Benchmarking - Boston Research and Communications, Inc.

Boston Research & Communications Inc. is a qualitative research and analysis firm specializing in business research and analysis, as well as public affairs research and outreach. Specializing in Competitive research, Market research, Industry research, Public relations research, Public policy research and Issues research

Case Studies

Benchmarking

Cost Reduction via IT

A major manufacturing research group was studying ways to cut costs in the production of specialty carbonated beverages. Its client's costs were too high and had little experience in benchmarking. BR& C was retained to develop information on lower-cost operations and evaluate the findings. We identified key competitive differences in processes and performance. These included advances in automation that reduced packaging expenses, and changes in work rules, training and job sharing that cut labor requirements. The most important discovery, however, outlined major investments in information technology that reduced production losses and waste by 50 percent. These findings helped the ultimate client design an action plan to improve its own processes and profitability.

Using Proxies for Cost Comparisons

A New England research organization was studying whether the manufacture of a specialized automotive product could be done more cheaply by outsourcing major components, with the manufacturer restricting itself exclusively to final assembly. Boston Research & Communications, Inc. was asked to detail various elements of the outsource-oriented production process and estimate costs. A major company employing the new approach declined to be interviewed or otherwise participate. So we turned to another automotive manufacturer in the same city which was represented by the same labor union, was of similar size with comparable costs and knew the company in which we were interested. Through this proxy, we succeeded in estimating production costs, determining wage rates and salary scales, ratios of direct to indirect costs as well as salaried to direct labor, and overhead expenses as a percentage of total operating expenses.

Synthesis of In-house Information

A Fortune 500 services firm felt compelled to begin tracking the e-commerce initiatives of its major competitors. BR&C was asked to synthesize and analyze unorganized information from different locations within the firm. We developed briefs on each company covering the following:

Internet-related revenue
New products and services, including pricing, discounts and targeted markets
Strategies and strengths
Key partnerships and affiliations
Thought leadership activities, including demonstration centers, publications and forums

These findings supported assessments regarding overall market presence, range of vision, ability to execute and degree of threat. The client used our consolidation to create a baseline master reference document for firm-wide use and regular updating.