benchmarking

Definition

The corporate practice of copying what successful competitors do, rebranded as strategic analysis rather than admitted plagiarism.

Example Usage

We're benchmarking against Amazon's customer service, which means we're about to disappoint people in similar ways.

Origin

From land surveying 'benchmarks'; adopted by business consultants in the 1980s

Fun Fact

Companies often benchmark against competitors who were themselves benchmarking someone else, creating a circular game of telephone with best practices.

Source: Management consulting and quality improvement terminology

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benchmark

The corporate equivalent of a ruler that everyone uses to measure their inadequacy or superiority. It's either a standard against which everything else is evaluated, or a computer test that proves your new laptop is 0.3% faster than last year's model. Companies love benchmarks because they provide objective data to confirm subjective decisions they've already made.

💼 Corporate / Business

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