| Author: | Lau, Wai-man Ray |
| Title: | A framework for implementing business process reengineering : a case study of IT-enabled business transformation in a typical clothing company in Hong Kong |
| Degree: | M.Sc. |
| Year: | 1997 |
| Subject: | Clothing trade -- China -- Hong Kong -- Management -- Case studies Reengineering (Management) Information technology Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Department of Computing |
| Pages: | vii, 78 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Various Business Process Reengineering (BPR) methodologies and techniques have been developed to facilitate business transformation in facing the challenging Information Era. The Hong Kong clothing industry, is rapidly transforming from a manufacturing-oriented industry to a service-oriented industry. As taking the role of a service provider, both the degree of information content of the business itself and the information intensity of the industrial value chain has been increasing. Facing this structural change of the industry, chances are arising in using IT as an essential enabler in process innovation and to gain competitive advantages for those organisation within this dynamic industry. The Glorious Sun Enterprise Limited (GSE), the organisation under the present case study, is primarily engaged in the trading and manufacturing business within Hong Kong clothing industry and share the same contextual settings described above. Although some researches have been carried out in areas such as investigating the impacts of various emerging IT on the clothing industry, there is not a formal study on implementation of BPR projects in this industry, nor does any research address those difficulties which will be encountered in launching BPR project in this industry. Based on this situation, this is the attempt of this study to derive a BPR model and suggest a framework for implementing BPR project in this industry. In this exploratory case study, the author was a project coordinator of the steering committee of the BPR project under the case study. This dissertation divided into the following six chapters: Chapter one serves as an introduction of the current business processes of the clothing industry, and the background setting leading to the planning and implementation of a BPR project in GSE; Chapter two introduce the research methodology of this study and focus will be placed on the reason of choosing a qualitative research and using case study as a tool to generalize knowledge. Chapter three sum up the literature research findings and deduce the three essential knowledge domain of BPR from various view point on the subject. The three essential elements identified are, IT, business process, and change management. It leads to the proposed definition of BPR and will be referred to throughout the study. The author defined BPR as an initiative to achieve competitive advantages through (radical or incremental) transformation of business processes with IT as an essential enabler. Chapter four describe the proposed "dual cycle model" which compare with other models, put more emphasis on the strategic dimension of business transformation initiative, suggested that BPR is not necessary start from a clean-sheet-of-paper and argue the pace of change should depend on different context. In essence a more reflective model is proposed. Chapter five centers on the application of the model in the organisation under this case study. A generic process known as "order fulfillment" are identified to undertake the full implementation of BPR through the various steps proposed by the dual cycle model. Chapter six, which is the concluding chapter, effort will be placed to summarize the findings throughout the whole process of the case study and suggest a detail framework for implementation of BPR project in the Hong Kong clothing industry. Limitation of the study and proposal for further researches will also be presented. The main research findings for the case study are: 1. On the relevance of a more reflective framework of BPR implementation for the Hong Kong clothing industry: ﹞ Dramatic results can be gained through a thoughtful implementation of BPR and a contextual framework is found to be with more relevance than those generic models in the process of implementation. 2. On the importance of strategic alignment and top management support: ﹞ If strategic dimensions of the business has been well-considered before undertaking the project, top management support will be more easily obtained. ﹞ One should relates the objectives of a BPR project with obtaining competitive advantage of a company in order to get top management support. 3. For the myth of the importance of a clean-slate approach: ﹞ Instead of stressing the importance of a 'clean-slate' change, in-depth study of the current process may serve various purposes, some of them are i. getting people involved in an early stage (in order to overcome resistance to change), ii. the hidden picture of the organisation can be discovered ("shape" of the current process is always a result of the struggling of different interest parties), 4. On the importance of change management and utilization of some tools to overcome resistance to change: ﹞ Techniques borrowing from IS system development such as flowcharting proved to be a very useful tool in mapping the current process and designing envisioned process, it give chance for various stakeholders to "visualize" the different between new and old processes and thus act as a big tool to overcome resistance to change. ﹞ By identifying a "fast cycle" and a "slow cycle" of process improvement give rise to the chance of adopting a more contextual approach to BPR and the fast cycle can be viewed as a continuous improvement initiative that further burst the performance of the redesigned process through the slow cycle. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| b14054334.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 3.37 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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