The scope paradigm of business process re‐engineering

There are three possible outcomes following the undertaking of BPR projects. First, a BPR programme may fail either in the short or in the long term because it is improperly implemented or because there is no effective follow‐up. Second, a BPR programme may be deemed satisfactory but does not appear to significantly improve bottom‐line performance. Finally there is the BPR programme which is highly successful and significantly improves bottom line performance. This paper is concerned with the identification of opportunities in the last category and involves estimating the scope of the proposed BPR programme. The scope paradigm is based on the classification of BPR characteristics into three dimensions. These are width (the flow dimension), breadth (the activities dimension), and depth (the infrastructure dimension). We conclude that the achievement of significant business gains depends on designing programmes to exceed threshold values along all three dimensions. This defines a target scope zone for BPR working to enable real improvements to bottom‐line performance.