A review of literature on benchmarking

Benchmarking is recognised as an essential tool for continuous improvement of quality. A large number of publications by various authors reflect the interest in this technique. Reviews of literature on benchmarking have been done in the past by a few authors. However, considering the contributions in the recent times, a more comprehensive review is attempted here. In this paper, the authors have reviewed benchmarking literature in a way that would help researchers, academicians and practitioners to take a closer look at the growth, development and applicability of this technique. The authors have examined various papers and have proposed a different scheme of classification. In addition, certain gaps that would provide hints for further research in benchmarking have been identified.