performance of their own enterprise and the reasons for such inefficiency are determined.
Directions are chosen that allow more effective organization of these processes and technologies. We will have to look for an answer to the question of why competing enterprises are better in this area.

Phase #3 - Implementation

At this stage, it is necessary to determine the goals of the proposed changes and strategies for their implementation. A detailed discussion of the expected results is carried out, a full awareness of the need for change and the exact goals of the organization's work are established, taking into account the introduction of new standards and forms of activity.
Compilation in progress detailed plan action, calculation of the resources spent on such a reorganization, the persons responsible for changes at each level are announced, a reorganization calendar is developed and the results of such activities are forecasted.
Implementation of all proposed changes according to the plan and calendar.
Changes are monitored at every stage of change, which is designed to compare the effectiveness of similar innovations. It also checks compliance with the planned restructuring plan and compliance with the target dates.

Phase #4 Repetition

Effective market methods and processes are constantly evolving and subject to major changes, what was yesterday the most innovative methodology is quickly becoming the standard. That is why the fourth stage should include a continuous process of improving the work of the organization. Well, in order to make work in this direction as simple as possible, you should use the documentation of benchmarking experience in as much detail as possible.

Examples of successful benchmarking

Ford

A good example of the use of such analysis can be found in the history of Ford. Benchmarking was carried out by its specialists in the 90s, when the company's position on the market was seriously shaken. In the course of this analysis, studies of car models were carried out, the number of which exceeded 50.

These studies were conducted in order to clarify the advantages and, accordingly, the disadvantages of each. According to such an analysis, the parameters of the best car were identified, which would allow to achieve the performance of competitors' companies and even surpass them.

The result of this company was the car model Taurus, which became the car of the year. Subsequently, the model lost its position due to the fact that improvements began to be made that deviate it from the original development concept based on the analysis of competitive models.

Nokia

This company has long been recognized as an international organization engaged in the creation of mobile devices and services. Nokia uses benchmarking to maintain its position in the market and develop by keeping track of time and progress in all areas of its activities (logistics, research, development, partner relations, people).

GIA

This company is a consulting firm that is engaged in market research, identifying profitable strategies and providing various types of services that allow companies to establish business processes. GIA constantly produces various benchmarking seminars. A typical project of this company includes 2 thematic seminars, where various business and analysis issues can be discussed.

Each seminar can be devoted to the following topics:

Economic improvements based on examples.
Learning how to run a profitable business based on the experience of competitors.
Exchange of key strategies and ideas between competent professionals from different business areas.
Training based on the mistakes made by other companies, as an opportunity to avoid wrong and unnecessary financial expenses in your own work.

What is compared in the benchmarking process?

Competitive analysis is not a highly specialized analysis that is limited to products or core business processes. Based on the past experience of similar studies, it can be said that the campaigns showed incredible originality and ingenuity in the selection of the main factors considered in the benchmarking process.

But with all this, one should not get carried away and forget that the essence of the analysis is to identify the reasons for the effectiveness of competitors. If the analysis begins with a general collection of information, then it should end with a clarification of the methodology of work. The result of the work should be the so-called implementation tool, which is a factor leading the company to high efficiency in the required area.

Benchmarking- a reliable method that allows you to improve business activities by studying the experience of other companies existing in the global market and in a particular area. This analysis becomes the strongest tool that increases the efficiency of companies and allows you to implement best practices that lead to development and profit.

Using the experience of leaders in their industry, focusing on the best practices they have tested in organization, production, management, etc., it is easier to reach a comparable level of your company and even gain an advantage. A method based on a rigorous analysis of someone else's experience, with the introduction of the best practices, the purpose of which is to optimize and increase the efficiency of one's own business, is called.

How to effectively use competitor analysis (and more)

Before starting the study, the first step is to select a standard, effective work and the commercial success of which is undeniable. Direct competitors, enterprises of the same industry, and even companies operating in completely different areas, but the most advanced in terms of production organization, management and marketing, can be used as a benchmark.

There are several types of benchmarking:

Competitive. Assumes comparative analysis competitors (similar products, implemented business processes, competitive advantages).

General. The best practices of companies in any industry are studied and adopted, in addition to the one in which the company using benchmarking operates.

Functional. The work of individual departments, the performance of specific functions (personnel management, supply, logistics, etc.) of close companies, not necessarily competitors, are compared.

Naturally, in the case of direct competitors, no one will reveal their cards voluntarily. Several methods of analysis are used here: the purchase of competitor's products with the study of their advantages, interviewing employees of related companies (general suppliers, for example), direct purchase of information, attracting leading employees of a competitor to work in their business. The most important thing is not just to study, understand the pros and cons of others, but to identify your own miscalculations and shortcomings, to introduce the best into your business.

Why Blind Imitation Doesn't Work

Through benchmarking, examples of better and more effective solutions and practices are tailored to the specific business. It is important not to use direct copying, but to synthesize something of your own, since simply copying the leader, which is taken as a standard, inevitably puts your business in the role of an eternal catch-up. It is important to understand the purpose of introducing someone else's experience, to correlate the cost of innovations and the magnitude of the result achieved. For example, the system ERP management not needed for a small company.

Benchmarking must be done continuously so as not to stagnate, lose competitive advantage and constantly stay ahead. It is a continuous process of improving the functioning of the business, based on the evaluation of products, services and the effectiveness of the most strong companies. This is a constant analysis, development and implementation of improvements, business optimization.

Successful benchmarking examples

One example of a classic analysis and implementation methodology is the development of XEROX Corporation, which includes 10 steps, divided into four stages:

Training. The object of benchmarking is identified, comprehensively evaluated in terms of money, all available information is analyzed, and an enterprise is selected for comparison.

Analysis. The main parameters are compared (quality, time and money costs, customer satisfaction), inefficient ones are singled out, the reasons why others are better are determined.

Implementation. Goals are set and optimization strategies are defined, the enterprise is made aware of the need for change, and a plan is drawn up. Changes are implemented with mandatory performance monitoring.

Repetition. Over time, all innovations become the standard on the market and require updating. Therefore, benchmarking is carried out on a new cycle.

XEROX changed its warehousing practices as part of its performance review of other companies finished products, launched a two-level distribution (by the way, for the first time in Russia), accelerated the assembly of products in areas where manual labor was required, etc. The study and implementation of the best practices of many companies has provided XEROX with a competitive advantage.

A good example is the benchmark comparisons conducted by Ford. Benchmarking was carried out in the nineties in order to raise the shaken position of the company. A global study was conducted on over 50 car models to explore their benefits and consumer preferences. Determined for each attractive property

Benchmarking is a system comparison organizational processes and performance, conducted on the basis of pre-selected indicators (Fig. 1). The purpose of benchmarking is to identify the gap between the best results achieved and those that the company is currently showing in order to develop new standards and / or improve processes.

There are four types of benchmarking.

Internal - comparison of performance results and applied techniques in different divisions of the company, i.e. in business units.
Competitive - comparing the performance and performance of the company with the performance and performance of its direct competitors.
Functional - comparison of indicators and performance of companies from the same industry.
General - comparing the performance and results of companies from different industries, carried out to find the most effective methods of work.

All types of benchmarking can be beneficial as they allow a company to better understand its strengths and weaknesses to identify problems and possible ways their elimination; they also show norms, set new directions, and generate new ideas designed to improve company performance.

Benchmarking methods vary depending on situational characteristics and/or explanatory factors that will help explain the difference in performance between the companies being compared. Moreover, some of the benchmarking methods reveal expected trends and how best practices will be developed. effective methods work. Other practical issues may also be explored in this analysis.

When to Apply the Model

The choice of the type of benchmarking depends on the goal. Keeping in mind that what is conceived and its implementation in practice usually do not have a 100% match, we can formulate the purpose of benchmarking as follows: it is a method of obtaining an answer to one of the following questions.

How well are we doing our job?
Are we doing our job as well as others?
How can we improve our performance?

The scope of a benchmarking project is determined by the impact that it is likely to have on the company, by how freely you can openly communicate the results obtained with it to everyone. stakeholders to increase the likelihood of success in the implementation of improvement projects, as well as the efforts required to achieve results that play an important role in practice.

How to use the model

Ideally, companies (or any other similar structures) participating in benchmarking should show higher or at least the same results as the company (structure) under study, which in this case is called the target. You can find such companies with the help of experts and through specialized publications. However, due to differences in products, processes, structures, or because of the peculiarities of leadership and management styles, it can sometimes be very difficult to compare companies.

This difficulty can be overcome by using one practical technique. Studies show that it is possible to compare companies in the sample using explanatory factors. Thus, the reliability of delivery of goods to the consumer depends, among other things, on the complexity of the product. Therefore, a number of companies with approximately the same product complexity will have similar indicators for this quality, which makes it possible to form a homogeneous group for benchmarking delivery reliability (Fig. 2 and 3).

The assumptions made about the performance of the target company can be more accurate if benchmarking is applied to an indicator (for example, reliability of delivery) taking into account several explanatory factors.

To conduct benchmarking, you must perform the following (sometimes overlapping) steps.

Determine the scope of the project.
Choose a benchmarking partner(s).
Determine the scores, metrics, and method for collecting the required data.
Gather data.
Analyze the differences, uncover the facts behind the numbers.
Present the results of the analysis and discuss their implications for the (new) goals.
Track the dynamics of the development of the event (monitor) with the help of ongoing benchmarking.

conclusions

Benchmarking is not easy at all. Too often, managers or consultants resort to benchmarking on their own initiative, forgetting to select in advance the necessary indicators or tools for conducting serious detailed analysis and presenting its results. It's hard to argue with the fact that many benchmarking projects fail. Comparing organizational processes and company performance in benchmarking is like comparing dissimilar items like apples and pears. Even if benchmarking is done correctly, significant differences in performance can be explained by the fact that “we are not like them”, and this “alienation syndrome” makes it difficult to use benchmarking as a mechanism to help set the company on a path of change in order to achieve higher results. In addition, the presence of competition may hinder the free exchange of information; sometimes this happens even within the company.

By using explanatory factors, benchmarking helps a company generate data for comparison that allows executives and managers not only to improve performance (actually point out opportunities for improvement), but also to show original and at the same time proven solutions, thanks to which they can cope with very difficult problems. Therefore, we argue that differences between companies included in a peer group should be encouraged rather than trying to exclude "dissimilar" members from it on the grounds that their products or processes are "incomparable" with others.