Is software process re-engineering and improvement the "Sliver Bullet" of the 1990's or a constructive approach to meet pre-defined business targets?

Our experience in the process control business started consciously in 1990 and probably unconsciously before. When we started, the CMM model from the Software Engineering Institute was available to the public and we used it as the basis for development of a methodology for software measurement. In late 1993, we noticed some interest among our customers in Europe for process improvement; analysing the reasons for the customers' enthusiasm, we observed that there were two main justifications: competitors in the market place were involved in process improvement; and senior management had understood the role of software performance for the future of the company.