Designing BPR support services for small firms

Abstract

Notes that supporting small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in their process towards the adoption of business process re‐engineering (BPR) may be essential as the tools and methodologies of BPR were designed for larger companies. Presents a methodology for the design of support services, developed within the context of a European Union (EU) project. The methodology consists of four major steps. The first step consists of an analysis of users’ needs. Since BPR support needs are differentiated and often implicit, an “ad hoc” methodology was developed to make demand explicit and split the potential market into homogeneous segments. The second step identifies the proper services to meet the needs of SMEs. The third step explores current supply of services and the critical success factors of a BPR support centre. Finally, the fourth step defines guidelines for the design of both the support centre and the specific support services. The methodology was developed also on the basis of the case of the Lombard machinery industry. Finally, the paper discusses the transferability of the methodology to other regions and industries.

Theory and practice in SME performance measurement systems

“…The semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers from eight SMEs, drawn from a sample of companies who had recently undertaken programmes focusing on strategic improvement. This is consistent with`j udgement sampling'' (Sekaran, 1992), which was used because there is a distinct scarcity of strategic planning in the majority of SMEs (Mintzberg et al, 1998;Cagliano et al, 1998;Barnes et al, 1999). The rationale for the selection of this sample was that companies actively seeking strategic improvements would be most likely to view PM as a strategic improvement tool.…”

Special Topic Forum On Innovation In Business Networks From A Supply Chain Perspective: Current Status and Opportunities for Future Research

“…The idea here is to understand whether some industries are more mature in fostering ISCN than others. Additionally, the aspect of firm size in relation to ISCN also offers new research opportunities as small‐ and medium‐size enterprises, in comparison with large companies, often have lesser resources, lower degree of formal systems, and staff that have dispersed roles and responsibilities (Cagliano, Spina, Verganti, & Zotteri, ; Storey, ).…”