Final answer:
Managers use benchmarking to identify best practices used by others in order to improve their own business processes. Benchmarking involves comparing to industry bests and using expert intuition as a guide during the analysis.
Step-by-step explanation:
When managers use benchmarking in the planning process, they usually try to identify best practices used by others. Benchmarking is the process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests or best practices from other companies. The aim is to determine how well a company is performing compared to others and to identify the methods by which those performing at the highest levels achieve their success. This can lead to the adoption of best practices that improve performance. Experts often have a pretty good sense of the answer even before a detailed analysis, demonstrating the cognitive skills to make decisions and the ability to rely on rules of thumb. This intuition or heuristic serves as a guide to identify possible mistakes and ensures a closer examination of the processes being benchmarked.