Business Process Reengineering

Re-engineering of Business Processes

Business Process Re-engineering has rapidly developed towards a new management philosophy. The inherent business process orientation changes the perspective of international management from a structural to a process view of headquarter-subsidiary relations. However, the Re-engineering of business processes is only one aspect of the management of business processes. The article starts with the discussion of the management of ongoing business processes in multinational corporations and reports empirical findings about the role of coordination mechanisms and information technology as dependent on the character of business processes. The Re-engineering of international business processes needs special attention because the multi-faceted deeper structure of multinational corporations increases the complexity of business processes, thus influencing the options for redesign.

Contents

• Introduction

• International Business Processes

• - Management of Ongoing Business Processes

• - Improvement of Business Processes

• - Re-engineering of Business Processes

• Management of International Business Processes

• - Coordination

• - New Information Technologies

• Re-engineering of International Business Processes

• - Characteristics

• - Information Technology -

• Deeper Structure

• - Internationality

• - Complexity

• Conclusion

Introduction

In 1993, the world market for consultancy in Business Process Re-engineering was about one billion dollars and is expected to double by 1997. Business Process Re-engineering has rapidly developed towards a new management philosophy, based upon predecessors like Total Quality Management, Overhead Value Analysis, Kanban or Just-In-Time-Management. Speakers at seminars and authors use the term Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) in different ways, presenting cases of minor process improvements as well as radical changes in...