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Presents a study which explored a relationship between production process focus and performance at the business unit level using the profit impact of marketing strategies (PIMS) database. The relationship between production process focus and financial performance for business units was partially supported using return‐on‐sales (ROS), and was not supported with return‐on‐assets and return‐on‐income. Indicates that the degree of production process focus is not directly related to a business unit′s performance. The implication is that the degree of production process focus must be recognized as part of a manufacturing strategy that is consistent with an overall business strategy.

Crisis management and organizational continuity have become increasingly critical areas of competence for managers in organizations. The approach of typical business organizations to the problems of business area impact analysis (BAIA) has been fragmented. In particular, the potential problem is the lack of an analytical capability to identify business functions/processes. The research objective is to describe how business functions/processes can be identified to analyze business area impact for corporate crisis management. In order to conduct the BAIA efficiently, it is first necessary to identify business functions/processes according to a scientific approach such as that described in the Information Engineering methodology for systems development. Next, to investigate the financial impacts on business functions/processes, which level of function/process hierarchy decomposition is used as a basis must be determined.

Discusses the efforts of manufacturing enterprises to make themselves Internet‐ready, to cope with future e‐ business. Changes brought by the Internet will force enterprises to become more agile and responsive. However, the same changes force a need to deploy integrated information systems, and to have business processes in place to facilitate rapid decision‐making, and optimize the extended supply chain by integrating internal business processes with those of business partners. Concludes that e‐business has not yet caused the revolutionary changes in asset‐intensive process industries that it has in information‐based industries.

In recent years there has been considerable focus on business processes which has created a debate on their definition. One school of thought believes that a standard set of business processes can be applied fairly universally to most businesses; others believe that business processes are individual and specific to organizations. Reviews this debate and presents a view based on a technique developed to define business processes using a bottom‐up approach. This technique focuses first on the business activities and goes on to quantify the relationships between business activities. The hypothesis behind the work described is that the closely coupled activities could be grouped together to form a natural business process. Describes the technique developed for bottom‐up identification of business processes in some detail and presents a case study which has been designed as a controlled experiment.

While the importance of SAP software in business applications and in process redesigning may have received attention recently, its effects on fostering process thinking have not been fully recognised. For example, SAP technology has facilitated a process‐oriented approach to system development because an SAP database can be shared by several functions in different functional units participating in the same business process. The SAP system has been built around business processes that cross functional units. In addition SAP technologies provide opportunities for improving collaboration among personnel from different functional units in their efforts to accomplish a common business process. The analysis reveals that while both computing and communication technology generate an undercurrent of process thinking, it is important to realise that SAP is a facilitator for process improvement and re‐engineering. This paper presents an overview of the role of SAP software as an enabler in business process re‐engineering. The paper also discusses the impact of the SAP system on organisations’ information and business integration strategies.

Sustaining business performance in an ever changing economic and technical environment is a challenge to be addressed with relevant management implements. This goal can be achieved by using business modelling by processes allowing for costing deliverables, controlling operations and designing information sytems aligned with business procedures and organisation. It has to be stressed that the same process model can fulfill the three purposes above mentioned so that coherent views are secured for the various business stakeholders. In addition, adequate descriptions of business processes can “scavenge” the features of business assets such as organisation, personnel qualification, information systems to be taken into account in strategic decisions.

This paper describes the innovative generic business process set (GBPS) model and how this may be used as a functional template for small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) participating in a virtual enterprise. The authors provide specific emphasis on the use of information communication and technology (ICT) in business applications and show how the model can be used as a medium for lifelong learning and workforce development. The SME business model introduced identifies and describes 52 validated specific business processes, the GBPS. A framework and methodology for the application of the model in entrepreneurial firms are provided. Emerging ICT applications are also an integral part of business operations. Using the GBPS, the identification of training needs is directly related to the activities of the business. This approach overcomes the problem, inherent in SMEs and owner‐managed businesses, of a reluctance to endorse training because it is not clearly relevant to entrepreneurial business operations. The same model can be used as a gateway into an e‐learning programme designed for the virtual business environment via a low overhead and easy to implement process.

The initial objective of the research presented in this paper was to investigate human resource management (HRM) practices from a business process perspective. The paper first demonstrates the level of inconsistency in the field with respect to HRM models. The paper then develops the need for a more formal systems engineering‐based approach for modelling HRM practices from a business process viewpoint. The paper then goes on to describe the model developed for the HRM business process together with the methodology used to validate the model. The paper concludes with a discussion on the validity of the model, which further demonstrates the differing points of view in this complex and multidisciplinary field.

Business process management has received much attention in the industrial engineering and management literature, and its benefits are well known. Much less has been written in the public sector management literature, and what has been written has been very general. Hence, there is confusion among public managers about how business process management concepts should be implemented. How should public organizations reorganize to accommodate business process management? How are existing or new enterprise systems aligned with business process management methodologies? This paper addresses these issues, and concludes that public organizations will have to change their organizational structures radically as well as their enterprise systems in order to implement business process management concepts successfully. The paper also discusses the benefits of public sector process management, and focuses in some detail on two of the reasons that public organizations have incentive to implement business process management methodologies.

Discusses how Unisys Ltd in the UK and other leading companies are finding that performance measuring and improving key business processes form a vital part of a company‐wide improvement strategy. Using examples from Unisys, shows how cross‐functional methods of process improvement are being deployed to this end. Discusses the key business processes, breaking these down further into delivery and support processes. Looks at how to exploit the challenges and opportunities to be found in the 1990s and how to structure measuring, improving, planning and controlling the key business processes as part of a company‐wide strategy.