Title: A business process improvement framework to facilitate superior SME operations

Authors: Zulfiqar Khan, Rajeev K. Bali, Nilmini Wickramasinghe

Addresses: Department of Knowledge and Information Management, Faculty of Engineering and Computing, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK. ' Department of Knowledge and Information Management, Faculty of Engineering and Computing, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK. ' Center for the Management Medical Technology (CMMT), Stuart Graduate School of Business, Illinois Institute of Technology, 565 West Adams Street, Chicago, IL 60661, USA

Abstract: The present climate that UK companies face is quite volatile. Organisations are now focusing on their core competencies (doing what they are best at) and outsourcing most other activities. Administration functions of some service organisations are also being outsourced to specialists here in the UK and abroad. In order that UK organisations achieve world class levels of competitiveness the DTI|s UK Manufacturing Strategy identified an urgent need for the systematic implementation of |best practices| such as lean practices and other World Class Manufacturing (WCM) methodologies. The paper uses a case study methodology to test and analyse a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) specific framework. This case study is used to test and validate the Business Process Improvement (BPI) framework.

Keywords: world class manufacturing; WCM; business process improvement; BPI; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; lean manufacturing; continuous improvement; CI; UK; United Kingdom; best practice; case study.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNVO.2008.017008

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2008 Vol.5 No.2, pp.155 - 165

Published online: 04 Feb 2008 *

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