The fundamental nature of business is the exchange of value. One kid has a toy truck and the other kid has a water gun, and they trade. One guy has money and the service station has gas, so he gives them money in exchange for gas. And it goes on and on.
It is interesting the thing about money. Before we used it, people would have food, livestock, etc. It was easy to see how much someone had, because it was all visible stuff! Now, you can look at a group of people and have no idea how wealthy they really are.
It is also interesting that value is in the eyes of the buyer. Some people think that if their organization delivers exactly what the customer asks for everything will be great. Wrong. Leading companies create value; they create products and services which customers never thought about, but when they see it, they have to spend their money on it! That is innovation. Creation. Creating value. Creating products and services people want to buy, whether they ever thought of it or not.
Don’t just benchmark other companies. “World Class” companies are pretty common these days.
Innovate!