Business process reengineering efforts suffer from low success rates, due in part to a lack of tools for managing the change process. The Matrix of Change can help managers identify critical interactions among processes. In particular, this tool helps managers deal with issues such as how quickly change should proceed, the order in which changes should take place, whether to start at a new site, and whether the proposed systems are stable and coherent.

The goal of the Matrix of Change is to help managers visualize how to address changes in business processes and system changes. Change invariably disrupts existing business processes, and business process and system changes must be aligned and managed effectively to achieve intended performance gains. The Matrix of Change captures the key elements of a proposed change and presents in a framework which makes it easier to investigate the complementary and conflicting processes. The Matrix of Change presents a way to capture connections between practices. It graphically displays both reinforcing and interfering organizational processes.

Armed with this knowledge, a change agent can use intuitive principles to seek points of leverage and design a smoother transition. Once the broad outlines of the new system and the transition path have been charted, authority can more effectively be decentralized for local implementation and optimization. . We devote more specific attention to the transformational efforts successfully navigated at United Parcel Service (UPS) in its competitive responses to Federal Express and the dramatic changes in Internet-enabled, package and document delivery services worldwide. Throughout our focus on complementarities leads us to ask how companies can capture both the new opportunities made available by the Internet, and the leveraging of existing assets to grow new markets at rates applicable to the economic needs of the large firm. While small firms can often most quickly respond to the opportunities for growth in emerging markets, it is the large firm that can grow these markets by leveraging their assets to bring scale-based economies to the market. But this is much easier said than done of course. Within large firms, it is often the resource allocation processes, both formal and informal, which make it difficult to focus adequate expertise and resources on small markets. We have observed that the Matrix of Change can help managers visualize and identify what resources should be deployed where and when, and where these resources complement or conflict with existing business practices.