Selection of an Optimal Benchmarking Pattern in consideration of the Performance of Marketing Research Projects (Case Study: IRC Group)

Marketing research companies are classified mainly as project-based companies. According to the variety of activities, processes and projects that are undertaken by these companies, benchmarking is considered as an effective tool. However, benchmarking has various forms. In a common classification, nine forms are introduced depending on the source and content of benchmarking. Thus, this research has been done with the aim of investigating different forms of benchmarking and their impact on the project performance of IRC group. This research was descriptive-survey and the main tool for gathering information through the research was questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed based on seven-point Likert scale and distributed among the project managers and supervisors of IRC group. Totally, information related to the 38 questionnaires that were filled out correctly, entered into the software. Collected data were analyzed using regression method and beta coefficients via SPSS software. The results showed that "process-competitive", "performance-competitive", "process-internal" and "strategy-general” benchmarking patterns are the best suggested options for market research companies and have more strong relationship with the performance improvement of market research projects.