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Benchmarking is the practice of identifying another business that is the best, or one of the better practitioners, in its class and learning as much as possible from it. The term was popularized in the 1980s by Xerox Corporation's Robert C. Camp, who wrote the first major book on the subject, Benchmarking: The Search for Industry Best Practices that Lead to Superior Performance.

Benchmarking is a business strategy that is used primarily by manufacturers, although it is applicable to other business activities as well. While it may involve learning from one's competitors, benchmarking is more focused and narrowly defined than competitive analysis. Competitive analysis can be used in conjunction with benchmarking to identify gaps and provide strategic direction; benchmarking itself, however, measures specific performance gaps between a company and its...