Benchmarking enterprise analysis refers to the systematic collection, collation, analysis and evaluation of existing or potential competitors in the market and industry in which the enterprise is located, in order to understand the objectives, strategies, strengths, weaknesses, reaction patterns, etc. of the benchmarking enterprise, so as to formulate corresponding competitive strategies and action plans. Benchmarking enterprise analysis is an important part of enterprise strategic management and marketing, which can help enterprises grasp market opportunities, avoid competitive risks, improve competitive advantages and achieve sustainable development.

However, many enterprises in the benchmarking enterprise analysis, due to the lack of correct methods and ideas, or by some subjective and objective factors, easy to fall into some misunderstandings, resulting in distortion or invalid analysis results, and even bring negative impact to the enterprise. Based on our practical experience, we have summarized three common misconceptions of corporate benchmarking business analysis, namely:

Excessive focus on direct benchmarking companies, ignoring potential benchmarking companies and substitutes. When conducting benchmarking business analysis, many companies only focus on competitors that are the same or similar to their own products or services, believing that they are the biggest threat, while ignoring those who may enter from other markets or industries, or provide different types of products or Competitors who are able to meet the same customer needs. Although these competitors do not constitute direct competition at present, they may become strong benchmark enterprises in the future, and even subvert the pattern of the whole industry. For example, Apple's iPhone not only competed directly with other mobile phone manufacturers, but also had a huge impact on industries such as digital cameras, MP3 players, and handheld game consoles. These industries may not have regarded Apple as a benchmark company.

Over-reliance on public information, ignoring the implicit capabilities and dynamic changes of benchmarking companies. When analyzing benchmarking enterprises, many enterprises mainly rely on the public information of benchmarking enterprises, such as official websites, annual reports, news reports, advertising, etc., which can reflect the real situation of benchmarking enterprises. However, this information is often intentionally presented to the outside world by benchmarking enterprises, which may be exaggerated, concealed, inaccurate or outdated, and cannot fully and accurately reflect the advantages and disadvantages of benchmarking enterprises, nor can it capture the dynamic changes of benchmarking enterprises in time. Therefore, enterprises also need to collect and analyze the implicit information of benchmarking enterprises through other channels, such as market research, customer feedback, industry associations, suppliers, distributors, employees, partners, etc., such as the strategic intention, innovation ability, organizational culture, core talents, potential crisis, etc., in order to have a deeper understanding of the internal ability and future development of benchmarking enterprises.

Excessive imitation of benchmarking enterprises, ignoring their own core competitiveness and differentiation advantages. When many enterprises conduct benchmarking enterprise analysis, they only want to find and learn the successful experience and excellent practices of benchmarking enterprises, and try to improve their market position and performance by imitating or surpassing benchmarking enterprises. However, this approach often ignores its own core competitiveness and differentiation advantages, causing enterprises to lose their own characteristics and positioning, fall into the quagmire of homogeneous competition, and fail to form a lasting competitive advantage. Therefore, when analyzing benchmarking enterprises, enterprises should not blindly imitate benchmarking enterprises, but should find out their differences and advantages with benchmarking enterprises according to their own resources, capabilities, goals and values. build their own core competitiveness and brand image, create their own market space.

In response to these misconceptions, we propose six effective benchmarking enterprise analysis methods, namely:

Using Porter's five forces model, we can comprehensively identify benchmarking enterprises and competitive environment. Porter's five forces model was proposed by Michael Porter, a famous American strategic management scholar, to analyze the structure and competitiveness of an industry, so as to determine the attractiveness and profitability of the industry. The Porter Five Forces model argues that an industry's competitiveness is influenced by five forces: benchmarking firms in the industry, potential entrants, substitutes, suppliers, and buyers. By analyzing the strength and interaction of these five forces, enterprises can comprehensively identify the number, type, scale, ability, strategy, behavior, etc. of benchmarking enterprises, as well as the threats and opportunities faced by benchmarking enterprises, so as to formulate appropriate competitive strategies. For example, when Shangpu Consulting Company conducted a benchmarking enterprise analysis for an automobile manufacturer, it used the Porter Five Forces Model and found that the benchmarking enterprises in this industry include not only other automobile manufacturers, but also new energy vehicles, bicycles, public transportation, etc. Alternatives, as well as stakeholders such as auto parts suppliers, auto dealers, and auto consumers, all of which have an impact on the competitiveness of the industry and need to be focused on and responded.

Use SWOT analysis to gain insight into the strengths and weaknesses of benchmarking companies. SWOT analysis is a commonly used strategic analysis tool used to analyze the strengths (Strengths), weaknesses (Weaknesses), opportunities (Opportunities) and threats (Threats) of an organization or project to determine its strategic goals and action plans. SWOT analysis can also be used for benchmarking enterprise analysis, by collecting and sorting out the internal and external information of benchmarking enterprises, analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of benchmarking enterprises, as well as the opportunities and threats faced by benchmarking enterprises, so as to reveal the core competitiveness and potential risks of benchmarking enterprises, as well as their own differences and similarities. For example, when Shangpu Consulting conducted a benchmarking enterprise analysis for an e-commerce platform, it used SWOT analysis and found that the platform's main benchmarking enterprises had the following advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages and Disadvantages

-Large user base and loyalty-Lack of innovative and differentiated products and services

-Strong logistics and distribution network-Legal and regulatory risks and challenges

-Rich variety of products and preferential activities-Complaints and lawsuits against network security and privacy protection

-Efficient technical and data analysis capabilities-impacted by emerging benchmarking companies and alternatives

Use value chain analysis to reveal the value creation process and key links of benchmarking enterprises. Value chain analysis was proposed by Michael Porter to analyze the process and structure of how an organization creates value and realizes profit for customers through its internal activities and external relationships. Value chain analysis divides an organization's activities into two categories, one is the main activities, including logistics, operations, marketing, sales and services, and the other is the auxiliary activities, including procurement, technology, human resources, finance and infrastructure. By analyzing the cost, benefit, efficiency, quality and innovation of these activities, enterprises can find out their own source of value creation and competitive advantage. Value chain analysis can also be used for benchmarking enterprise analysis. By comparing the value chain between itself and the benchmarking enterprise, the enterprise can find the value creation process and key links of the benchmarking enterprise, as well as the cost advantage and differentiation advantage of the benchmarking enterprise, so as to formulate the corresponding competitive strategy. For example, in conducting a benchmarking firm analysis for a hotel chain group, Champu Consulting used value chain analysis and found that the group's main benchmarking firms had the following sources of value creation and competitive advantages:

source of value creation competitive advantage

-high quality and personalized rooms and services-High-end and loyal customer base

-Global and diversified hotel distribution and brands-Wide and stable market share and revenue

-Advanced and intelligent booking and management system-Low and efficient operating costs and management costs

-Strong and professional human resources and training system-Excellent and loyal workforce and leadership

Use strategic group analysis to determine the strategic positioning and action mode of benchmarking enterprises. Strategic group analysis is a method used to analyze the strategic similarities and differences of different organizations in an industry. By grouping organizations with similar strategic characteristics into the same strategic group, the competitiveness and attractiveness of different strategic groups are compared. Strategic group analysis can be used for benchmarking enterprise analysis. By selecting some important strategic dimensions, such as product range, market coverage, cost structure, quality level, technical level, innovation ability, etc., benchmarking enterprises are divided into different strategic groups, so as to determine the strategic positioning and action mode of benchmarking enterprises, as well as the mutual influence and competitive relationship between benchmarking enterprises. For example, in conducting a benchmarking firm analysis for a software development company, Shangpu Consulting used strategic group analysis and found that benchmarking firms in the industry can be divided into the following four strategic groups based on the two dimensions of product range and technology level:

Product range Technical level Strategic group Representative enterprise

Narrow High Narrow High Group Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc

Narrow Low Narrow Low Group Some small software development companies.

IBM, Oracle, SAP, etc.

Use strategic group analysis to determine the strategic positioning and action mode of benchmarking enterprises. Strategic group analysis is a method used to analyze the strategic similarities and differences of different organizations in an industry. By grouping organizations with similar strategic characteristics into the same strategic group, the competitiveness and attractiveness of different strategic groups are compared. Strategic group analysis can be used for benchmarking enterprise analysis. By selecting some important strategic dimensions, such as product range, market coverage, cost structure, quality level, technical level, innovation ability, etc., benchmarking enterprises are divided into different strategic groups, so as to determine the strategic positioning and action mode of benchmarking enterprises, as well as the mutual influence and competitive relationship between benchmarking enterprises. For example, in conducting a benchmarking firm analysis for a software development company, Shangpu Consulting used strategic group analysis and found that benchmarking firms in the industry can be divided into the following four strategic groups based on the two dimensions of product range and technology level:

Product range Technical level Strategic group Representative enterprise

Narrow High Narrow High Group Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc

Narrow Low Narrow Low Group Some small software development companies.

IBM, Oracle, SAP, etc.

Wide low wide low group some large software outsourcing companies.

Use information analysis to collect and process effective information of benchmarking enterprises. Information analysis is a method used to collect, process, analyze and transmit benchmarking enterprise information, aiming to provide valuable information support for enterprise decision-making. Information analysis includes four stages, namely: information demand, information collection, information analysis and information transmission. Through the use of information analysis, enterprises can systematically obtain and use the information of benchmarking enterprises, so as to find out the trends and changes of benchmarking enterprises in time, predict the behavior and reaction of benchmarking enterprises, and formulate effective competitive strategies and action plans. For example, when conducting a benchmarking enterprise analysis for a clothing brand, Shangpu Consulting used information analysis to provide customers with valuable competitive information through the following steps:

Information needs: determine the information that customers need to know about the benchmarking enterprise, such as market share, sales, profit margin, product characteristics, pricing strategy, promotional activities, customer satisfaction, brand image, etc.

Information collection: use various channels and methods, such as network search, market research, customer research, secret shopping, industry reports, expert consultation, etc., to collect relevant information of benchmarking enterprises, and pay attention to distinguish the source, reliability, timeliness and importance of information.

Information analysis: the use of various analytical tools and techniques, such as data analysis, trend analysis, causal analysis, hypothesis testing, scenario analysis, etc., to process, integrate, summarize, reason and evaluate the collected information, so as to obtain meaningful.Conclusionand recommendations.

Information transmission: According to the customer's needs and preferences, choose the appropriate form and method, such as reports, presentations, charts, oral reports, etc., and pass the analysis results and recommendations to the customer in a clear, concise and powerful manner so that the customer can make decisions and actions.

Use comparative analysis to identify gaps and opportunities for benchmarking companies. Comparative analysis is a method used to compare the performance and level of oneself and benchmarking enterprises, by determining the strengths and weaknesses of oneself and benchmarking enterprises, so as to find out the gaps and opportunities between oneself and benchmarking enterprises. Comparative analysis can be used to analyze benchmarking enterprises. By selecting some important indicators and standards, such as market share, sales volume, profit margin, customer satisfaction, brand awareness, product quality, service level, etc., compare themselves horizontally and vertically with benchmarking enterprises, so as to find out the advantages and disadvantages of themselves and benchmarking enterprises, as well as the existing gaps and opportunities. For example, in conducting a benchmarking firm analysis for a fast food chain, Champu Consulting used comparative analysis to show its clients the results of a comparison between itself and the benchmarking firm through the following table:

Indicator own benchmarking enterprise a benchmarking enterprise B benchmarking enterprise c

Market share 15% 25% 20% 10%

Sales 10,001,500 million 12,000,800 million

Margin 10% 15% 12% 8%

Customer satisfaction 80% 85% 82% 75%

Brand awareness 70% 90% 80% 60%

Product quality excellent good

The service level is good and good.

Through comparative analysis, customers can find that they lag behind benchmark companies A and B in terms of market share, sales, profit margin, customer satisfaction, brand awareness, etc. This is their own disadvantage and gap, which needs to be improved and improved. At the same time, customers can also find that they are better than benchmark companies B and C in terms of product quality. This is their own advantages and opportunities, which need to be fully utilized and highlighted.