1. What do you think motivates Xerox to invest in benchmarking?

Ans: The essence of benchmarking is the process of identifying the highest standards of
excellence for products, services, or processes, and then making the improvements necessary to
reach those standards, commonly called “best practices”. The justification lies partly in the
question: “Why re-invent the wheel if I can learn from someone who has already done it?”
Jackson Grayson Jr, chairman of the Houston-based American Productivity and Quality Center,
which offers training in benchmarking and consulting services, reports an incredible amount of
interest in benchmarking. Benchmarking was begun in the late 1970s by Xerox Corporation.
During this time, Xerox was losing market share and feeling a lot of pressure from its
competitors. In an attempt to try and “get back into the game”, Xerox decided to compare its
operations to those of its competitors. After finding quality standards with which to compare
itself, Xerox began one of the greatest trends in the business world today. Benchmarking is the
process by which companies look at the “best” in the industry and try to imitate their styles and
processes. This helps companies to determine what they could be doing better. The decision to
begin benchmarking is valuable to companies by opening up many different ideas to processes,
approaches, and concerns. Leapfrogging competition is another reason to use benchmarking as a
strategic tool. A company’s competitors may be stuck in the same rut as the company deciding to
benchmark. It would be possible to get a jump on competitors by using new-found strategies.
This opens up an opportunity for growth that the competitors may not be aware of.
Benchmarking is an essential tool for companies to invest in for their own benefits as it helps
them know what they are lacking in producing, processing, servicing from their competitors.
After analyzing the Japanese competitor they found that, they were sold for less than Xerox
could manufacture them. It had nine times as many suppliers as the Japanese companies and
made seven times as many manufacturing defects. Lead times for new products were twice as
long, and production setup times were five times as long as the competitors. These information’s
motivated Xerox to invest in benchmark, the Japanese competitors information’s have become
Xerox’s standards to evaluate where they are lacking behind and to reach the standards.
2. Using public domain information, such as that available on the Internet, determine
where Xerox stands relative to its competitors today. 

Ans: Xerox has long defined the workplace experience and continues to innovate in key areas of
technology that include digital packaging and print. With annual revenues of approximately
US$9 billion, the company continues to be a leading global provider of digital print technology
and related services, software and solutions. Xerox began by implementing competitive
benchmarking, the company found this type of benchmarking to be inadequate as the very best
practices, in some processes or operations were not being practiced by copier companies. The
company then adopted functional benchmarking as it involves study of the best practices
regardless of the industry. Xerox is faced with competition from the following Companies:
Canon, HP, Konica Minolta, Ricoh and Brother Industries.
Canon Inc. is a Japanese multinational corporation specializing in the manufacture of imaging
and optical products such as cameras, professional displays, TV broadcasting and film
equipment, photocopiers, photolithography equipment, computer printers, image scanners, and
other related products. It was founded on August 10, 1937 and is headquartered in Ota, Tokyo,
Japan. Canon is undeniably Xerox's biggest competitor in the industry, debatably the number one
copier brand worldwide. Canon has been known for its superior machines at affordable prices,
accompanied by plenty of brand marketing. However, Xerox trumps Canon as it caters to print
shops and copiers in large printing presses, in-house corporate environments and print-for-pay
environments. 
HP Inc. is an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo
Alto, California. The company develops personal computers, printers and related supplies, as
well as 3D printing solutions. First formed in 2015 and renamed from the original Hewlett-
Packard Company which was founded in 1939. It is headquartered in Palo, Alto, United States. It
is no doubt that Xerox considers HP a formidable competitor in the printing industry as the
company has offered a current US$35 billion bid to take over its rival. HP is known for its
affordable multifunctional copiers and printers perfect for standard needs but not for high-
volume or production printing which is what favors Xerox more. 
Konica Minolta, Inc. is a Japanese multinational technology company headquartered in
Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo with 44,360 employees and offices in 49 countries worldwide. It
was formed by a merger between imaging firms Konica and Minolta but was first founded in
1873. The company offers IT solutions, commercial and industrial print systems, services and
related supplies, camera and lens development and production, and other related technologies. In
comparison to the previously listed companies, Konica Minolta stands up to be a competitor
when it comes to production printing instead of the usual commercial printing. Konica printers
are known for its excellent image quality, high speed, and black and white production printers.
However, it cannot compete with Xerox in the absolute highest end market as they are still
considered the top option.
Brother Industries, Ltd. or simply, Brother is a Japanese multinational electronics and electrical
equipment company whose products include printers, typewriters, fax machines, and other
computer-related electronics. It was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Nagoya, Japan. The
company manufactures and distributes products under its own brand and under OEM agreements
with other companies. Similar to the first two companies, Brother is best known for its cheap
multifunction laser copiers for home use, SMBs and large businesses. But due to their units not
being heavy duty machines, they are not intended for high usage environments and fair best as
excellent low volume printing systems. Due to this, Xerox clearly has an advantage for being the
top and go-to for heavy duty machine
Xerox began by implementing competitive benchmarking. However, the company found this
type of benchmarking to be inadequate as the very best practices, in some processes or
operations were not being practiced by copier companies. The company then adopted functional
benchmarking, which involved a study of the best practices followed by a variety of companies
regardless of the industry they belonged to. Analysts remarked that continuous benchmarking
helped companies deliver best quality products and services and survive competition in all
businesses. The survival in the increasingly competitive market requires Xerox Corporation to
set the clear differentiation basis that could provide an edge against rivals. Xerox Corporation
Marketing Strategy should focus on identifying unique selling propositions (USPs). Some
examples of USPs are the highest quality, lowest cost or uniqueness of idea. Identifying USPs is
not sufficient as the effectiveness of the Marketing Strategy of Xerox Corporation will directly
depend on management's ability to communicate the identified unique selling propositions. The
Xerox Corporation can apply Porter's generic strategies model to explore how competitive
advantage can be created.