Process improvement and paradigms

Business Process Improvement (BPI) was a big thing in the corporate world in the nineties.

It may well still be a thing. I've been out of the 'big' corporate world for a while now so I wouldn't know. It was definitely a thing though. Large consultancy firms promoted it as a way of transforming business fortunes and profits. Smart, young MBAs toured the Boardrooms of the corporate elite with their BPI toolkit of process maps, change management methodology and new organisation charts.

It delivered results. 

I saw first hand as a management accountant at a large Supermarket retailer how reviewing and improving processes could change things for the better. A good example was getting product on the shelves for customers. Historically these had been delivered from distribution depots  on pallets or on 'cages'. The products were then 'hand-balled' from the pallet or cage in the store's backroom onto a smaller cage for wheeling to the shop floor and stocking the shelf. BPI came up with the idea of 'dollies'. Smaller, maneuverable devices on which the stock was loaded at the depots. On arrival to the store they could be wheeled straight onto the shop floor for shelf filling saving a huge amount of time and labour and providing fresher product for the customer.  

BPI was (and I'm sure still is) important. The example quoted delivered significant savings but they were more incremental than transformational.

Another phrase bandied around in the nineties was 'paradigm shift'. Similar and more commonly used now is 'disruption'. A paradigm shift is defined as 'A fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions.' That is much more radical than BPI and changes the rules completely for a business or a business sector. An example in the supermarket world was the introduction of Internet shopping. The new paradigm removed the need for the 'bricks and mortar' store and delivered the product direct to the customer.'Bricks' and 'clicks' now exists side by side but the change has been and continues to be truly fundamental.

Small businesses need to be alert to the benefits of BPI and the threat and opportunity created by shifting paradigms and market disruption. Businesses organised around clear processes and routines aligned with job roles are much more likely to be successful in the longer run. The best managers and entrepreneurs will continually review and update their processes to ensure they are effective and customer-focused.

Having great processes may not be enough though if there is a significant change in a market. High street bookshops may have ultra-efficient processes and routines but when their customers can have the product delivered to their home for a lower price on the same or next day by Amazon, efficient processes count for very little.

Process improvement has its place for both large and small businesses but the biggest threat or opportunity still comes from paradigm shifts and market disruption. 

Even the smallest businesses need to be alert to the next Amazon appearing on their doorstep.

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