FRAMEWORK FOR MEASURING THE LEVEL OF PROCESS ORIENTATION IN THE SRI LANKAN APPAREL INDUSTRY

Abstract

Sri Lankan apparel industry is the second largest export earner of the country with nearly 5% contribution to the gross domestic product. Intense competition from regional players requires Sri Lankan apparel manufacturers to pay a greater attention on improving overall performance of their businesses. Process orientation (PO) is considered as one of the most effective ways of achieving this goal as it reduces operational costs, enhances customer satisfaction and improves employee engagement and satisfaction. A questionnaire survey revealed that the implementation of process orientation in the Sri Lankan apparel sector is poor and patchy. Industry therefore needs a comprehensive framework to measure the level of process orientation before any attempts are made to address the situation. Although there are several frameworks in existence, none of them take specific aspects of the apparel industry. This paper presents the systematic development of a framework for the apparel industry. An extensive literature survey was conducted to identify the most useful measuring parameters in process orientation. In total, 35 parameters were identified under 5 major categories and then a mathematical model was developed to measure the level of process orientation. This framework will assist apparel organizations to self-assess their current state of process orientation. Meanwhile it offers an insight to compare the current status with the ideal, thereby to plan future work to close the gap between the two. Furthermore it will help in identifying the areas of which the organization lags behind in terms of process orientation.

Key Words: Process Orientation, Business Process Management, Measuring Process Orientation, Apparel
Manufacturing

For full paper: fmscresearch@sjp.ac.lk