January 23, 2011 
Marina 
Putting executives in charge of improving cross-functional processes in large organizations is akin to asking them to paddle a boat upstream. The natural forces in the organization will tend to frustrate their every attempt to coordinate activities across functional boundaries.
Nevertheless, companies that live and die on operational excellence — such as Amazon.com, FedEx, Southwest Airlines, and Wal-Mart — must continually improve their key processes. And they need process owners (who may variously be called VP of Customer Experience, SVP of Supply Chain, Chief Engineer, or Value Stream Leader, for instance) to lead these initiatives. So what conditions give process owners the best chance of success?
