Industry Research: Industry Benchmarking & Financial Ratios

Simplistically, the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) poses benchmarking (BM) as:  "the practice of being humble enough to admit that others may have better processes and wise enought to learn how to match or even surpass them."

Formally, BM in business is both a commitment to a cultural mind set of continuing self-improvement and a formal structure of analytical tools & procedures for identifying "best practices", gathering data, and making internal measurable comparisons and/or adjustments in areas of performance, processes, solvency, or operations when compared to "peers" or other business/industry sectors.  BM  defines a point(s) of reference and identifies attributes of measureable metrics & ideals informing that value, and takes measures against them for comparative purposes.  Gathered data might be quantitative or qualitative such as surveys of attitudes or opinions.

Operationally,the process of BM, in short, is viewed as:

• identify within a business unit an area, activity or product to assess.
  
• orchestrate a culture of staff commitment & buy-in.
  
• determine metrics of performance or quality standards defining the selected target and against which to measure.
  
• identify and collect normative from various sources internal or external.
  
• analyze data findings for short-comings or acceptability and react to findings.
  
• draw conclusions, make appropriate adjustments, and implement "best practices" and/or changes necessary to enhance a business unit's overall operational performance, effectiveness, or competitive edge.
  
• to be effective, BM should be a cycle of continuing commitment by an organization.
  
• it is not a one-time quick fix.
  

For more insight about benchmarking, see these brief overviews:

Benchmarking    by Sara  Weiner in the Encyclopedia of Industrial & Organizational Psychology, 2007

Benchmarking   by Su Dahlgaard-Park in Sage Encyclopedia of Quality and the Service Economy, 2015.

These library resources provide financial or business ratio data for industries as well as a composite of financial statements data drawn from business entities of all sizes & locations.  Note, some resources tend to group/present financial data into categories defined by Standard Industrial Classification [SIC] code numbers & schema.  To understand what a specific resource title offers, its data content, or structural/organizational arrangement, it is highly advised to read the beginning introductory preface/explanation.  All financial numbers are real; source companies/businesses are themselves anonymous.

Fuzzy on knowing about NAICS or SIC ??? - -  refer to this guide's page, Business/Industry Codes.

Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios.  (Leo Troy).  [REF] HF5681. R25 A45

Offers performance data on 50 financial/operating indicators, including ratios covering 200 industries in North America. Industry data, defined thru NAICS codes, is broken into 13 size categories for targeted benchmarking.  Financial numbers are derived from IRS data; statistics lag behind publication date by three years.

Dun & Bradstreet's Industry Norms & Key Business Ratios.  [REF] HF5681. R25 I533

Drawing from D&B's large, timely, national composite of financial statements data, the 5 volume series covers:  Manufacturing, Wholesaling, Retailing, Agriculture/mining, and Finance/real estate/professional services, and represents about 800 SIC defined business/industrial categories. Entries include income statement & balance sheet data, composites on 14 financial ratio values for comparison, and includes  sub-grouping details by geographic area and asset breakdown.  Helpful explanations of ratios & their meanings.

RMA Annual Statement Studies. (Robert Morris Associates).  [REF]  HF5681. B2 R6

Covers more than 750 lines of business/industrial activity determined using NAICS codes, including retailing, service sector, wholesaling, and manufacturing.  Data elements draw from over 276,000 statements.  Reportings include financial information and ratios.  Source data derived from companies with less than $250 million in total assets.  Includes NAICS codes, explanations of financial data elements, and excellent definitions/interpretations of some ratios.

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys.  [electronic  database].

S&P Industry Surveys offer focused overviews of major industries, including operating environment, structure, trends, key ratios/statistics (industry overall), and comparative company analysis, including major, specific company's financials, and selective ratio calculations for them over time.  Reports, averaging 40+ pages, are updated twice yearly.  Lots of informative, textual analysis and commentary offered.   Surveys available online in NetAdvantage.

Ratios (and their analysis) are effective, measurable indicators of a business/industry performance, and are widely applied in the business sector.  As a comparative concept, ratios or ratio analysis essentially are:

• mathematical relationship between two quantitative entities.
  
• derived from financial data elements found in cash flow statements, balance sheet data, income statements, or securities pricings.
  
• a ratio's value is determined from dividing one (or more) "financial element(s)" by another "financial element(s)" to obtain a relationship value.
  
• true, significant value of the ratio number lies with understanding its meaning in the context of what it reveals about an entity's internal operations/practices, how an organization adjusts (or not) practices or operations internally, and how one's collective of ratios compare to a composite of peers.
  
• ratio's validity & integrity is only as good as the underlying financial data driving them.
  
• overall a cluster of standard, accepted financial ratio calculations address operational issues of:  solvency, profitability, and efficiency.
  
• ratio measures are time-sensitive to the time period covered by underlying data.
  
• See Dun & Bradstreet's Industry Norms & Key Business Ratios for an excellent, short section of ratios, computation values, and explanation.