Abstract
In the last few years benchmarking developed to an outstanding tool for the enhancement of efficiency of private and public companies. In the whole company, precise benchmarking identifies the potentials of improvements and leads with the comprehension of "Best Practices" to enhancements of efficiency in performance and processes. Classification numbers serve for the positioning of a company and submit the way to learn from the bests. In the early 1990?s, the spread of benchmarking throughout the corporate environment led to a growing demand for consulting services. This demand resulted in the establishment of the Information Centre Benchmarking (ICB) at Fraunhofer IPK Berlin, which was founded in 1994 as the first German Benchmarking Institution. The IZB?s task is to support the benchmarking activities of German companies of industry and to service sector as well as of public institutions.