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Business process management adoption: A case study of a South African

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Conference Paper · October 2011

DOI: 10.1145/2072221.2072234 · Source: DBLP

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 Business Process Management Adoption: A Case Study
of a South African Supermarket Retailer
Wesley Grisdale
Information Systems Department
University of Cape Town
Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7700
ABSTRACT
The management approaches to process change have been
dominated by process-oriented theories and “best practices” and
have been criticized for lacking a theoretical basis. Business
Process Management (BPM) the latest approach is no
exception. While BPM has had significant press, hype status
and high adoption expectations, problems with adoption and
justifying benefits to business exist. To increase understanding
of these adoption concerns, this paper explores BPM in a
leading Southern African supermarket retailer where various
attempts had been made to implement a formal BPM discipline.
The research describes the organisation‟s understanding of
BPM and factors influencing its adoption. Qualitative research
methods were used to collect rich narrative data from interviews
with information systems (IS) and retail professionals. The
BPM adoption themes that emerged focused on the
understanding and education of BPM, cultural limitations,
centralisation as a strategic driver, ERP as an enabler, structural
and people factors. A theoretical model was developed to
explain the themes and their inter-relationships. This empirical
research provides a conceptual understanding of BPM and its
adoption from professionals employed by the retail industry.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
H.1.1 [Information Systems]: Models and Principles – Systems
and Information Theory.
General Terms
Management, Human Factors, Theory.
Keywords
BPM, South Africa, Retail, business process, BPR.
1. INTRODUCTION
Business process management (BPM) is still relatively new as a
formalised management discipline; and in its infancy as a field
of research [32]. The lack of frameworks available to support
research projects has resulted in some academics labelling BPM
as lacking a theoretical basis, or being merely a repackaging of
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SAICSIT '11, October 3–5, 2011, Cape Town, South Africa.
Copyright © 2011 ACM 978-1-4503-0878-6/11/10... $10.00
106
Lisa F Seymour
Information Systems Department
University of Cape Town
Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7700
+27-21-6504259
Lisa.Seymour@uct.ac.za
previous process-oriented management theories [32].
However, the importance and growth of a management
approach to business process has been consistently evident in
literature going back over the past two decades [27]. Due to
globalisation and the need for organisations to quickly innovate
and change, technology has been increasingly adapted to
manage business processes with previous manual time-
consuming processes and forms being replaced by more
efficient paperless work-flowed technology solutions [15]. As a
result, the popularity of BPM is growing every year, with IT
research group Gartner predicting 24% compounded annual
growth in business-process management software (BPMS) --
from 2006 to 2011 [8].
Yet, a large number of BPM initiatives fail to launch due to the
inability of the business or IT to build credible business cases
[21]. Research in South Africa within financial services found a
poor understanding of BPM and a real threat of BPM projects
being cancelled as benefits from BPM investment had not yet
been realised [31]. This calls for a need to understand the
factors affecting early adoption and success of BPM projects. A
call this study intended to address.
2. ADOPTING BPM
There are two divergent definitions for BPM and subsequently
the relevant literature is polarized. The Gartner or management
definition of BPM used by researchers [5, 36] is adopted for
this paper. BPM is defined as “a way in which key activities are
managed and continuously improved” [11, 20]. The alternate
definition focuses on the technology and defines BPM as “a
generic software system driven by explicit process designs to
enact and manage operational business processes” [33].
Managing business processes and hence BPM has become a top
priority for executives [4]. The increased focus on BPM has
been attributed to environmental factors such as increasing
globalization, the volatility of global economies, and strict
legislation and compliancy requirements [16]. For companies
this has resulted in the need for larger volumes of business-
process execution, eroding of business boundaries, clarity
confusion of roles and responsibilities, fraud prevention and
auditing, fast information transfer, quick information access for
decision making, quick business process turn-around time and
speed to adapt business processes [16; 17]. BPM purports to
support these needs.
Although BPM has attracted significant investments from
organisations and businesses, most review reports indicate a
very high failure rate of 60% to 80% for BPM initiatives [32].
Possible reasons for these failures are a lack of understanding of
BPM, as well as tactical, strategic and operational issues. Yet
this is not clearly understood as there has been limited empirical
research into the critical success factors of BPM or the
evaluation of its success [32]. BPM is dominated by diversity in
terms of adoption and effective outcomes [5, 25]. Bucher &
Winter [5] attempting order in this diversity, have identified
five different realization approaches or project types of business
process management as organization move to different BPM
maturity levels. Hence, there is also ambiguity in terms of types
of BPM adoption and what BPM adoption refers to.
Not only are there adoption concerns, the limited availability of
a theoretical framework has left some researchers labelling
BPM as merely repacking of old ideas to drive growth in the
consulting industry [32]. Hence research is needed to
conceptually understand the adoption environment and its
challenges.
IT term. The second difference is the inclusion of Methods in
the BPM model. Thirdly, Alter [1] includes infrastructure,
which he defines as human, information, and technical
resources used by the work system but managed and controlled
outside the work system. Hence in terms of BPM this factor can
be separated into IT skills, information and technology.
Fourthly, whether the broad Environment theme is used or
whether Governance or Culture are explicit themes. Finally,
there are different approaches to human and organisational
themes.

2.1 Supermarket retailing in South Africa

The retail sector globally has grown, both in competitive
intensity, as well as in market size [22]. Following this global
trend, there has been a rapid rise in supermarkets in South
Africa [35]. Supermarkets are no longer accessible only to the
wealthier shoppers [9]. This, in addition to the emergence of
new store formats aimed at the poorer customer base, has
further contributed to the growth. By 2003, in the formal sector
of South Africa, there were approximately 70 000 supermarket
stores [35]. Between 1998 and 2008, the wholesale and retail
sector, was the third largest contributor to GDP and the fourth
fastest growing sector of the 10 major sectors [7].
Because of the growth and expansion of supermarket retailers in
South Africa, there has been considerable focus on procurement
systems, merchandise and planning systems, distribution and Figure 1. Work System Framework from Work System
logistics and tighter quality and safety standards [35]. This has Method (WSM) [1]
resulted in more complex business processes, which have
become increasingly difficult to manage and maintain. The two
larger supermarket retailers Pick „n Pay and Shoprite operate Table 1. Themes from
. previous models
between four and six distribution centres, receive goods from
Theme BPCM WSM BPM Grouping
thousands of suppliers, distribute to hundreds of stores, and
service millions of customers all over South Africa. Both of the Information √ √ Information
leading South African supermarket retailers implemented and
enterprise-resource planning (ERP) solutions -- in an effort to Technology √ √ Technology
consolidate legacy systems, as well as integrate business
processes across areas of the value chain [12]. BPM should IT √
therefore have a natural fit in the growing and transforming
retail environment which has high complexity and severe Methods √ Methods
business process demands. However the supermarket retailers
are still plagued by problems and constraints to BPM adoption. Infrastructure √ Participants,
IT skills,
Participants √ Management
2.2 Business process conceptual models & Structure
Business process change literature is dominated by process-
People √ √
focused management theories, maturity models or a succession
of prescriptive “best-practices” which need to be followed. Yet Management √
some descriptive conceptual theories do exist. Three of these
are applicable. Firstly Kettinger et al. [14] developed a business Structure √
process change model (BPCM). Secondly Alter [1] has
proposed the work systems method (WSM) (illustrated in Strategy √ √ √ Strategy
Figure 1) to analyse any work system, and thirdly Thompson et
al. [31] proposed a BPM model (illustrated in Figure 2) based Culture √ Environment
on the Rosemann and de Bruin model [27]. including
Environment √ √ Culture and
All three models categorise main themes impacting business Governance
processes, processes or process success. These are reviewed in Governance √
Table 1 and all themes have been aggregated into five broad
themes. Comparing the theories, the first difference is explicit
separation of Information from Technology as opposed to the

107
3. RESEARCH QUESTION AND Purposive sampling techniques, as used in this research, are
employed to selected participants, based on their specific roles
METHOD in association with the research questions [30]. All respondents
The primary research question posed is “What are the factors had a vested interest, or a responsibility related to business
influencing BPM adoption within a leading South African processes, or the management thereof. Participants have been
supermarket retailer?” identified using codes; IS for information systems participants,
B for business participants and M for senior management or
executive participants. The code is then followed by a 1, 2 or 3
(for example IS1, B1 or M1) to identify the individual
participants while still keeping their identity anonymous. Table
2 details the research participants and describes their roles and
responsibilities at Retail Mart. All participants signed a
participant-consent form.

Table 2. Participants
Job Title Role and Responsibility at
Code Retail Mart

Figure 2. BPM Model [31] Supply Chain Responsible for all business
Business Process process and technology changes
Owner in the supply chain business-
The purpose of the research was both exploratory and process area.
descriptive, following a case study approach. The philosophy
Process Responsible for all retail
was interpretive as the intent was to understand adoption
Innovation and specific business process,
concerns as perceived by the organization. Hence a qualitative IS
Implementation including the implementation,
approach was considered appropriate [23]. Although previous
Head of alignment and optimisation of
models were used to guide the data-collection process, the
Department process and technology.
purpose of the research was not to test or validate these models.
Previously BI Was responsible for ownership
3.1 Selecting the Retail Mart Case Business System of the business intelligence (BI)
During this research, the single-case study organisation was Owner system at Retail Mart.
referred to as Retail Mart, in order to protect its anonymity. Finance General Responsible for the operations
Retail Mart is a tier-one retailer in South Africa, and is Manager of the finance division at Retail
considered one of the market leaders in supermarket retailing in Mart.
the country. Retail Mart has also recently received global B
recognition for its growing business model and advances in the Franchise Responsible for the in-store
retail industry. Retail Mart was selected as a case study for this Operations operations of the franchise
research based on the following reasons: General Manager stores in Retail Mart.

The large size of the organisation, with over 10,000 Goods Not for Responsible for reducing
employees and over 400 retail stores across the Resale (GNFR) organisational expenses through
country. and Procurement GNFR and procurement
General Manager management.
The volume of business processes in the organisation
which is estimated at over 300 retail business IS Applications Responsible for all
processes. Divisional development and operation of
Director all IS applications in the
The volume of processing which is estimated at 300
organisation.
million baskets sold annually.
The organisation has previously implemented process Supply-Chain Responsible for the supply
management disciplines. General Manager chain of the organisation, which
M includes the operation, and
The organisation has recently implemented a wall-to- strategic directing of all
wall enterprise-resource planning system (ERP) distributions centres across the
which supports most of the retail process areas. country.
After getting University ethical clearance, organizational IS, Supply Chain Responsible and accountable
permission was obtained from Retail Mart for the case study. and Sustainability for ensuring the implementation
Executive of IS strategy and alignment
3.2 Data Collection Director with business strategy and
Semi-structured interview data was collected following the objectives. The executive
Myers and Newman [24] recommendations. The interviewer responsible for supply chain
made notes of the answers and any significant body language, and sustainability.
and recorded the conversation using a digital recorder. The
recordings were then fully transcribed.

108
3.3 Data analysis
The grounded theory techniques of open coding, axial coding
and selective coding were used to analyse the data [29].
Matavire & Brown [19] state that in mixed grounded methods
(as was the case in this study); research may commence with a
preconceived a priori theory, and use only the coding
techniques outlined by grounded theory with intent to extend
the initial theory inductively.
Data analysis and coding, as described above, was completed
using open-source qualitative analysis software called Weft
QDA. Transcriptions were imported into the software, and
codes were created using the categories‟ functionality of the
software. A new version of the analysis project was saved for
every level of coding, until the final themes had been
determined. This allowed for a full audit trail of the qualitative
research data analysis.
4. BPM ADOPTION AT RETAIL
MART
Gartner Research [20] describes how BPM adoption is a
„journey‟ with most organisations still in an early phase of
maturity. When asking participants if there were specific BPM
strategies adopted or initiatives in place at Retail Mart, there
appeared to be varying responses. Most of the participants felt
that some sort of informal BPM initiatives were in place in the
organisation, but they were not always known, formalised or
communicated.
Participant M2 also referred to the management of processes by
using a “BPMR” (Business-Process Master Register), where
documented business processes could be registered for a
project, signed off, and change controlled. However, the BPMR
was considered to be limited to the project or programme
lifecycle.
“I think its (BPM) something we drive actively, as
part of our project process about making sure that we
have a business-processes master register.”
From the data provided by the participants, it would appear that
Retail Mart is at the beginning phases of maturity, with
participants demonstrating process awareness and an
understanding and acknowledgement of operational
efficiencies.
“With a better management and visibility of how the
process was working, I believe we would do a lot
more process improvement and drive a lot more
efficiency out of the company.” (IS1)
The factors influencing this low level of adoption were
therefore analysed.
4.1 Process Understanding and
Education
One of the initial themes that emerged from the data collected
was the perceived lack of understanding in Retail Mart of the
terms business process and BPM. A business process was often
seen as synonymous with a task:
“The defined way and rules of carrying out a
particular task, instruction or activity” (M3).
Business participants were less sure that the business had any
understanding of BPM, and they felt that the store management
and staff probably had no understanding.
“I think in pockets there may be. I think out in stores
they wouldn‟t have a clue.” (B3).
109
For BPM to be understood by the business, Participant B3 felt
that it needed to be made simple and practical.
“The complexity involved is an issue for certain
levels of employees. So it needs to be as simple as
possible.”
Most of the participants agreed that the lack of understanding
throughout the organisation was a constraining factor, and that
communication to business and board education was required to
drive home any understanding.
“The lack of understanding of Business Process
Management and the benefits thereof, not just
specifically in IT but all the way through the business
I think, is a constraining factor” (IS1).
The findings concur with previous research that has shown that
organisations struggle with a process approach, and often still
think at a task or procedural level [3] and what understanding
there is, often exists only in disparate groups of the organisation
[20]. Bandara et al. [4] highlight the lack of BPM education as
a perennial issue raised consistently by BPM experts.
4.2 Structures and Ownership
All officially appointed business process owners at Retail Mart
were IS middle management employees and they were
responsible for much of the process implementation. The
structures in IS were mainly driven by a need to implement
software successfully.
“A lot of the Business Process work that has
happened in the organisation has happened
specifically or been driven specifically by IT. That‟s
because I think the IT element understands that if that
is not in place, there is the possibility or the success
of any implementation of any new systems is likely to
fail” (IS1). “We (IS) often lead the change and
recommend the change in the business, which is
perhaps stretching it a little bit. I think we should be
a partner, but no problem with innovating it, and
driving that” (M2).
However, participant IS2 expressed concerns with IS driving
business-process changes on behalf of the business.
“The downside of that is then; we‟re relied on to do
business work as opposed to IT work, which now
confuses the whole thing.”
The business lacked a formalised structure for business process
management which inhibited Retail Mart‟s ability to execute
strategy. Yet, there were signs that this was starting to change.
“I think senior management have a lot of great ideas,
but I don‟t think we‟ve got the people structures in it
for execution… Do they want to direct the ship? Yes,
I think they do, but again it‟s not a dedicated role,
it‟s just done on top of everything else” (IS2)
“If I take something like finance area where
(Financial Manager) being a business owner of many
of the processes... I see a huge willingness to address
and take ownership of the processes within the area,
and to streamline… But we are beginning to mature
as an organisation, and particularly with looking for
ownership in the business for every business process”
(M2).
Research shows that unclear process ownership and designated
authority to change process were frequently raised as issues by
BPM experts [4]. Trkman [32, p.5] explained that more
advanced process organisations have appointed process owners
at both the executive level and “supervisory front-line levels”
within the organisation. Retail Mart was described as being
“heavy on positional power” and having a “functionally”
structured organisation, where the general managers had full
authority over their line-managed areas and employees, as
opposed to managing in the recommended process-oriented
matrix structure [10]. In the Retail Mart situation, the process
managers are probably fulfulling little more than a team-
leader‟s role, trying to facilitate problem resolution by means of
persausion [10].
In terms of linkages with other themes, the current functional
structure is, therefore, constraining Retail Mart‟s ability to
effectively own and manage business proceses within the
organisation; and hence this is impacting BPM adoption. In
addition, the structure of process owners in IS had an influence
on the understanding and education of BPM in the organisation.
Board awareness required to drive and own processes requires
education and understanding of business processes and BPM.
4.3 Skills and Resources
As with the structure of process owners, the process skills,
expertise and resources to support the BPM lifecycle were
considered to mainly reside in the IS division. In addition to the
defined business process owners in IS, the division had a team
of business and functional analysts who were responsible for
the analysis, design and documentation of business processes.
There appear to be different views in terms the capacity of skills
available in the organisation to support BPM. Some of the
participants felt that although the organisation was not
proactively recruiting or investing in BPM skills, they had
brought in new experience by recruiting from other retailers.
“Some of the new blood we‟ve brought in is about
changing that, as opposed to the old BAs which was:
„Tell me what you want and I'll do that”.
A recruitment embargo at Retail Mart to address high
operational costs had also influenced the organisation‟s ability
to bring in new skills.
“When you're under pressure for head count, then
what are you going to do? You are going to go into
survival mode; and unfortunately, that‟s where we
are.”
There were also different views on whether the BPM skills
should reside in the business or in IS or in-between.
“First prize would be to have a business analysis
department/division outside of IS (M2).” “I don‟t
think you'd ever want to make business and the
entrepreneurs of the business systems people, and I
don‟t think you'd want to make the systems people the
retailers, but there is a definite layer in the middle
that can step the boundaries, and that layer should be
implementation; it should be our continuous business
improvement departments” (IS2).
In most organisations, the process design and analytical skills
are found in IS. However, there is a high degree of
interpersonal skills that are also required [18]. One of the
problems of business-process improvement is that it can often
be reduced to a modelling problem, typically performed by a
process analyst whose experience is limited to the explicit
knowledge expressed by process models [28].
In terms of linkages, the business and functional analysts had
insufficient business knowledge required to support the process;
110
this caused delays in adopting BPM. In addition, the lack of
business-process skills and resources in the organisation has
also influenced the understanding and education of BPM.
4.4 Retail and organisational culture
During the interviews, the participants frequently referenced the
culture of the retail industry and the culture of the case study
organization describing them very differently. Retail was
described by using words like “dynamic”, “entrepreneurial”,
“fast pace” and “competitive”. The culture of the organisation,
in contrast, was described as “informal”, “hierarchical” and
“organically grown”.
The participants felt that the culture of retail meant that Retail
Mart was very task and result focused. By focusing so heavily
on tasks and outcomes, they felt that this manifested in less time
and “head space” available to concentrate on improving
business processes to support the end-result.
“I think there's a culture of often get to market
quickly without thinking about how are we going to
support that end result, or how we‟re going to ensure
that that end result is the result that we want.” (M3).
Some participants felt that the culture of getting solutions to
market quickly would lead to formal process design being
interpreted by the business as “non-essential” and an
“unnecessary administrative chore”, and this would “slow
down” the organisation. There was concern that as long as the
culture remained focused only on productivity, BPM would not
receive the required attention
“Don‟t confuse me with facts and processes and
disciplines, so you‟ve got to make it easy for them.”
(M3). “The pressure on productivity is so high that
it's tough to focus on the airy-fairy stuff” (B3).
Retail Mart has grown as a family business creating an informal
culture of loyalty to the chairman. As a result, corporate
governance was not seen to be a top priority and business
processes had grown organically. A culture of promoting from
within had resulted in skills not being brought in at the right
levels to drive initiatives like process-management.
“Being the family business and everyone being very
loyal to the family to get the job done, as opposed to
a corporation, where the governance and the
corporate governance take over” (IS2). “Grown
organically and the processes having developed over
time, without being designed.” (IS2).
Because of the hierarchical top-down driven culture of the
organisation, most of the participants felt there was very little
process improvement or change being driven upwards from the
staff executing processes. This resulted in few staff members
questioning process execution or management, and in staff not
feeling empowered to recommend changes.
“It‟s a very top-down driven culture, so there is very
little information that can be added and driven
upwards.” (IS2). “ Someone could be performing
their process for 20 years and know of ways to do it
better, but his manager told him 20 years ago that
this is how it‟s done and you know you don‟t question
your manager” (IS1). “If people come up with ideas,
they probably said listen, you've got too much time on
your hands. We need to give you more work” (B3).
Two of the participants, who were in positions of authority, felt
differently and were of the opinion that staff did feel
empowered.
 “I think that business processes are under scrutiny,
and I do believe that people feel empowered to
recommend changes to business processes” (M2). “I
think it‟s allowed to bubble and I think people have
various forums within their divisions for speaking up,
and I think we‟re quite informal” (M3).
Culture is an ambiguous concept that is often difficult to define
[3] and a culture change is often seen as one of the most
difficult aspects to manage in terms of BPM adoption [17].
Culture was seen to influence BPM adoption. One of the key
drivers for BPM identified from the literature was the need for
organisations to adapt processes quickly and to remain
competitive in an environment of increased competition [16].
Therefore, it would appear that a retail culture would more
easily adopt BPM.
“Retail culture is fast moving and quick changing,
hence the reason why business processes are
important” (B2).
Yet the culture of Retail Mart had also driven the behaviour of
employees to become very task- and outcome-focused; and as a
result, very little time has been made available to look
holistically at business processes.
“We‟re an organisation that is driven by task; it‟s as
simple as that. My job is to take this, do this with it
and put it there, that‟s it” (IS2).
A hierarchical and top-down driven culture has also made
proactive continuous process improvement difficult to achieve
at Retail Mart,
“Unfortunately because it‟s a culture where change
doesn‟t get driven from the bottom you need to go
and find that improvement” (IS1).
Trkman [32] recommends that organisations cultivate an
environment of continuous improvement and empower
employees to recommend change. Hence, the culture of the
organisation was seen to be a constraining factor to adoption.
The participants all felt that, for the culture to change and
embrace BPM, the discipline had to be implemented slowly to
prove its value, and to avoid being seen as too theoretical,
admin-intensive, or a tool which would throttle the
entrepreneurs of the organisation. This is achievable because
BPM differentiates itself from other process-oriented
management theories like BPR, in that it focuses on continuous
process improvement and change, and lends itself to
incremental implementation [3].
Retail Mart had also cultivated its very own unique
organisational culture different from that of other retailers. The
informal culture of ‟loyalty‟ to the family and „just get the job
done‟ may have resulted in a lack of new skills in the business
at influential levels to support BPM. Hence cultural factors
were seen to influence skills and process understanding.
4.5 Governance and Legislation
Some of the participants felt that the retail industry of the past
had not been well regulated or governed, when compared with
other industries. It was felt that the level of risk needed to
match the level of governance, and that retail should not
necessarily be governed the same as other industries
“It‟s not a regulated industry, like banking whereby if
you apply for a loan you have to do this and then you
have to do that and then the next thing” (M1). “If you
got a bank that is managing my money, I want them
to be sure what they are doing with it. But you know
111
if you managing it and a can of baked beans falls to
the floor, big deal” (IS3).
Yet new acts and legislation, have emphasised the need for
governance of business processes. Corporate governance was
starting to play more of an influential role at Retail Mart, with
the formation of a group audit and risk division. Both divisional
and board directors of Retail Mart were being held personally
accountable for the adherence to organisational governance.
Attention and time was now being paid to the regular audit
report.
“I think particularly as King 3 and more
commissions have to be activated in our
organisation.” (M2). “I mean you‟ve heard I do all
of the IT audit, so I get about 23 in six months, and
every corporate function gets checked” (M3).
IT governance is high up on the agenda of most organisations
[6] and corporate governance is forcing organisations to follow
their daily activities more closely than ever before [34]. As a
result, governance and legislation are seen to be key business
drivers of BPM [16]. This is consistent with the data provided
by the Retail Mart participants. The introduction of a group
audit division at Retail Mart was placing greater focus on
formal process documentation and governance; and this, in
turn, could drive a more disciplined approach to process
management.
At Retail Mart there appears to be an improved acceptance by
executives that governance was becoming more of their
responsibility -- with real penalties becoming a potential threat
for non-compliance. The importance placed on corporate
governance at Retail Mart has resulted in the organisation‟s
“cowboy” culture being challenged.
“You need to stick to a process, otherwise you‟re
going to get penalized”(M1). “Where the governance
is kicking in, yet the culture of the particular stores in
the regions is,‟ we run our region; we‟ll do it the way
we want, and that will clash over time” (IS2).
The responsibility placed on board members to play an active
role in corporate governance has influenced the need for them
to be educated on their processes, procedures and the
management thereof. Directors and executives are becoming
more exposed to their business processes through the group-
audit process and are being forced to understand them in order
to direct the necessary corrective actions.
4.6 Centralisation and Standardisation
Retail Mart is currently on a strategic drive to centralise many
of its business areas and functions. Until recently, Retail Mart
had adopted a more decentralised business model, with each
region run almost as an independent business unit. Most of the
participants felt that this had resulted in each region developing
its own unique business processes, making them, in
consequence, very difficult to manage. The physical location of
the regions and stores made it even more difficult to manage the
business processes
“Because there is no standard way of doing things
these processes have changed and developed
differently in different areas; and that‟s not just in
different areas of the business; that‟s in different
physical locations” (IS1). “I mean we just can't
manage it because of the geographic location of all
the regions” (IS2).
Most of the participants agreed that with the strategy moving
towards centralisation of business areas and regions,
standardisation and stricter disciplines of business processes
were required. This could result in benefits in a high-volume
business like Retail Mart.
“In a volume business, if you have standard business
processes all done and documented in the same way
and executed in the same way, this can only lead to
efficiency” (M3).
Centralisation refers to the degree in which the right to make
decisions and evaluate activities is consolidated [26]. The move
towards centralisation of business areas has resulted in Retail
Mart needing to redesign its currently decentralised business
processes and to try to standardise them.
In terms of linkages, most of the participants felt that
centralisation was enabling BPM at Retail Mart.
“Yes. I think as we‟re becoming more and more
centralised as a business, we've got to ensure that
everyone‟s doing the same thing” (M3). “So, in terms
of retail and general centralising, it opens up
opportunities for business-process management”
(M1).
Some of the participants felt that centralisation would also
improve the understanding of BPM in the organisation. The
researcher also felt that this was the case when interviewing
participants from the centralised divisions, like finance and the
supply chain.
“I think if you compare companies as well, the more
centralised companies, I think by nature, will
understand this (BPM) better than the more
decentralised” (M1).
4.7 Technology
In terms of linkages, firstly the recent ERP implementation at
Retail Mart had been a “catalyst” for new business process
disciplines being adopted at Retail Mart.
“In my view, it's lent credibility to a more structured
way of dealing with processes” (B3). “I think there
was a huge focus on it (business processes) within the
ERP project; the business started getting used to the
concept” (IS1).
Secondly, the implementation of technology, such as ERP,
positively influenced the understanding of business processes
and introduced the concept of process management through
design, documentation and sign-off of business processes.
“So I believe ERP was a catalyst for educating the
business on business processes” (M2).
Thirdly, the ERP implementation facilitated the organisation
staff members in getting exposed to new skills and ways of
working. With new technologies, it is often crucial to acquire
new external skills to assist with a successful implementation
and knowledge transfer [13]. During the ERP implementation,
functional and process consultants were sourced to assist with
the technology implementation. ERP had contributed to new
skill sets in the organisation, through consultants used to
implement the ERP and model-business processes, and the up-
skilling of Retail Mart employees.
“So, I think the sort of ERP team that we worked with
got a lot of exposure over the project, and so are very
used to working in that type of structure or way of
thinking” (M3).
112
Finally, when referring to the ERP implementation and the
implementation of a new point of sale solution, participant M3
felt that it had enabled the organisation to adopt best-practice
business processes and assist with process standardization. The
implementation of ERP technology has enforced the
standardisation of business processes, and has been an enabler
of the centralisation strategy. One of the major reasons for
companies implementing ERP systems is to reap the benefits of
the standardising business processes [2].
“We've also got the best business practices that are
out there, and business processes to optimise
particular activity” (M3).
There appears to be little doubt from the data analysed that
technology has played a significant role in the organisation‟s
exposure to formal business-process disciplines. Although most
of the participants spoke about the positive impact ERP had on
business process awareness, rarely was the importance of
business processes for the ERP implementation mentioned. It
was understood from the participants‟ answers that the ERP
technology was more important to BPM success, than the other
way around. Yet, BPM is seen as being critical to the success of
an ERP implementation [13].
5. The Resultant Model
BPM has been described as being dominated by diversity in
terms of adoption and effective outcomes [25]. In terms of
BPM adoption, Retail Mart is still low in BPM maturity
according to the Gartner six-phase maturity model [20] and a
BPM freshman acording to Bucher and Winter [5].
There were a number of enabling and constraining factors that
influenced the adoption and maturation process. Illustrated in
Figure 3 is the complete research model, showing the factors
influencing the adoption of BPM, and how they link to one
another. The model shows the dominance of understanding and
education on business processes and BPM affecting adoption.
Because of the historically informal and operational nature of
the retail organisation, the understanding appears to have been
influenced by the outcome and task-focused environment.
There appeared to be a lack of understanding, at a business
process level, of the need to link process with business‟s
objectives or strategies. This has resulted in a very limited
understanding of the term business process, which in turn has
naturally limited the understanding of BPM as a broader
concept. For BPM to be successful in the organisation, it needs
to be understood at an executive level through the education of
current and future BPM initiatives.
Technology, and in particular ERP, enabled BPM adoption.
The need to understand the organisation‟s business processes
before the ERP implementation had forced Retail Mart to
formally document, design and publish their business processes
for sign-off. This had created an awareness of business
processes and a formal way of managing them. The ERP
implementation had exposed Retail Mart to new skills through
ERP and retail process consultants.
Following understanding and education of BPM, the existing
culture of the organisation was found to be the next most
constraining factor to BPM adoption. Although the retail
culture, being a dynamic, competitive and innovative one, was
considered an enabling factor, the culture of the case study
organisation was seen to be a constraint.
The lack of business-process ownership and structures was seen
by the participants to be a constraining factor, with most of the
process ownership and structure residing with middle-
management IS employees. Business-process structures and the 5.1 Limitations
business ownership need to be formally implemented at the The model was derived from perceptions of staff working at
right levels at Retail Mart to ensure BPM success. The heavy Retail Mart. BPM adoption is diverse and hence this model
functional structures in the organisation were found to be less will not be applicable to all Retailers. The distinctive features of
than optimal for BPM adoption. A strong process-oriented Retail Mart included being early adopters, having a technology
matrix structure is required to allow the organisation to manage infrastructure dominated by an ERP and their attempts to adopt
processes efficiently across functional areas. BPM bottom-up from the IT Department. Arguably this model
The lack of specific BPM skills in the organisation was found could be useful to other retailers that are early BPM adopters
to be a constraining factor in its adoption. Most of the BPM and have adopted an ERP.
skills were limited to the IS division and the business and
functional analyst roles. These roles primarily focused on 6. CONCLUSION
process analysis, design and modelling. The research focused on the BPM phenomenon at a South
A heavy focus on corporate and IT governance and legislation African supermarket retailer, with the aim of exploring the
were found to be enabling the BPM adoption, with acts like the organisation‟s understanding of BPM, as well as the enabling
Report for Corporate Governance for South Africa and the and constraining factors to BPM adoption. The research aimed
Code of Governance Principles (King III) placing further to add to the currently limited BPM research field and its
emphasis on executives to formally manage IT and business practical application in a real-world retail environment.
processes. As illustrated by the model, corporate governance Through a case study at a leading South African retailer,
and legislation also influenced the organisational culture, and in qualitative interviews with both IS and retail professionals
so doing further enabled BPM‟s adoption. found that BPM was considered to be of substantial benefit to
retail, and that, although the organisation had adopted
The case study found that the move towards centralising and
components of BPM, the organisation showed signs of its
standardising business areas and processes, for example
readiness for further formal adoption procedures.
finance, buying and supply chain, was another key-enabling
factor for BPM‟s adoption at Retail Mart. The research identified and proceeded to understand a number
of enabling and constraining factors. Constraining factors
The conceptual model has proved its usefulness to Retail Mart.
included the understanding and education of BPM, the unique
To improve adoption, it was felt that a proof of concept could
organisational culture and the lack of business-process
assist in securing buy-in at a board level and improve the
ownership and business structure. Enabling factors identified
understanding of BPM. Participants felt that this could be
from the data collected were centralisation of the organisation‟s
achieved by taking an area of the organisation, known for
business areas, the increased importance of governance and
process inefficiency and management issues, and actively
legislation enforcement, the technical ERP implementation and
manage processes through a formal BPM life-cycle; and in so
the dynamic, continuously changing and innovative culture of
doing, prove the benefits.
retail in general. Based on these factors, a research model was
developed to illustrate these factors and their inter-
relationships.
It was the aim of the research to help BPM practitioners
understand what, in the South African retail context, influences
BPM. By understanding these factors and how they influence
Structure
Structure and
and each other, the research hopes to provide further guidance on
ownership
ownership what contributes to the success or failure of BPM‟s adoption in
retail organisations.
Centralisation
Centralisation and
and In terms of theoretical contribution, this study has shown that
Standardisation
Standardisation all three previous models, the BPM model [31], the Alter work
system method [1] and the Kettinger business change model
Understanding
Understanding
[14] are useful in understanding BPM in Retail. Most of the
Technology BPM
BPM Adoption
and
and Education
Education
Technology Adoption groupings from Table 1 were relevant in this context. In terms
of factors affecting early adoption, this model is a unique
contribution in terms of showing firstly the dominance of
Skills
Skills and
and Resources
Resources education and understanding with early adopters and secondly
the lesser impact of methods and strategy with early adopters.
Retail
Retail and
and As BPM adoption increases and organisations mature in their
Organisational
Organisational adoption, further research into understanding and overcoming
Culture
Culture
adoption challenges is recommended.
Governance
Governance and
Legislation
Legislation
and
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