Do as I say, not as I do. (corporate reengineering initiatives)

Reengineering - the management mantra of the early 1990s - has been taking a lot of knocks in the business and popular press lately. Yet seven in ten companies that have undergone reengineering expect to spend just as much or more on such initiatives in the future, according to a recent survey of 782 corporations by Gemini Consulting, Inc., co-sponsored by the American Productivity and Quality Center's International Benchmarking Clearinghouse. If they do continue to invest in reengineering, the study implies, they may wind up more disappointed with the results.

Although about three-quarters of the executives surveyed said their companies had succeeded in reducing …