Type of Publication: Article in Collected Edition

Business Process Governance: Theorizing and Empirical Application

Author(s):

Niehaves, Björn; Plattfaut, Ralf; Budde, Max; Becker, Jörg

Title of Anthology:

17th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS 2011)

Publication Date:

2011

Link to complete version:

http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2011_submissions/351/

Citation:

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Abstract

Studies by Gartner (2010) or McKinsey (2008) suggest univocally that improving business processes is the undisputednumber one priority for organizations world-wide. Hence, organizations need adequate capabilities for Business ProcessManagement (BPM). However, these capabilities do not necessarily need to be developed in the organization itself – aninclusion using other sourcing structures (e.g. cooperation/network or market instead of hierarchy) is possible as well. Thispaper builds upon an understanding of BPM as a dynamic capability and a well-known distinction of governance strategies(market, cooperation, hierarchy) to develop a business process governance framework. Using an extensive case study weinitially test this framework in a European PRODUCTION company. Therefore, we make the following contributions: 1)development of a BPM theory that integrates dynamic capability and governance theory, 2) a model for understandingsourcing strategies in BPM, and 3) empirically sound factors explaining sourcing strategies in BPM. Our results suggest thatorganizations facing a low dynamic market environment do not employ dedicated resources for business process change butrely on ad-hoc measures. Moreover, they gather these resources mostly internally (hierarchical governance). The paper endswith implications for both research and practice, limitations, and potential avenues for future research.