Question

1. 1. Outline a typical benchmarking methodology. How may steps differ when benchmarking against a direct competitor?                          
   2. Explain the specific types of benchmarking listed;
2. 1. Strategic benchmarking                                                                        (2 marks)
   2. Functional benchmarking                                                                     (2 marks)
   3. Process benchmarking                                                                         (2 marks)

1. c. Identify benefits that the workforce may have when involved in TPM programs.           

PLEASE TYPE ANSWER

Answer 1

a: Benchmarking is a way of discovering what is the best performance being achieved – whether in a particular company, by a competitor. This information can then be used to identify gaps in an organization’s processes in order to achieve a competitive advantage.

There are typically 8 steps that are used for conducting trend analysis, peer comparisons or a benchmarking effort.

1. Understand the Context: We need to understand the context of the benchmarking exercise. What is the source of the issue being discussed/ What is the timeline to provide an answer? Will this be a one-time activity or a permanent process?
2. Develop Performance Measures: Performance measures are developed that relate to the performance questions being discussed. For a permanent process, the same measures will be used year after year, however, for a one-time activity, unique performance measures will have to be developed each time the activity is performed.
3. Establish a Peer Group: Selecting a peer group is an important part of the benchmarking process. A well-selected peer group can provide solid guidance to the organization and help decision-makers towards appropriate directions.
4. Compare Performance: This step focuses on gathering the data associated with the performance measures identified earlier and analyze that data. This step should not only analyze the data of the past few years but should also look at trends in that data.
5. Contact Best-practices Peers: The intent of this step is to verify that there are no external factors involved that explain the performance and to identify the practices that can be adopted to improve the performance.
6. Develop Implementation Strategies
7. Implement the Strategy
8. Monitor Results: The results are monitored at regular intervals(Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly or Annually) to determine if the strategies are having a positive effect on the performance.

When Benchmarking against a direct competitor we have a difference as below:

Benchmarking	Benchmarking Against Competitor
Focuses on best practices	Focuses on performance measures
Strives for continuous improvement	Bandage or quick fix
Partnering to share information	Considered corporate spying by some
Needed to maintain a competitive edge	Simply a “nice to have”
Adapting based on customer needs after examination of the best	Attempting to mirror another company/process