THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF PROCESS MANAGEMENT IN SMEs

Sammanfattning: Literature indicates a greater use of process management in large companies than in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are a major contributor to the global economy, and just like large companies, SMEs face challenges such as a need to respond promptly and effectively to their business environment, despite having limited resources.  Practitioners and researchers within process management refer to a trade-off between the operative support that process management provides and the strategic ability of organisations to be flexible in response to their environment and customer requests. The strategic role of process management has not been highlighted in depth in the literature. Hence, the use of process management and its strategic role in SMEs is a research gap which needs to be investigated. This research should include approaches to process management that support the fulfilment of strategic goals without compromising flexibility.  The purpose of this dissertation is to enhance the understanding of the strategic role of process management in SMEs. To address this purpose, two research questions were designed. The first research question explores how the fundamentals of process management contribute to the understanding of the strategic role of process management. The second research question explores and analyses the conditions of SMEs and suggests how process management could be adapted to be used in SMEs.  This dissertation includes a longitudinal study, with an action research approach, conducted at two companies. This approach provided a deep understanding of the companies and a strong connection between research and managerial usefulness.  The results of the dissertation suggest a need for a contingent approach to process management where the activities that lead to competitive advantage are identified. This identification, together with a connection to the strategic goals of the organisations can then be the basis for determining the need for process development of the organisation. In this way, process management efforts can be focused on processes that lead the organisations to gain competitive advantage. Hence, with the connection to competitive advantage, the strategic goals of the organisations and the continuous improvement principle of process management enhance the understanding of the strategic role of process management.  The contribution of this dissertation is primarily in the field of process management, by providing results and analyses that support its strategic relevancy in general and specifically for SMEs. A dynamic capabilities lens has been used to enhance the connection between competitive advantage and the strategic role of process management. This dissertation also contributes to research into dynamic capabilities, by providing concrete examples of the interpretation of dynamic capabilities and a connection between dynamic capabilities and a managerial approach such as process management. The context of this dissertation includes environmental sustainability as a societal need to be addressed by the road freight transport (RFT) business sector, constituted mostly by SMEs. RFT companies, in particular SMEs, have limited resources and simultaneously need to be responsive to various and challenging customer demands. The use of this context enabled the inclusion of examples and analysis with a managerial contribution for, but not limited to, RFTs.