Info: Compare the cost structure with your benchmark - User Manual

Every day, business professionals compare their clients' companies with the best market benchmarks and with the competition to find out if the cost structure is competitive, what are the strengths and to compare its performance.

There are four ways to achieve the benchmark relating to accounting data:

through sectoral benchmarks provided by specialized companies;
building a custom benchmark;
through code ATECO;
by nominative selection of competitors.

Although through Leanus it is possible to achieve the benchmark using all 4 modes, we believe that the first 3 methods excessively expose the analyst to the risk of using an unrepresentative benchmark.
The reasons are different and only partially reported here.

The real competitors are few
Only commercial enterprises (think of automatic distribution, bars, retail) have such a large number of competing players that they can justify the significance of the statistical analysis carried out in order to determine the benchmark. In most cases, however, it is more useful to deal with the companies with which we collide every day on the market because they are similar in terms of customer served, way of operating, products sold and distribution logics followed!

Business models are very different
Generally the companies producing similar goods and services operate with very different models from each other to the point of making it almost impossible to determine a profile. The differences in fact concern the business model (Service Only, Production Only, Mixed), the Production methods (for the Warehouse, on Order), the geographical coverage (Region, Country, etc.), the Specialization, etc.

Code ATECO it is not a guarantee of homogeneity
Code ATECO it is not actually representative of the type of activity carried out by the company and is generally not updated or aligned with the changes in activity that characterize the company throughout its history.

The budget does not reveal all the mysteries!
Most companies operate simultaneously in sometimes very different sectors (eg service activities together with real estate activities, or SW services together with the purchase and sale of HW and marketing of finished products, etc).

Many competitors are foreigners
The benchmark cannot be composed, in most cases, only by Italian subjects. Most companies operate in different markets, with different products and services and therefore with different competitors.

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But then does this mean giving up the Benchmark?

The answer of course is no, you shouldn't give up. So what to do to compare your company with its competitors without having to bear the costs of a professional firm?
Each entrepreneur knows perfectly well who their competitors are, who they are the subjects with whom to win the battle to win and / or keep new customers. Just ask them!
In addition to the first three methods, Leanus makes it possible to compare the financial statements of a company and those of its competitors (Italian and foreign) by selecting them by name.
(to view the guide to create the Leanus benchmark in just a few clicks click here)
After selecting the competitors (both Italian and foreign), it is possible to compare: