Towards dynamic processes-of-business processes: a new understanding
Business Process Management Journal
ISSN: 1463-7154
Article publication date: 25 May 2021
Issue publication date: 10 August 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this work is to overcome the difficulty to manage large, dynamic business processes formed from the complicated interplay of business processes of distinct organizations, which take part of strategic alliances of organizations (joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions) and have their software systems as part of complex, large software-intensive systems called Systems of Systems (SoS). Hence, the authors introduce the novel concept of Processes-of-Business Processes (PoP), deepening on their characteristics and related key terms.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the systematically retrieved and analyzed literature and on the authors’ experience from research/industrial projects, the authors defined PoP and have applied them in the Brazilian public health SoS, which involve several organizations and their business processes and their independent software systems as well.
Findings
Provided by PoP, a new understanding of the large, dynamic business processes of alliances of organizations is fundamental to advance both the state of the art and the state of the practice on business process management.
Research limitations/implications
The adoption of PoP in other real-world scenarios is still required to get quantitative evidence.
Practical implications
The adoption of PoP can certainly contribute to the success of new businesses and even promoting sustainability and longevity of SoS, which are in fact deeply impacted by business processes.
Originality/value
The concept of PoP can change the mindset of the research community and practitioners about how large, dynamic business processes should be seen and further managed.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel – CAPES 740 (Finance Code 001), National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - CNPq (Grant: 312634/2018-8), and São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP (Grant: 2015/24144-7).
Citation
Cagnin, M.I. and Nakagawa, E.Y. (2021), "Towards dynamic processes-of-business processes: a new understanding", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 1545-1568. https://doi.org/10.1108/BPMJ-08-2020-0349
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited