'How's my rival better than me?'

摘要

"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperilled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperilled in every single battle." - Sun Tzu in 'The Art of War' This wisdom applies equally to the 'battles' that happen in corporate boardrooms every day, which are no less rigorous in terms of the strategy, planning, and execution required to be victorious. Over the years, many corporate executives have been using decision support tools to try and gain competitive advantage over peers. Like a 'flavour of the month', terms such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Business Process Re-engineering, and Outsourcing came into use. One technique many companies are adopting rigorously in recent years is benchmarking. Bain and Go's research report in 2011 lists benchmarking as one of the top management tools used by executives across geographies.