Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System Tools: The Context of their Creation and Use Within the Technology Transfer Process

This paper represents a discussion of research-in- progress which deals with the creation of information systems (IS) tools within a given context (environmental, cultural, historical, social) and their transfer to and implementation within another context. The mutual contingency of skills and tools is highlighted as a major contextual factor for the successful transfer and implementation of an IS. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are a relatively new and strategic class of IS which are gaining in importance for the function and competitive advantage of the modern organisation. Which ERP contextual skills issues need to be addressed in order to facilitate the successful transfer and implementation of these IS into varied organisational contexts? This paper poses a number of research questions within the area of ERP transfer and implementation using the University of NSW as a case example

The impact of e-service quality on atitude toward online shopping

The research was designed to fill the gap in the existing body of knowledge regarding attitudes toward online shopping and differences in electronic service quality perception between two different geographical and cultural countries. In addition, this research extended previous effort done in an online shopping context by providing evidence that high service quality increase consumers’ trust perception, which in turn results in favorable attitude toward online shopping, with risk perception moderating the impact on consumer’s trust. Cluster random sampling was used to select respondents with previous online shopping experience. Correlation and hierarchical regression was used to analyze the direct and indirect relationship between service quality, risk, trust and attitude, while t-test was used to compare the two cultures in e-service quality perception. The present study demonstrates that e-service quality is affected by consumer’s culture. This research also provides evidence that trust in Internet shopping is built on high service quality. Notably, risk moderates the effect of e-service quality on trust toward online retailer. Finally, the research highlights the significant effect of trust on the attitude towards online shopping

Infusion of information systems in the stockbroking sector

The Australian stockbroking sector has been at the forefront of integrating information systems (IS) in its daily operations. Trade and clearance account for a large percentage of processes undertaken in a brokerage house. Upon integration of IS, the trade and clearance processes of the sector were centralised and the institutional arrangements of the sector were transformed. Centralisation also meant that this large percentage of processes was directly controlled by the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). Although the integration of IS was intended to rationalise the trading regime and make the process of brokerage identical across the industry, there are many types of brokerage houses - each catering to a specific group of customers. This interplay between the intent to homogenise the sector by the regulatory authority and the move by the brokerage houses to strategically differentiate from peers motivated this research to explore the dynamics of the diffusion of IS adoption and its resultant structural changes in the stockbrokerage sector

Academic group and forum on Facebook : social, serious studies or synergy?

An academic group and discussion forum were established on Facebook for a cohort of postgraduate students studying the concepts and principles of eLearning. The Forum had a constructivist, student-centric ethos, in which students initiated topics for discussion, while the course leader and administrator facilitated. Previous research has been conducted, involving content analysis of the topics and academic discourse, but the present study focuses on social aspects, investigating social- and study-related pursuits and determining whether synergy can exist between them. A literature review shows how social networking by students, initially social, began to overlap with academia, leading to the use of groups for academic purposes and forums for subject-related discussions. In the present study, data was triangulated and two methods of data analysis were used. Qualitative analysis was done on free-text data from students’ reflective essays to extract socially-related themes. Heuristic evaluation was conducted by expert evaluators, who investigated forum discourse in line with contemporary learning theory and who considered the social culture of participation. Findings of the qualitative analysis of students’ perceptions and results of the heuristic evaluation of forum participation confirmed each other, indicating a warm social climate and a conducive, well-facilitated environment that supported individual participation styles. It fostered inter-personal relationships between distance learners, as well as study-related relationships due to peer teaching and insights acquired from social negotiation. The environment supported student-initiative, but was moderated by facilitators. The mixed-methods research approach of evaluating students’ essays and conducting expert analysis of forum discussions showed the advent of a virtual community with a synergy between social aspects and academia. Most participants experienced a sound balance of social- and study-related benefits, but with a stronger focus on academic matters.Computin

The adoption of application service provision in small and medium-sized enterprises

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks: a literature review

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation is a complex and vibrant process, one that involves a combination of technological and organizational interactions. Often an ERP implementation project is the single largest IT project that an organization has ever launched and requires a mutual fit of system and organization. Also the concept of an ERP implementation supporting business processes across many different departments is not a generic, rigid and uniform concept and depends on variety of factors. As a result, the issues addressing the ERP implementation process have been one of the major concerns in industry. Therefore ERP implementation receives attention from practitioners and scholars and both, business as well as academic literature is abundant and not always very conclusive or coherent. However, research on ERP systems so far has been mainly focused on diffusion, use and impact issues. Less attention has been given to the methods used during the configuration and the implementation of ERP systems, even though they are commonly used in practice, they still remain largely unexplored and undocumented in Information Systems research. So, the academic relevance of this research is the contribution to the existing body of scientific knowledge. An annotated brief literature review is done in order to evaluate the current state of the existing academic literature. The purpose is to present a systematic overview of relevant ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks as a desire for achieving a better taxonomy of ERP implementation methodologies. This paper is useful to researchers who are interested in ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Results will serve as an input for a classification of the existing ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Also, this paper aims also at the professional ERP community involved in the process of ERP implementation by promoting a better understanding of ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks, its variety and history

The discursive constitution of software development

The successful development of software continues to be of central interest, both as an academic topic and in professional practice. Consequently, several software development approaches and methodologies have been developed and promoted over the past decades. However, despite the attention given to the subject and the methodical support available, software development and how it should be practiced continue to be controversial. This thesis examines how beliefs about software development come to be socially established as legitimate, and how they come to constitute software development practices in an organization. It is argued that the emergence of a dominant way of conceiving of and practicing software development is the outcome of power relations that permeate the discursive practices of organizational actors. The theoretical framework of this study is guided by Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic violence and organizational discourse theory. As a research method, ethnographic research techniques are utilized as part of a case study to gain deep insights into the standardization of software development practices. The research site is the IT division of a large financial services organization and is composed of ten units distributed across eight countries. The tumultuous development of a knowledge management programme intended to institutionalize a standard software development process across the organization’s units provides the case for this research. This thesis answers the call for studies providing detailed accounts of the sociopolitical process by which technically oriented practices are transferred and standardized within organizations. It is submitted that a discourse theoretical approach informed by Bourdieu’s thinking enables us to conceptualize this process in a more meaningful, and theoretically rigorous, manner. In providing this theoretical approach, the thesis seeks to contribute to current research on technology and innovation management, and to offer guidance on some issues concerning the management of the software development process