Strategic Benchmarking: How to Rate Your Company's Performance against the World's Best

Something fascinating is happening in American business. As global competition heats up, businesses are reexamining their operations, reassessing traditional methods, and learning important and profitable lessons from each other. Called "benchmarking", this process has emerged as a powerful new trend across a broad spectrum of American industry. As a quality executive with Xerox - and as one of the pioneers of the benchmarking movement - Greg Watson has firsthand knowledge of how this technique can improve a company's overall performance and competitiveness. And in Strategic Benchmarking, he shares that insight to offer business professionals invaluable advice on improving company performance at every level. After beginning with an in-depth discussion of benchmarking fundamentals, Strategic Benchmarking puts this revolutionary technique into action. A series of case studies from Hewlett-Packard, Ford, General Motors, and Xerox demonstrate benchmarking techniques in a variety of applications. Supplementary examples from both service industries and trade associations demonstrate benchmarking's potential applications in a variety of industries. Appendixes provide material to assist professionals in integrating benchmarking techniques into their own corporate strategies: the International Benchmarking Clearinghouse's (IBC) Benchmarking Code of Conduct; the American Productivity and Quality Center's (APQC) Benchmarking Recognition Award Criteria; sample benchmarking procedures; and more. Through its wealth of practical applications, Strategic Benchmarking goes beyond the nuts and bolts of the process to show managers how to turn benchmarking techniques into competitiveness and bigproductivity payoffs. It is an invaluable guide for managers who want to use benchmarking not just to survive today's turbulent business environment, but to realize long-term business growth.