7.

7 BENCHMARKING OF SERVICES Benchmarking means measuring the performance of a business against that of the competitors in order to establish best practice. Benchmarking is a part of process of continuous improvement. Benchmarking can be applied at three levels: 1. Internal Benchmarking. 2. Competitive Benchmarking. 3. Functional or Generic Benchmarking. Internal Benchmarking: Internal Benchmarking is normally carried by large organization by way of comparison between operation units. For e.g.. Super market chain might benchmark operations across stores, financial across branches, different colleges under the same authority. But important thing is how performance is measured &this is clear link to the strategy of organization.

Competitive Benchmarking: At a second level competitive Benchmarking can be used. This is probably the most frequently use where comparisons are made with directly competitive organization. Customer participation is necessary because of which it will be easy to achieve in some service environments. For e.g: As a hotel owner, it is possible to sample the service to competitor simply by posing the guest. Often however, this is done in informal manner. A comparative impression gained of the service without examining the different facets in a structured way & attempting to measure them. Functional or Generic Benchmarking: The third approach is Functional or Generic Benchmarking, which compares specific functions such as distribution and after sale service. The advantage here is that information is sometime easier to obtain than when comparison are being made with competitors.

Care has to be taken in selecting the dimension & sales to be used for performance measuring and ensuring that due account is taken of all relevant factors.

THE PROCESS OF BENCHMARKING.

Determine the Parameters to be measured

Identify BEST competition

Determine data collection method

Compare Competitors performance with organizations performance

Establish action plans to close Gaps

Identify the factors that contribute to the performance Gaps

Set Targets to measure progress

Implement Action Plans

Monitor Performance against Targets

REPEAT