Business process reengineering: a survey of international experience

Despite the widespread adoption of business process re-engineering (BPR), it has in many cases repeatedly failed to deliver its promised results. The lack of integrated implementation approach to exploiting BPR is seen as one of the important reasons amongst others, behind BPR failures. Yet, a relative void in the literature remains the scarcity of suitable models and frameworks that address the implementation issues surrounding BPR. This motivates the presented study to attempt to provide a `̀ frame of reference’’ with which current practices can be re-positioned. A survey was therefore designed to collect data from a sample of organizations in the USA and Europe. The survey assesses the level of importance placed on the essential elements of integrated BPR implementation. In doing so, the study was also able to identify the level of maturity of BPR concepts within organisations. Empirical findings are then discussed in the context of other studies. Introduction Increases in consumer requirements for both product and service efficiency and effectiveness has resulted in business process reengineering (BPR). The reengineering of business processes is concerned with fundamentally rethinking and redesigning business processes to obtain dramatic and sustaining improvements in quality, cost, service, lead-times, outcomes, flexibility and innovation (Hammer and Champy, 1993). Watts (1995) calls for the need to establish an integrative and holistic view on BPR. Al-Mashari and Zairi (2000, p. 36) define holistic BPR as: . . .a continuum of change initiatives with varying degrees of radicalness supported by IT means, at the heart of which is to deliver superior performance standards through establishing process sustainable capability. Along similar lines, Andreu et al. (1997) and Watts (1995) believe that holistic BPR should recognize the importance of processes and technology and their integration in business vision, structure and relationships, resources and culture. Yet, research studies that claim to adopt a holistic perspective are still The research register for this journal is available at http://www.mcbup.com/research_registers The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emerald-library.com/ft