Beyond Business Process Reengineering: Towards the Holonic Enterprise (Paperback)

~ (Author), Giorgio Merli (Author), William A. Wheeler (Author) "Imagine the plight of the MEGA-PC company (a fictional company, but one similar to many existing companies)..." (more)
Key Phrases: holonic network, holonic business system, holonic node, Xerox Corporation, Cambridge Instruments, North America (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

How is your business these days? Do the following sound familiar? Market share flat or falling? Margins being squeezed ever thinner? Increased competition from new players? Technology out-racing you? Customers wanting more than you can offer? In all businesses today the answer is — yes! For many, the solution is to focus on their core business processes — commonly known as Business Process Reengineering (BPR). Now some businesses have gone beyond BPR and are using holonic networks to respond to the rising challenges of business in the 1990s. Holonic networks give businesses the agility to rapidly change product and service capabilities to meet rapidly changing market demands, offering the following advantages:

• leverage — there is true synergy achieved by combining the best capabilities of many operations.
• speed — decision making is streamlined which shows up as improved time to market.
• flexibility — rapid change to product or service capabilities to match changing customer requirements.
• fast growth and high profits — improving customer responsiveness by 33% results in a growth rate of 300% and up to 500% more profit than competitors.
• sustainable customers — tough for competitors to wean them away.
• reduced capital requirement — shared costs and fuller use made of equipment.
• quick failure recognition — real-time operation recognizes and then fixes failure.

In this book, the authors describe how holonic networks and the virtual companies within them have been implemented in businesses as diverse as Ford, Hewlett Packard, Benetton and R Griggs, the company that makes Doc Marten shoes. Beyond Business Process Reengineering provides a thought-provoking and practical examination of business today. For everyone in business being pulled through competition, technological change and their own reengineering efforts, it provides a new and radical alternative to downsizing, restructuring, cost reduction and strategic repositioning.

From the Publisher

Internationally renowned experts, with worldwide consulting expertise, chart a dynamic new trend that promises to go beyond current thinking on BPR and virtual companies. Discusses the competitive advantages of holonic systems, demonstrating what enterprises must do to become viable holonic players. Includes a significant amount of international examples.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (June 12, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471974811
• ISBN-13: 978-0471974819
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,792,832 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for distributed replenishment, March 28, 2000

By	Steve Gutmann (Auckland, New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Business Process Reengineering: Towards the Holonic Enterprise (Hardcover)

A great read for anyone looking at setting up replenishment across geographically spread sites. While most texts provide information on centralised warehousing supplying stores or plants, this book focusses on transferring stock from multiple locations. Great for today's internet retailing world !