Competitive comparisons and benchmarking can be used by all businesses. They are critical to organizational learning and continuous improvement. To provide the impetus for significant, or breakthrough, change. To facilitate a better understanding of your processes and employee performance. The basic definition of a comparison is the examination of two items to discover similarities and dissimilarities.
Comparisons have many obvious uses in business.
Comparing a finished product to its specifications is one example of the comparative process. However, competitive comparisons are needed to truly understand your performance. They establish the relative value or quality of your business' performance. Competitive comparisons also help identify desired or required levels of performance. Referring to the original example, if your sales are up 5 percent, but the industry average is a 10 percent increase for the same time period, then your performance takes on an entirely new meaning.