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NTU Management Review Vol. 35 No. 1 Apr. 2025

1. Introduction

Business process management (BPM) is increasingly gaining attention among
academic communities, although it is not a new concept (Alibabaei, Bandara, and Aghdasi,

2009). According to Hammer (2002), BPM is a high-level concept that incorporates
numerous process management methodologies (e.g. six sigma and lean management).
The goal of BPM is to facilitate firms flexibly use the tool that best fits the organization’s
situation, and an organization is not restricted to one tool when applying BPM, which is

one of BPM’s advantages.
The express industry in Taiwan experienced limited growth from 2012 to 2018. After
navigating the demand fluctuations during the pandemic, the industry after 2023 faces
intense competition among logistics providers, making substantial operational growth

increasingly challenging. Furthermore, the express industry is a labor-intensive sector
that requires a large number of couriers to deliver packages. However, being a courier
is becoming a less desirable job in Taiwan due to its demanding working environment.
Any shortage of couriers leads to overtime and delayed delivery, resulting in negative

perceptions among employees and customers alike. To achieve higher performance and
address these challenges, one method that may adopt by the companies to manage the
situation is by applying business process management (BPM) (Trkman, 2010).
Although BPM has long been utilizing within organizations, most researchers

focus on the primary processes and aim to improve the efficiency of primary activities
to enhance business performance (Hammer and Stanton, 1999; Khosravi, 2016; Porter,
1985); most organizations also emphasize applying BPM to primary processes such as
logistics and operations. In contrast, applications of BPM to human resources management

(HRM) are still limited. Specifically, although HRM is considered a support activity, it is
undoubtedly critical to business performance because HR departments help organizations
recruit, train, and retain qualified personnel to perform the primary process that directly
delivers value to external customers. Surprisingly, little BPM-related research has been

conducted on HRM. To address this gap, the research focuses on the practical application
of BPM in HRM through the case study of a Taiwan subsidiary of a multinational express
company.
The concept of BPM can be traced back to the late 1990s, when it was first applied to

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