9 BPR Success And Failure Factors

BPR implementation process: an analysis of key success and failure factors
Majed Al-Mashari and Mohamed Zairi

BPR implementation process
87

Bradford University Management Centre, Bradford, UK
Keywords BPR, Implementation, Process management, Success
Abstract This paper provides a holistic view of the Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) implementation process. It reviews the literature relating to the hard and soft factors that cause success and failure for BPR implementation, classifies these factors into subgroups, and identifies key factors of success and failure. Finally, it explains how these factors influence the process of
BPR implementation.

Introduction
Following the publication of the fundamental concepts of BPR by Hammer
(1990) and Davenport and Short (1990), many organisations have reported dramatic benefits gained from the successful implementation of BPR.
Companies like Ford Motor Co., CIGNA, and Wal-Mart are all recognised as having successfully implemented BPR.
However, despite the significant growth of the BPR concept, not all organisations embarking on BPR projects achieve their intended result.
Hammer and Champy (1993) estimate that as many as 70 percent do not achieve the dramatic results they seek. Having BPR repeatedly at the top of the list of management issues in annual surveys of critical information systems reflects executives ' failure to either implement properly or acquire the benefits of BPR (Alter, 1994). This mixture of results makes the issue of BPR implementation very important. BPR has great potential for increasing productivity through reduced process time and cost, improved quality, and greater customer satisfaction, but it often requires a fundamental organisational change. As a result, the implementation process is complex, and needs to be checked against several success/failure factors to ensure successful implementation, as well as to avoid implementation pitfalls.
The following analyses the BPR implementation process by

References: Alter, A. (1990), ``The corporate make-over ' ', CIO, Vol. 4 No. 3, December, pp. 32-42. Alter, A. (1994), ``Re-engineering tops list again ' ', Computerworld, Vol. 28 No. 5, January 31, p. 8. Andrews, D. and Stalik, S. (1994), ``Business reengineering: the survival guide ' ', Yourdon Press, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Arendt, C., Landis, R. and Meister, T. (1995), ``The human side of change ± part 4 ' ', IIE Solutions, May, pp Barrett, J. (1994), ``Process visualization: getting the vision right is key ' ', Information Systems Management, Spring, pp Bashein, B., Markus, M. and Riley, P. (1994), ``Precondition for BPR success and how to prevent failures ' ', Information Systems Management, Spring, pp Benjamin and Levinson (1993), ``A framework for managing IT-enabled change ' ', Sloan Management Review, Summer, pp Berrington, C. and Oblich, R. (1995), ``Translating reengineering into bottom-line results ' ', Industrial Engineering, January, pp Bhatt, G. (1996), ``Enterprise information systems integration and business process improvement initiative: an empirical study ' ', Management Department at the Southern Illinois Bjùrn-Andersen, N. and Turner, J. (1994), ``Creating the twenty-first century organization: the metamorphosis of action ' ', in Baskerville, R., Smithson, S., Ngwenyama, O Boyle, R. (1995), ``Avoiding common pitfalls of reengineering ' ', Management Accounting, Vol. 77 No Boynton, A., Jacobs, G. and Zmud, R. (1992), ``Whose responsibility is IT management? ' ', Sloan Management Review, Summer, pp Brancheau, J., Janz, B. and Wetherbee, J. (1996), ``Key issues in information systems management: 1994-1995 SIM Delphi results ' ', MIS Quarterly, June, pp Broadbent, M. and Weill, P. (1997), ``Management by Maxim: how business and IT managers can create IT infrastructures ' ', Sloan Management Review, Spring, pp Bruss, L. and Roos, H. (1993), ``Operations, readiness and culture: don 't reengineer without considering them ' ', Inform, April, pp Buday, R. (1993), ``Reengineering one firm 's product development and another 's service delivery ' ', Planning Review, Vol Business Process Re-engineering RIP (1996), People Management, 2nd May. Caron, J., Jarvenpaa, S. and Stoddard, D. (1994), ``Business reengineering at CIGNA corporation: experiences and lessons from the first five years ' ', MIS Quarterly, Vol Carr, D. (1993), ``Managing for effective business process redesign ' ', Cost Management, Fall, pp. Carr, D. and Johansson (1995), Best Practices in Reengineering: What Works and What Doesn 't in the Reengineering Process, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. Champy, J. (1995), Reengineering Management ± the Mandate for New Leadership, Harper Business, London. Clemmer, J. (1994), ``Process re-engineering and process improvement ± not an either/or choice ' ', CMA Magazine, June, pp Cole, C., Clark, M. and Nemec, C. (1993), ``Reengineering information systems at Cincinnati Milacron ' ', Planning Review, Vol Cooper, R. and Markus, M. (1995), ``Human Reengineering ' ', Sloan Management Review, Summer, pp Coulson-Thomas, C. (Ed.) (1994), Business Process Reengineering: Myth and Reality, Kogan Page, London. CSC Index (1994), State of Reengineering Report, North America and Europe, CSC Index, Inc., London. Davenport, T. (1993), Process Innovation: Reengineering Work Through Information Technology, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. Davenport, T. and Nohria, N. (1994), ``Case management and the integration of labor ' ', Sloan Management Review, Winter, pp Davenport, T. and Short, J. (1990), ``The new industrial engineering: information technology and business process redesign ' ', Sloan Management Review, Vol Davenport, T. and Stoddard, D. (1994), ``Reengineering: business change of mythic proportions? ' ', MIS Quarterly, Vol Davidson, W. (1993), ``Beyond re-engineering: the three phases of business transformation ' ', IBM Systems Journal, Vol Dawe, R. (1996), ``Systems are people too ' ', Transportation and Distribution, Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 8690. Dixon, J., Arnold, P., Heineke, J., Kim, J. and Mulligan, P. (1994), ``Business process reengineering: improving in new strategic directions ' ', California Management Review, Summer, pp Earl, M. (1995), ``Information systems strategy: why planning techniques are not the answer ' ', Executive Reports, Centre for Research in Information Management, London Business Earl, M. (1996), ``The risk of outsourcing IT ' ', Sloan Management Review, Spring, pp. 26-32. Earl, M. (1997), ``Information equity: getting value out of information ' ', Executive Reports, Centre for Research in Information Management, London Business School, London. Earl, M., Rockart, J. and Ross, J. (1997), ``Eight imperatives for today 's IT organisation: accommodating a radical shift of responsibility ' ', Executive Reports, Centre for Research in El Sawy, O. (1997), ``Business process reengineering ± do software tools matter? ' ', Conference in Information Systems in Florida, Internet: [http://hsb.baylor.edu/ramsower/ ais.ac.97/ Feltes, P. and Karuppan, C. (1995), ``Reengineering: getting down to the business of doing business ' ', Industrial Management, Vol Fiedler, K., Grover, V. and Teng, J. (Ed.) (1997), ``Information systems effectiveness ' ', ISWORLD NET, Internet: http://theweb.badm.sc.edu/grover/isworld/isoehom3.htm] Goodhue, D., Quillard, J. and Rockart, J. (1988), ``Managing the data resource: a contingency perspective ' ', MIS Quarterly, Vol