A Longitudinal BPR Study in a Danish Manufacturing Company - From Reengineering to Process Management

The last decade has proved an increasing need for the adoption of change management methods in order to respond to the rapidly changing environment. Change management in Enzyme Business, Novo Nordisk A/S, is used primarily due to increasing international competition. During the process of change, Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is the most applied method for planning and carrying out projects. Novo Nordisk A/S is one of the largest companies in Denmark and the world's largest producer of industrial enzymes with a market share of more than 50%.This paper is a longitudinal study of BPR initiatives at Enzyme Business carried out within the time frame of January 1994 to March 1998. The paper provides empirical insight from a number of BPR-projects and related BPR-initiatives, e.g. Business System Reengineering projects. The results of the paper suggest that reengineering with the means of process orientation and customer satisfaction in a functional organisation is a valid alternative to a full implemented process organisation. Enzyme Business employs this approach by integrating functional, industrial, and business process strategies. As no process owner exists in this setting, the concept of a Flowmaker is established in order to question the activities of each reengineered process, continuously.