If I were training for the 100-meter dash at the upcoming Olympics, what should I use as my standard? Should I use the best time ever ran by a St. Lucian? Or should I use the world record time? I am sure the answer is unanimous, the world record time of course. The process of comparing and analyzing my performance against the best performance for a 100-meter dash is what is referred to in management literature as benchmarking. Given information on that record setting race, and information on other world-class sprinters, I would compare my training practices, diet, athletic gear, take off at the block, build up during the race, and my attack on the home stretch with that of the sprinters in an effort to learn of and adopt (copy) effective practices. Unless I use best practice as a standard, I may never set any stretch goals for myself, and it may take me a long time to improve my performance if at all.Formally, benchmarking can be defined as "measuring your performance against that of best-in-class organizations determining how the best-in-class achieve those performance levels, and using the information as a basis for your own organization’s targets, strategies, and implementation".
Benchmarking is a copying technique, and you do not get flunked for practicing it. On the contrary, you can end up getting an A grade for improved performance as a result of it. Many of the successes of Japanese firms over the last few decades were achieved precisely through the use of this concept. The Japanese are well-known as the "best" copycats. In the late 1970s, Canon benchmarked its copiers against that of Xerox copiers and were able to produce copiers that retailed at the cost of producing a Xerox copier. Xerox had become quite complacent as a market leader and under-estimated the competition from Canon. Needless to say that Xerox lost a phenomenal amount of market share to Canon. In 1983, in a fight back attempt, Xerox conducted benchmarking exercises against Canon, and embarked on a major quality strategy to help them regain market share. Yamaha Grand pianos represent another fine example of benchmarking. Its design and manufacturing was benchmarked against the world-class Steinway Grand.
There are four common types of benchmarking: 1) internal benchmarking focused on internal operations; 2) competitive benchmarking involving competitor-to-competitor comparisons; 3) functional benchmarking involving the comparison of similar functions; and 4) generic benchmarking which involves comparing similar functions and/or processes regardless of industry.
The number of benchmarking exercises that take place between international and multinational companies are too numerous to mention - they span the automobile industry to utility companies to government departments. Many of these companies participate openly in benchmarking exercises with each other - in other words, "let’s compare notes". Obviously, they have a lot more to gain than to loose by having someone study how they operate and vice versa.
There are six crucial steps in a benchmarking process: 1) Decide what to benchmark; 2) Plan the benchmarking project; 3) Understand your own current performance; 4) Study others; 5) Learn from the data collected; and 6) Use the findings to improve your own performance. Benchmarking is a multidimensional, multi-functional approach to determining performance objectives. Literally, any aspect of an organization can be benchmarked - accounting procedures, distribution strategies, inventory management, product handling, and many, many more.
Benchmarking has several benefits: 1) The best practices from any industry may be creatively incorporated into a company’s operations; 2) Benchmarking can be motivating. It provides challenging targets that have been achieved by others; 3) Resistance to change may be lessened if the ideas for improvement came from other industries; 4) Benchmarking broaden people’s experience base and increases knowledge; and 5) Potentially useful breakthroughs from other industries may be identified early. It is important to note, that benchmarking exercises do not have to involve direct competitors. For example, a hotel can benchmark its reservation system against that of an airline company and vice versa.
Can St. Lucians benefit from benchmarking? My answer is a resounding yes - in all aspects of both public and private sector organizations. However, there are prerequisites. Organizations must be broad-minded, they must be willing to accept criticism, they must have readily available information (data), and they must be goal-oriented. Some examples of benchmarking exercises we can undertake include: 1) benchmarking evidence-gathering procedures by the Police Force; 2) benchmarking our transportation system; 3) benchmarking our garbage collection strategies; 4) benchmarking our traffic laws; 5) benchmarking our public awareness campaigns about HIV-AIDS, drunk driving, reckless driving, littering, public safety, if we do indeed have these campaigns; 6) benchmarking our urban development strategies; 7) benchmarking our environmental management approaches; 8) benchmarking our educational system; 9) benchmarking the quality of our politicians; 10) benchmarking our voter registration procedures, 11) benchmarking customer service; 12) benchmarking food-handling and display in supermarkets; and last and very important, benchmarking our procedures for producing quality bananas.
I am sure if we search hard enough, we can find some excellent benchmarking candidates with which St. Lucian organizations and institutions can compare their performance. I recently returned from a short trip to Guadeloupe and visited a supermarket called CORA in Gosier near the capital Point a Pitre. I think Glace, J.Q. Charles, Julians, and every other grocery store in St. Lucia should take a trip to that supermarket to learn about handling food, and about aesthetics in food presentation. I never knew trotters could look so clean!
