Understanding Business Processes

What do business organizations do? The results of business behaviour can be observed and experienced in the form of the goods that are produced. However what goes on within organizations is often hidden from the outside world. This reader enables the student to make sense of business behaviour by offering an understanding of what organizations do. The book is underpinned by a systems perspective and takes a process view of organizations. This enables it to demonstrate that any business is a number of interrelated business processes and that success is determined by the extent to which these activities add value whilst minimising cost. Specifically the book focuses on: activities through which the organization interacts with its customers including marketing and sales; how organizations process materials including purchasing and manufacturing; and forms of business organization, with a critical account of new paradigms including business process re-engineering. The book features articles by leading business gurus including Michael Porter, Philip Kotler and John Kay.

Author Biography

David Barnes has pursued an industrial as well as academic career. He has worked for a number of organizations ranging from blue chip to small family owned businesses in the process plant contracting and building products manufacturing industries. He is a Lecturer in Management at The Open University Business School, where his interests centre on the strategic management of operations