Benchmarking is a business practice: you look at a company that does something very well, take its performance as your standard, and measure yourself against it — usually so you can find out where you fall short and copy what works.

Benchmarking標竿學習 is a business practice是一種商業做法: you look at a company你去看一家公司 that does something very well某件事做得很好的, take its performance as your standard把它的表現當作自己的標準, and measure yourself against it然後拿自己跟它比較 — usually通常 so you can find out where you fall short是為了找出自己哪裡不足 and copy what works並學習有效的做法.

It is a noun (the -ing form used as a thing), and it is also the -ing form of the verb benchmark. So you can say "benchmarking is expensive" and "we are benchmarking our delivery times against theirs." The word that follows is normally against: you benchmark A against B.

It它 is a noun是一個名詞 (the -ing form used as a thing把 -ing 形式當名詞用), and同時 it is also the -ing form of the verb benchmark也是動詞 benchmark 的 -ing 形式. So所以 you can say你可以說 "benchmarking is expensive"「benchmarking is expensive」 and也可以說 "we are benchmarking our delivery times against theirs"「we are benchmarking our delivery times against theirs」. The word that follows後面接的字 is normally against通常是 against: you benchmark A against B也就是 benchmark A against B這樣用.

Two points on how it is really used. The strict business meaning is comparing yourself with other companies of the same type, and that is what a business textbook will test you on. But in ordinary office English the word has spread — people now use it for any careful comparison against a fixed standard, including comparing this year's team against last year's, or comparing computers and software for speed. In tech, "benchmarking" almost always means speed testing, with no other company involved at all.

Two points on how it is really used關於它實際上怎麼用有兩點. The strict business meaning嚴格的商業意義 is comparing yourself with other companies of the same type是拿自己跟同類型的其他公司比較, and that這 is what a business textbook will test you on也就是商業教科書會考的內容. But但 in ordinary office English在一般的辦公室英文裡 the word has spread這個字的用法擴大了 — people now use it現在大家會用它 for any careful comparison against a fixed standard指任何拿固定標準做的仔細比較, including comparing this year's team against last year's包括拿今年的團隊跟去年比, or comparing computers and software for speed或是比較電腦軟體的速度. In tech在科技領域, "benchmarking"「benchmarking」 almost always means speed testing幾乎都是指跑分測試, with no other company involved at all完全不涉及其他公司.

It is workplace and report vocabulary. Nobody uses it at dinner.

It這 is workplace and report vocabulary是職場和報告用語. Nobody uses it沒有人會用它 at dinner在吃飯的時候.