Getting "inside" information about the unique practices of competitors is particularly difficult. Comparisons with competitors are most likely to focus on practices that the manager making the comparisons already employs. Managers are generally more receptive to new ideas that they find outside their own industry. Much of the success of good companies is due to their adoption of practices that take advantage of the special circumstances of their products or markets.
One way to judge the performance of a company is to compare it with other companies. This technique, commonly called "benchmarking, " permits the manager of a company to discover better industrial practices and can provide a justification for the adoption of good practices.
Any of the following, if true, is a valid reason for benchmarking the performance of a company against companies with which it is not in competition rather than against competitors EXCEPT: