What Really Makes a Profit Leader a “Profit Leader”?

Each year, you analyze your company’s key performance indicators (KPIs). You use the Ratios to compare your numbers against industry profit leaders—the top 25% in terms of profit as a percent of sales. Then you note discrepancies and come to educated conclusions, like “Our paper costs are out of line with industry averages we need to review our contracts with our vendors” or maybe “Our waste and spoilage figures are higher than average” or “Our sales per factory employee are too low to support our current staffing; we need to increase sales to current customers, develop new market opportunities, or reduce our staffing levels.”