Benchmarking and knowledge management – a European approach

In the last decade, many firms have developed knowledge management (KM) practices into their strategy. However, many organisations have failed in their implementation. This article focuses on a tool that can help to overcome the barriers for KM practices: Benchmarking. Starting from an operational benchmarking introduction model, the relationships existing between the model's stages and the aspects related to KM are described. Exploratory research among European managers is then carried out to describe the main areas, benefits and obstacles of benchmarking. Finally, the links between the different types of knowledge and the different stages of benchmarking are explored.