Marlen Christin Jurisch, Wolfgang Palka, Petra Wolf and Helmut Krcmar
Business process change (BPC) initiatives are complex endeavors, which require many different sets of capabilities from the organization (e.g. IT, change management, project…
Abstract
Purpose
Business process change (BPC) initiatives are complex endeavors, which require many different sets of capabilities from the organization (e.g. IT, change management, project management capabilities). This study aims to examine which capabilities matter for successful BPC.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper posits that a structured analysis of case studies will help in identifying the capabilities relevant for BPC. Against this background, the paper adopted a case survey methodology, which combines the richness of case studies with the benefit of analyzing large quantities of data. The paper identified and analyzed 130 case studies reporting the past BPC project experiences.
Findings
The results show that project management, change management and IT capabilities have a positive impact on BPC project performance. IT capabilities also have a positive impact on the final process performance. Thus, IT capabilities matter for both BPC project and process performance.
Research limitations/implications
The study had a few limitations, such as the use of secondary data. More so, assigning numbers to qualitative data unduly simplifies the complex phenomena under investigation and may leave out some of the richness of case research.
Practical implications
The findings provide considerable support for determining which capabilities practitioners need to leverage and develop when improving their business processes.
Originality/value
The study makes a number of contributions. It fills a gap in the literature concerning which capabilities matter for successful BPC. The paper offers a theoretical explanation of the effects of capabilities on the BPC project and process performance. Another contribution is methodological, in that the paper adopted the case survey method, which is still new to information systems research.
Details
Keywords
Marcin Ziolkowski and Stanislaw Gratkowski
The purpose of this paper is to present the methodology of designing an exciter for Magnetic Induction Tomography (MIT). The design of the exciter must satisfy the following…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the methodology of designing an exciter for Magnetic Induction Tomography (MIT). The design of the exciter must satisfy the following requirements: maximize MIT system sensitivity and minimize harmful influence on electronic MIT equipment.
Design/methodology/approach
Two objective functions are considered, namely: a magnetic flux density in the protected regions and a module of the eddy‐current density vector in the object under test in the vicinity of a sensor. The paper shows a multi‐objective optimization technique (based on the weighted sum method) which, by coupling the finite‐element method with a genetic algorithm, supports the design of the exciter.
Findings
It is possible to design in a relatively simple way an exciter for MIT under the given assumptions.
Originality/value
Detailed description of the multi‐objective optimization procedure has been presented.