Reengineering Revisited

Before the early 1990s, many corporations were asleep at the wheel. The thumping of competition, the loud complaints of their customers, the noise of a changing marketplace couldn't wake them up. Then reengineering came along, a radical approach that has dominated management thinking for much of the decade. Now it's time to take the next step -- reengineering the top line and the bottom line, by using the technique to respond to broader strategic needs. This provocative study profiles six companies that have reengineered for growth: American Express, Baxter International, IBM, Pfizer, a midwest utility and a large financial services organization.