Benchmarking

CLASSIC ARTICLE - For several decades, big business has used a management tool known as "benchmarking" to measure performance, motivate employees, and build profits. Now the nonprofit sector is adapting this technique to meet its own needs and to fit its own culture. Christine W. Letts, William P. Ryan and Allen Grossman of the Harvard Business School explain how benchmarking can help nonprofits improve services. They show how the process has been successfully implemented at two organizations, one large and one small.