Managing Process Innovation through Exploitation and Exploration : A Study on Combining TQM and BPR in the Norwegian Industry

In order to stay efficient, companies need to improve their existing business processes on a continuous basis. To ensure competitive edge, it is essential for companies to adapt radically to new business opportunities and when external demands change. However, experience and research show that companies have difficulties managing both the continuous improvement of the existing system and radical change at the same time. By using TQM and BPR to represent the two approaches to change Tor T nnessen contributes to the understanding of the challenges of this integration and shows ways to accomplish a successful synergistic combining of the two approaches.