BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING - IMPROVING IN NEW STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

Based on discussions with managers from fifteen different reengineerin g projects, and supplemented by published evidence from eight other pr ojects, the article discusses what distinguishes reengineering from ot her performance improvement alternatives, what conditions induce organ izations to attempt it, and what factors managers have identified that either interfere with or enable the design and implementation of reen gineering projects. Reengineering is difficult and risky, but it is th e best option to pursue when organizations discover they must improve along a new strategic trajectory that they have not customarily consid ered critical.