Innovation in business processes focuses on improving efficiency through?

• A. Improving efficiency through methods like specialisation, such as McDonald's fast production systems
• B. Focusing on product design only
• C. Expanding to new markets
• D. Avoiding automation

Answer: (A)

Process innovation aims to boost efficiency by changing how work is done, often through specialized tasks and standardized, tightly managed workflows. When work is broken into specialized tasks, workers become highly proficient at a narrow set of activities, which speeds up production and reduces mistakes. A highly efficient, fast production system—like the one exemplified by McDonald’s—puts steps in a precise order, standardizes procedures, and times each action to minimize delays. This combination of specialization and standardized processes directly lowers cycle times and costs while delivering consistent output, which is the essence of improving efficiency through process design.

Focusing only on product design would be product innovation, not process changes. Expanding to new markets is about reach and demand, not the internal way work is performed. Avoiding automation would miss a major lever for increasing speed and consistency in operations, which process innovation often leverages.