Book Reviews

Benchmarking:
The Search For Industry Best Practices That Lead To Superior Performance

By Robert C. Camp

Reviewed by Steve Buchwald, CIRM

This is one of the rare books that has something useful on every page. Although the reading can be a little slow if you are not currently engaged in or planning to start a benchmarking campaign, the information contained in this book is invaluable. The author is an engineering graduate of Cornell university who has worked for DuPont, Mobil Oil, and Xerox. In fact it was he who started the now famous Xerox benchmarking process.

The book is completely thought out, well organized, out excellently written. You can tell by the way it is written that the author has a great command of his subject matter. The first chapter is an introduction to Benchmarking and Robert Camp's ten step Benchmarking process. The second chapter discusses why a company should start the Benchmarking process. After that each chapter deals with one of the steps in the ten step process. The book concludes with a chapter on Maturity, what the author refers to as "Beyond Benchmarking". There are two appendices also included. The first is "Management Presentation Charts" and the second is "Case Studies". Finally, at the end of each chapter there is a relevant summary about the Xerox experience Benchmarking with L. L. Bean.

This book can be used effectively on many levels. Detailed examples help you to relate Benchmarking to your own environment. Quick reference guides help you get started as well as serving as an ongoing review. Case histories provide examples of actual Benchmarking. Personal tips from the author allow you to work effectively by avoiding the pitfalls. I have not seen many books on Benchmarking and I believe it is because most people think it is just looking at your competitors financial information and seeing how you compare. If you believe Benchmarking is a simple task and if you cannot understand how someone could write a whole book on it, I suggest the first thing you should do is get a hold of a copy of this book and read page 235 where Robert Camp has listed 15 Benchmarking Myths.

The author states in his working definition of "Benchmarking" that it is the "search for industry best practices that lead to superior performance". If you are looking for a new approach to target setting then this is the book for you. I would even go so far as to greatly recommend getting a copy of this book if you are even remotely considering Benchmarking. Good reading.