Improvements tend to be made incrementally, using convergent thinking. A strong virtue of benchmarking is that it can lead to very rapid improvement. Benchmarking can be done on 1. Producer outcomes 3. Innovation Innovation refers to the process of making a desired outcome easier to achieve.
Innovation is outcome-focused .
It requires divergent thinking and behavior, in anticipation of a future condition. Benchmarking , once completed, guarantees neither continual improvement nor innovation. Benchmarking can, at best, uncover how to be equal to the best. Customer-centered continuous innovation can enable the practitioners to become the best and sustain their leadership position. Outcomes are broad, global statements of customers' purpose for working with us.