ABSTRACT
Benchmarking is a process in which an organization compares the ways it does things with recognized standards of good or best practice. These standards might be represented by reports or observation of practices in other organizations acknowledged as leaders in their field, and/or with models of best practice such as those provided by the European Foundation for Quality Management. Although benchmarking can generate valuable information about what works well elsewhere and can thus indicate changes that could be made, the application of various data gathering and analysis techniques does not guarantee that best practice will actually be transferred. To do that successfully requires more than just having the knowledge of what will work better. This knowledge has to be applied and lead to changes in practice.
