Future trends in benchmarking for competitive advantage: A global survey

Abstract

As the pace of change accelerates in the 21st Century as a result of technological opportunities, liberalization of world markets, demands for innovation, quality and speed, organizations have to readjust and realign their operations to counter all these challenges. The pace of change has increasingly forced organizations to be more outward looking, market oriented and knowledge driven. A useful tool that can help businesses build strong capabilities, ensure an inward flow of ideas and establish true competitive gaps is benchmarking. This paper presents the findings of a global survey, undertaken by the European Centre for Total Quality Management (UK), which was aimed at assessing the trends and future directions of benchmarking and the transfer of best practices. Overall, 227 organizations took part in the study. Participant organizations came from 32 different countries, all involved in benchmarking. The participants had a wide cross-section of organizational sectors, ranging from non-profit and government agencies to environmental management services and auto parts manufacturers. The survey shed light on current trends in benchmarking (its spread and the benefits achieved) and highlighted some issues that will affect its future, mainly the effects of information technology and globalization. These factors were seen as an opportunity rather than threat by most study participants. The paper provides an analysis of these results and provides recommended best practices for achieving competitive advantage through benchmarking in the future.