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Benchmarking

The term benchmarking was first used by cobblers to measure people's feet for shoes. They would place someone's foot on a "bench" and mark it out to make the pattern for the shoes. Benchmarking is used to measure performance using a specific indicator (cost per unit of measure, productivity per unit of measure, cycle time of x per unit of measure or defects per unit of measure) resulting in a metric of performance that is then compared to others.

Also referred to as "best practice benchmarking" or "process benchmarking", this process is used in management and particularly strategic management, in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to best practice companies' processes, usually within a peer group defined for the purposes of comparison. This then allows organizations to develop plans on how to make improvements or adapt specific best practices, usually with the aim of increasing some aspect of performance. Benchmarking may be a one-off event, but is often treated as a continuous process in which organizations continually seek to improve their practices.

Benefits and use

1. 
   Mission and Vision Statements and Customer (Client) Surveys are the most used (by 77% of organizations of 20 improvement tools, followed by SWOT analysis (72%), and Informal Benchmarking (68%). Performance Benchmarking was used by 49% and Best Practice Benchmarking by 39%.
   
2. 
   The tools that are likely to increase in popularity the most over the next three years are Performance Benchmarking, Informal Benchmarking, SWOT, and Best Practice Benchmarking. Over 60% of organizations that are not currently using these tools indicated they are likely to use them in the next three years.
   

A core competency is a concept in management theory originally advocated by CK Prahalad, and Gary Hamel, two business book writers. In their view a core competency is a specific factor that a business sees as being central to the way it, or its employees, works. It fulfills three key criteria:

1. 
   It is not easy for competitors to imitate.
   
2. 
   It can be re-used widely for many products and markets.
   
3. 
   It must contribute to the end consumer's experienced benefits.
   

Core competencies are particular strengths relative to other organizations in the industry which provide the fundamental basis for the provision of added value. Core competencies are the collective learning in organizations, and involve how to coordinate diverse production skills and integrate multiple streams of technologies. It is communication, an involvement and a deep commitment to working across organizational boundaries. Few companies are likely to build world leadership in more than five or six fundamental competencies.

For an example of core competencies, when studying Walt Disney World - Parks and Resorts, there are three main core competencies:

• 
  Animatronics and Show Design
  
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  Storytelling, Story Creation and Themed Atmospheric Attractions
  
• 
  Efficient operation of theme parks
  

Core Competence

A core competence is the result of a specific set of skills or production techniques that deliver value to the customer. Such competences enable an organization to access a wide variety of markets. Executives should estimate the future challenges and opportunities of the business in order to stay on top of the game in varying situations.

In 1990 with their article titled "The Core Competence of the Corporation", Prahalad and Hamel illustrated that core competencies lead to the development of core products which further can be used to build many products for end users. Core competencies are developed through the process of continuous improvements over the period of time. To succeed in an emerging global market it is more important and required to build core competencies rather than vertical integration. NEC utilized its portfolio of core competencies to dominate the semiconductor, telecommunications and consumer electronics market. It is important to identify core competencies because it is difficult to retain those competencies in a price war and cost cutting environment. The author used the example of how to integrate core competences using strategic architecture in view of changing market requirements and evolving technologies. Management must realize that stakeholders to core competences are an asset which can be utilized to integrate and build the competencies. Competence building is an outcome of strategic architecture which must be enforced by top management in order to exploit its full capacity.

In Competing for the Future, the authors Prahalad and Hamel show how executives can develop the industry foresight necessary to adapt to industry changes, discover ways of controlling resources that will enable the company to attain goals despite any constraints. Executives should develop a point of view on which core competencies can be built for the future to revitalize the process of new business creation. The key to future industry leadership is to develop an independent point of view about tomorrow's opportunities and build capabilities that exploit them.

In order to be competitive an organization needs tangible resources but intangible resources like core competences are difficult and challenging to achieve. It is even critical to manage and enhance the competences with reference to industry changes and their future. For example, Microsoft has expertise in many IT based innovations where for a variety of reasons it is difficult for competitors to replicate Microsoft's core competences.

In a race to achieve cost cutting, quality and productivity most of the executives do not spend their time to develop a corporate view of the future because this exercise demands high intellectual energy and commitment. The difficult questions may challenge their own ability to view the future opportunities but an attempt to find their answers will lead towards organizational benefits.