Benchmark
Benchmarking is the process of measuring an organization's internal processes then identifying, understanding, and adapting outstanding practices from other organizations considered to be best-in-class.
Point of reference
With benchmarking you seek a point of reference to mirror your own performances. Benchmarking is not a one-time event. Benchmarking is, if properly applied, a learning process to impove ones own performances.
It is a continuing process, which asks on one side to take a lot of effort, but on the other side will be profitable. If you campare activities or processes of your business with other businesses that score better in these aspects, you are benchmarking. In fact you perform a comparative study.
The origin of benchmarking
500 years BC Sun Tzu, a Chinese general wrote: If you know your enemy like yourself, there is no need to fear the result of hundred battles. This is the heart of the matter. The objectives of benchmarking are :
(1) to determine what and where improvements are called for,
(2) to analyze how other organizations achieve their high performance levels, and
(3) to use this information to improve performance.
Benchmark voor livestock farmers / benchmark for veterinarians
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