Commission to promote industrial benchmarking
The European Commission has announced a series of initiatives aimed at promoting benchmarking as a technique for enhancing the competitiveness of European industry. The initiatives are contained in a communication, adopted on 16 April 1997, entitled "Benchmarking: Implementation of an instrument available to economic agents and public authorities". Benchmarking is a tool to monitor progress on an on-going basis and to assess the situation against continuously improving best practice worldwide. It goes beyond competitive analysis by providing an understanding of the process and skills that create superior performance. This communication follows on from an earlier communication from October 1996, which outlined the potential offered by benchmarking, and aims to promote its implementation in practice. Initiatives to be undertaken include: - Creation of a high level consultative group, which will set out guidelines for benchmarking and selecting pilot projects for support; - Launching of pilot projects aimed at encouraging the exchange of experience and best practice. These will cover themes such as the impact of globalization and new technologies; financing of innovation; logistics and transport; and human resources development; - Establishment of a network in the Member States, responsible for undertaking the pilot projects.