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106 CHAPTER 3 • SubSTiTuTES foR STRATEgy
within an information technology system where it would be even more difficult to iden-
tify and eliminate. All work, he said, should be examined for whether it adds value for the
customer and, if not, processes should be redesigned to eliminate it. In doing this, BPR
was echoing similar objectives in both scientific management and, more recently, lean
approaches. But BPR, unlike those two earlier approaches, advocated radical changes
rather than incremental changes to processes. Shortly after Hammer’s article, other
authors developed the ideas – again the majority of them stressing the importance of a
radical approach. This radicalism was summarised by Davenport who, when discussing
the difference between BPR and continuous improvement, held : ‘Today’s firms must seek
not fractional, but multiplicative levels of improvement – ten times rather than ten per cent. ’

What is bPR?

BPR has been defined as follows:
‘… the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve
dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as
cost, quality, service and speed.’
But there is far more to it than that. In fact, BPR was a blend of a number of ideas that
had been current in operations management for some time. Lean concepts, process
flow charting, critical examination in method study, operations network management
and customer-focused operations all contribute to the BPR concept. It was the potential
of information technologies to enable the fundamental redesign of processes, however,
which acted as the catalyst in bringing these ideas together. It was the information
technology that allowed radical process redesign, even if many of the methods used to
achieve the redesign had been explored before. For example, ‘Business Process Reengi-
neering, although a close relative, seeks radical rather than merely continuous improvement.
It escalates the effort of … (lean) … and TQM to make process orientation a strategic tool and
a core competence of the organisation. BPR concentrates on core business processes, and uses
the specific techniques within the … (lean) … and TQM tool boxes as enablers, while broaden-
ing the process vision.’

The elements of bPR
The main principles of BPR can be summarised in the following points.

Rethink business processes
Rethink business processes in a cross-functional manner that organises work around
the natural flow of information (or materials or customers). This means organising
around outcomes of a process, rather than the tasks that go into it. Underlying the BPR
approach is the belief that operations should be organised around the total process,
which adds value for customers, rather than the functions or activities that perform
the various stages of the value-adding activity. The core of BPR is a redefinition of the
processes within an operation, to reflect the business processes that satisfy customer
needs. Figure 3.6 illustrates this idea.

Strive for dramatic improvements
Strive for dramatic improvements in performance by radically rethinking and rede-
signing the process. It was this radical approach that generated much of the publicity
surrounding BPR when it was first proposed. But many would argue that it is inevitable

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