Benchmarking involves $\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.$

options:

studying whether a companys resource strengths are more$/$less powerful than the resource strengths of rival companies

checking whether a company has achieved more of its financial and strategic objectives over the past five years relative to its direct competitors

comparing the best practices in one industry against the best practices in another industry

comparing how different companies perform various value chain activities and then making cross$-$company comparisons of the costs and effectiveness of these activities