What Qualifies as a Peer-to-Peer Relationship?
The peer-to-peer process engages outsiders who are experts in their own domains and whose expertise is likely to complement the knowledge that your organization already has. In general, these peers will be those who work in other organizations, such as suppliers, partners and competitors. Some examples of peer-to-peer relationships include: • Benchmarking is a form of peer-to-peer research that many companies continue to use as a stimulus to innovation. Benchmarking is about learning how others work to improve your own methods. It is important to note that successful benchmarkers often look at companies in completely different industries, because they know that they may get inspiration from the different business practices. For example, Taiichi Ohno, the creator of Toyota’s vaunted Kanban system, was inspired by the supply system that he saw in American grocery stores. • Standards groups like the ITU and IEEE are common forums for peer-to-peer communities their roles are to channel eng
