Marketing benchmarks are marketing standards of attainment, excellence or factor against which other things of similar nature must be measured.
In marketing dictionary, benchmark is defined as the standard by which all items of similar nature can be compared or assessed. These standards can be used in comparison with other items belonging to the same industry, between competitors, and with other businesses.
The business world contains many different industries and many different companies. No matter how similar two companies might be – there will always be differences in how they handle their day-to-day operations. One thing, however, that rarely changes is the fact that companies must adhere to federal and state regulations regarding how they conduct their business. With the globalization of integral business and corporation expansion, has come the increased focus on corporate compliance. Companies cannot do as they please; there are regulatory factors that balance ethics with rationality. For example, simply because a company can make a product cheaper by polluting the environment, does not give it the right to do so. Compliance means following the law.