The purpose is to analyze current process improvement approaches. Decision makers can be altered to both the success factors and causes of failure of different process improvement approaches, and help assure practical effectiveness of process improvement efforts. The contribution of this paper is two fold: first, empirical evidence on the drivers of success and failure of four main PI approaches, were synthesized second, based on this empirical evidence, a conceptual framework that guides both the choice and implementation of business process improvement programs is developed.