Testing success factors for manufacturing BPR project phases

Abstract

This study aims to identify prescriptions for success proposed in the literature and empirically test the relationships between proposed success factors and the extent to which each business process reengineering (BPR) project phase benefited from their presence. A usable sample of 212 top manufacturing managers (plant managers or above) shared their organizations’ experience regarding their last BPR project implementation. The sample shows good representation based on company size (gross revenues industry subsectors), self-rated IT sophistication, top managers titles, and self-rated degree of knowledge about the specific BPR project implementation they have addressed. Results indicate that some success factors are more or less important to a particular project phase. Except for the insignificant relationship between project inception and process change/redesign phase, the relationships between the other phases are all significant and in some cases seem to represent a major determinant of success in the subsequent phase. The most important limitation is that new company processes will be developed in the future owing to changing regulations, improved services, new managerial policy, and/or new technologies. These processes may require different success factors; thus, researchers must continue their efforts to identify new success factors and empirically test their importance in practice. Managers can increase the chances for overall BPR project success and success in each phase by ensuring that the prescribed success factors are in place before they start or as they pursue the project. Several managerial insights and implications are discussed. BPR projects by their very nature are very expensive to prototype, forcing companies to follow a sequential methodology for changing and implementing new processes. This is the first study identifying and testing the success factors for each BPR project phase.