1. What kind of information did Xerox discover in its benchmarking study? Possibly, the best-known pioneer of benchmarking in Europe is Rank Xerox, the document and imaging company, which created the original market for copiers. The virtual monopoly the company had in this sector almost became its undoing, however. Spurred by the threat from the emerging Japanese copier companies, an in-depth study within the company recognized that fundamental changes were needed. To understand how it should change, the company decided to evaluate itself externally – a process which became known as competitive benchmarking. The results of this study shocked the company. Its Japanese rivals were selling machines for about what it cost Xerox to make them. Nor could this be explained by differences in quality. The study found that, when compared with its Japanese rivals, the company had nine times more suppliers, was rejecting ten times as many machines on the production line and taking twice as long to get products to the market. Benchmarking also showed that productivity would need to grow 18 per cent per year over 5 years if it was to catch up with its rivals.