Benchmarking usually leads to mediocrity, but there are Arial when comparing one firm to another can be very revealing. This example illustrates a very common syndrome.
Companies A and B share equally a major slice of a particular market. They generate about the same revenue, and produce about the same variety of products in the same volume, using the same processes. Both are divisions of major public companies, with about the same net capital and number of employees. They look like twins--except for their engineering functions!