Process re-engineering success in small and medium-sized enterprises

The factors that lead to business process re-engineering (BPR) success in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are not clearly understood. This article reviews the main contributing factors to BPR success using a framework that considers culture, structure, technology and resource. Eight Taiwanese case studies are used to explore issues contributing to, or impeding, successful process re-engineering in small firms. The analysis shows that BPR success is empowered by innovation, employee empowerment, top management commitment and strategic direction and is dependent upon customer relations, IS involvement and financial resources. IntroductIon Competition and globalization have led enterprises to restructure to focus on managing change. Business process re-engineering (BPR) is an approach to business transformation that emphasizes customer-driven, process-oriented management practice, often enabled by information technology (IT). Raymond et al (1998) state that the literature focuses on BPR in large firms and pose the question as to whether BPR success factors are the same for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) (firms with fewer than 250 employees SBS, [2003]) as for large enterprises. This paper investigates BPR to identify the success and failure factors of BPR in small firms. The nature of BPR is briefly outlined. Chang and Powell’s (1998) framework which explores