Six major types are ;
1. Internal Benchmarking
Comparing similar activities and results of a company’s different operating units. Relevant for larger, diversified companies or holdings.
2. External Benchmarking
External benchmarking is conducted between;
3. Competitive Benchmarking
Comparison to direct market competitors
Our organization Our competitors
What are we doing? What are they doing?
How do we perform? How do they perform?
How well we are doing it? How well they are doing it?
Our abilities and and deficits? Their abilities and and deficits?
There are instances when competitive benchmarking can be highly beneficial, when the process in question is one which is particularly critical to an industry or that process is unique to the industry.
4. Functional Benchmarking
Compares of companies with an established level of excellence in a certain area
5. Cooperative Benchmarking
Asking to the best-in-class firms, if they will be willing to share knowledge with the benchmarking.
The target companies are usually not direct competitors of the benchmarking company, which is a key factor in securing cooperation
6. Collaborative Benchmarking
A group of firms share knowledge about a particular activity, all hoping to improve based upon what they learn
A third party often serves as coordinator, collector, and distributor of data, although an increasing number of firms are managing their own collaborative studies.