Best Practices, based in Chapel Hill, N.C., is one of the leading research, consulting and publishing firms in the field of best practice benchmarking. The company was founded in 1992 by a group of service professionals from Harvard Business School. Its benchmarking products, membership research services, databases and reports, metrics library and custom studies provide clients with access and intelligence to achieve performance excellence. Best Practices serves a wide range of industries, including financial services, hospitality, manufacturing, media, oil and chemical, pharmaceutical, biotech and health care, retail, technology, telecom and utilities. Its clients include American Express, Citigroup, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Ritz-Carlton, Walt Disney, Boeing, General Motors Corp., Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Chicago Tribune, Coca-Cola Company, Cisco Systems, Dell Computer, Microsoft and Philip Morris International.