Important Business Processes Research Articles

Incremental and Breakthrough Process Improvement: An Integrative Framework

The total quality management (TQM) revolution of the 1980s and recent emergence of business reengineering (RE) has shifted the focus of quality improvement efforts from individual products to processes which lead to the creation and supply of these products. The literature, however, lacks a comprehensive framework for process improvement. In this paper, we present a seven‐dimension framework of process quality. These dimensions are explained with illustrations of three important business processes: logistics, order fulfillment, and new product development. These dimensions are further used to develop a model for long‐term improvement in a business process. The model proposes a blend of breakthrough improvements (B‐I) achieved through RE and incremental improvements (I‐I) realized through TQM. Furthermore, it provides a framework for improving the quality of the process along the seven dimensions in the context of B‐I and I‐I. Finally, implications of this work for the theory and practice of business process improvements are discussed.

Inter enterprise CIM—a mechanism for graduate education

The successful harnessing of information technology in the pan national manufacturing environment demands a new response in the provisioning of the key integrated business resource—personnel. The CIM Institute has defined and built a teaching and research environment which focuses attention on the business process including the increasingly important semi-externalized business processes. Projects and research are undertaken which study the complexity of information management in supply chains. Networking with other universities and companies is establishing an environment close to the leading edge of industrial need. The paper presented describes the rationale for the current work of the CIM Institute and its direction in delivering both people and process for inter enterprise CIM development.