An application of the Delta Model and BPR in transforming electronic business  the case of a food ingredients company in UK
Abstract.? Companies are leveraging existing resources and the internet to come up with new or modified business models to respond to the demands of e-business. Companies in the food processing industry are also waking to the reality that e-business technology can make a big difference to the bottom line. This paper presents the result of an action research project which applied a new approach labelled as the Delta Model developed by Hax and Wilde (2001) of Sloan School of Management to strategy development for brick-n-mortar companies launching e-business initiatives. The case company is called Whetstone Food Ingredients (WFI), located in UK. The company is firmly embedded in the agri-product industry and operates in the egg by-product subsector. This paper is based upon action research supplemented by a programme of in-depth interviews with managers at WFI for various aspects of their supply chain and e-business initiatives. On the basis of these interviews and the companies also made a range of documents available throughout. These included internal memos, strategy plans, operational control documents and minutes of meetings. The Delta Model and Davenport's methodology of business process reengineering were adopted to structure this analysis. Used in conjunction, they helped to develop a vision, analyse the business processes, identify critical business processes, benchmark the critical processes, and then develop the information technology infrastructure. The infrastructure thus supported the critical business processes and leveraged the e-business supply chain to enable the company to gain competitive edge.
delta model bpr e-business food industry supply chain management web-based order management system