HITCHHIKING ON A HYPE - DUTCH CONSULTANTS ENGINEERING REENGINEERING

Business process re-engineering (BPR) is described as a management fas hion. Management fashions are introduced on the market for management knowledge by fashion-setters, who are often consultants. Characteristi c for management fashions are multi-interpretability and promises of p erformance improvements. The demand for and supply of management fashi ons is constituted in iterative cycles. By drawing on primary and seco ndary data, we show how Dutch consultants handle the management fashio n BPR. They tend to be highly pragmatic in using this fashionable labe l. In close interaction with clients, elements of the original BPR con cept are dropped and notions of other concepts are included in what ar e called ''BPR-projects''. The label ''BPR'' is used for commercial re asons, yet it is easily decoupled from the original concepts and coupl ed to notions of other concepts. The consequences of these findings fo r the current literature on management fashions are discussed.