Title: Process renewal driven by disruptive technologies

Authors: Raija Suikki

Addresses: Nokia, P.O. Box 300, FIN-90401 Oulu, Finland

Abstract: This paper presents experiences with process renewal in the turbulent telecommunications business environment in the Internet Protocol (IP) convergence era. Process renewal driven by disruptive technologies in the Nokia case unit is described. Literature presents Total Quality Management (TQM) for continuous improvement, Business Process Reengineering (BPR) for radical redesign, and also their combination. This paper proposes combining the TQM and BPR approaches, and highlights that process renewal driven by disruptive technologies differs from management-driven process renewal. New technologies, continuous innovation and changes in today|s business environment cause chaos in the prevailing circumstances; the old and proven way of doing business requires changes in the operational mode. This paper describes how the case unit solved the challenge. The means were adapted processes, focusing on the customer, and competence development.

Keywords: business process reengineering; BPR; disruptive technologies; process renewal; total quality management; TQM; telecommunications business environment; competence development; Nokia; continuous improvement.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2007.012112

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2007 Vol.1 No.3, pp.281 - 295

Published online: 21 Jan 2007 *

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