ABSTRACT
Process improvement programs range right from disruptive to continuous improvement programs—the first of these corresponds to business process reengineering programs, while the latter corresponds to programs like lean, Six Sigma, and the Theory of Constraints. This chapter describes a seven-step methodology that can be employed for both business process reengineering (BPR) and business process redesign. It focuses on the basic principle of time-based competition—to react faster to changes in the environment and to be more flexible than competitors in order to grow faster; correspondingly. The chapter discusses activity-based costing (ABC) and time-driven ABC. The most important outcome of BPR has been viewing business activities as more than a collection of individual or even functional tasks; it has engendered the process-oriented view of business. Lean is a holistic supply-chain operational system best practice with imbedded continuous improvement capability linked to customer value. The customer-responsiveness of an enterprise is really dependent on the corresponding business processes or activities.
