摘要：There is no doubt that at least since the1990s process orientation has evolvedinto one of the central paradigms of organizationaldesign. Since then, all processmanagement subtasks have matured.Process management decisions,however, lack economic foundation. Theyare usually based on qualitative or technicalcriteria or on plausibility considerationsthat do not necessarily complywith typical objectives in a marketeconomy. Consequently, design alternativesare hardly comparable and an integratedvaluation of a company’s assetsis impossible. The status quo is astonishingfor several reasons: First, processmanagement decisions usually implyinvestment projects with differentrisk/return positions and capital tie-up.Second, the need for designing processesaccording to their contributionto corporate objectives has been explicatedrepeatedly. Third, the paradigmof value-based management is an acceptedtheoretical framework from economicresearch that enables to consistentlyvaluate the risk/return effects ofdecisions across functional areas, hierarchylevels, and asset classes. This suggeststhe hypothesis that process managementin general as well as the goalorientation of process management decisionsin particular have evolved almostindependently of value-based management.In the paper at hand, this hypothesisis confirmed based on a sampleof process management publications.We therefore explicate the research gapas regards value orientation in processmanagement. In order to bridge the gapbetween value-based management andprocess-oriented organizational design,we transfer economically well-foundedobjective functions to process managementdecisions.
关键词：Process management; Business process management; Value-based management; Value-oriented process management; Value orientation; Decision theory; Risk/return management
