Is Benchmarking a Passing Management Fad?

Indications are that the use of benchmarking worldwide continues to grow since Robert Camp wrote the first book on benchmarking in 1989. Support for this comes from

• The emergence of many on-line benchmarking resources such as the www.BPIR.com and an increased number of google searches for benchmarking year on year (as reported by the Benchmarking Exchange)
• The growth from year to year in membership of the Global Benchmarking Network, www.globalbenchmarking.org , which now has representatives from over 20 countries
• The growth in the number of countries that have a business excellence award to more than 70 (the growth in business excellence is likely to be correlated to the growth in benchmarking as a central part of business excellence is benchmarking with as much as 50% of the points associated with these models attributed to benchmarking) and
• The continuing popularity of benchmarking within the academic community as the number of papers written on the subject continues to grow. 

Different research studies have placed UK company involvement in benchmarking at 78%, 85%, and 60%, and a European study suggested that 88% of companies were involved in benchmarking. In the US a similar level of involvement was recorded by Bain & Company’s international management tools survey (of which 60% of respondents were US), it indicated that 84% of organisations used benchmarking.