BENCHMARKING FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH

The concept of benchmarking comes from English, it is also known as comparative performance analysis and represents a strategic and operational management method adopted by companies with the aim of improving performance. Benchmarking is a complex process of comparing a company's products, services, indicators, results with those of market leaders, having in mind the same field or even different fields. Benchmarking is a vast field, with most research and results focusing on methodologies, reference models and analysis of success or failure factors. It does not only measure the performance gap (difference), but also helps to understand the underlying processes, respectively the underlying processes, which are fundamental and less visible. Also, benchmarking is not limited to comparing financial data, but can be carried out depending on the object and the comparison partner, respectively: Internal Benchmarking, Functional Benchmarking (General), Competitive Benchmarking, Strategic Benchmarking. In conclusion, benchmarking is a strategic process that transforms external data and information into internal actions with the aim of improving the company's performance.