Benchmarking

Whether you are interested in doing the same things better, moving into something completely new, or just interested in the competition, benchmarking can make a vital contribution to your business.

What is benchmarking?
Benchmarking is a way to compare the performance of your company to the 'best-in-class'. You may wish to compare operational processes, financial performance or other measures of quality and efficiency.

Benchmarking can be quick and provide immediate benefits. The exercise can identify areas of superior as well as under performance and where immediate actions will improve performance and profitability.

If you have a business strategy then benchmarking can help monitor how well this is going. Benchmarking can also help you if you are thinking of a new strategy by identifying strengths and weaknesses in your company.

Who would find benchmarking useful?
Benchmarking is a useful tool for seafood processors supplying:

- a niche product with relatively few competitors. It can help you track the performance of your company over successive time periods.
- a commodity product facing a number of competitors. It can help you understand how your company performs against your competitors in a specific time period.

It is also a useful tool for large processors who may wish to make comparisons between departments or between processing facilities on different sites.

Seafish benchmarking service
We provide a benchmarking service to support those looking to improve their business operations or develop their business strategy. The exercise can be undertaken at a very simple level or can be in-depth. Seafish offers a simple financial benchmark or more in-depth benchmarking:

Simple benchmark: This benchmark covers financial performance and includes turnover, costs, profits and selected financial ratios.

In-depth benchmark: This benchmark covers profitability, financial management, productivity, investment, growth, customer satisfaction, innovation, suppliers, people management, people satisfaction, business excellence, seafood manufacturing, waste, energy efficiency, and people performance.

For further information contact:

Angus Garrett
Senior Economist Economics
e: a_garrett@seafish.co.uk
t: 0131 524 8697