Benchmarking as a development tool in healthcare

Abstract

Benchmarking (BM) has become one of the most popular management techniques. Since its development at Xerox Corporation in 1979 thousands of articles have been written about it [1,2]. Benchmarking has been used widely in all type of industries and countries [3]. Nandi and Banwet (2000) found 49 different definitions to benchmarking [4]. Many writers [5,6] have found Camp's (1995) formulation "Benchmarking is the search for industry best practices that will lead to superior performance" [7] the most cited and indicative definition. The most commonly cited typology is from the same source: the distinction between internal, competitive, functional and generic benchmarking [7,8]. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.