The document discusses how benchmarking helped Xerox improve. It describes how Xerox instituted benchmarking in 1981 after its market share declined. Benchmarking identified best practices in quality, costs, and processes. Xerox cut quality problems by two-thirds, reduced suppliers from 5,000 to 300, and saw manufacturing costs drop by half. Benchmarking led to dramatic improvements that helped Xerox win quality awards and regain market share. The success of Xerox's benchmarking efforts led many other companies to adopt similar practices to gain competitive advantages.