Enterprise resource planning post-implementation assimilation challenge : an integrative framework for a better post-implementation assimilation

Cette étude s'inscrit dans la recherche émergente sur la post-implémentation des TI et vise à contribuer à la discussion sur l'impact des facteurs contextuels sur le niveau d'assimilation des technologies complexes telles que les systèmes ERP. Compte tenu de la rareté des recherches, cette étude vise aussi à enrichir ce champ de recherche qui a été considérablement négligé lors de l'examen des initiatives d'ERP d'entreprises dans un pays en développement. Comme la plus-value d'une TI ne peut être réalisée que lorsque le système est véritablement assimilé dans l'organisation, cette recherche examine les facteurs qui entraînent des niveaux d'assimilation variés entre les entreprises malgré leur utilisation d'une technologie de base similaire. En adoptant une méthodologie de recherche qualitative recourant à une approche de cas multiples, on explore les déterminants de l'assimilation efficace de l'ERP et ses défis ultérieurs. En outre, on développe un modèle intégrateur qui décrit les relations entre les facteurs identités. L'analyse des données a révélé un ensemble de facteurs organisationnels, technologiques et environnementaux ayant un impact direct et indirect sur l'assimilation de l'ERP. Cela est surtout vrai pour le soutien de la haute direction, ses stratégies, ses interventions et ses perceptions, qui se sont avérés les facteurs sous-jacents influant directement et indirectement sur le processus d'assimilation dans une entreprise. De même, les différences entre les deux groupes d'entreprises sont liées plus à leur contexte organisationnel qu'aux différences culturelles. Ces résultats sont communs pour toutes les entreprises étudiées dans les deux contextes. Fondé sur les résultats de l'analyse, un modèle intégrateur est suggéré dans le but de décrire les relations entre les différents facteurs. Ainsi, cette étude offre une feuille de route structurée pour mieux comprendre l'assimilation et met en relief plusieurs problèmes critiques et des déterminants cruciaux qui devraient être attentivement gérés et minutieusement .considérés afin de réaliser une valeur ajoutée importante de l'ERP

Understanding the determinants of e-commerce uptake, e-service quality and e-commerce success, in the UK on-line retail sector

The primary aim of this study is to gain important new insights into e-commerce success, by empirically exploring how approaches to e-service quality, when coupled with levels of e-commerce adoption, might affect the overall success of retailers’ on-line operations. This study is governed by positivist epistemological perspective, and therefore, it was undertaken using a quantitative research methodology, based upon questionnaires. The primary data collection generated a total of 225 useable questionnaires, completed by senior managers, working within the UK’s on-line retail sector. Factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were then used to thoroughly explore the relationships between the various constructs, which comprised the research model. The results of the statistical analysis demonstrate that internal factors (e.g. as management strategy and resources) - are a stronger determinant, than external factors, of both. Perhaps more importantly, it has been shown that the perceived success of a retailer’s e-commerce operations is also strongly associated with the management approaches to e-service quality and the level of e-commerce adoption. Finally, a mediation analysis provides interesting new insights into the relationship between adoption levels, e-service quality and success: the management approaches to e-service quality significantly mediates the relationship between the level of e-commerce adoption and the perceived e-commerce success. Given the central role that e-service quality plays in this study, a customer focused study of e-service quality was also conducted, to provide a more complete and holistic view of this complex phenomenon. This supplementary study sought to explore how customers’ perceptions of e-service quality, particularly in terms of identifying those elements of service quality that influence their use of the retailers’ on-line services. An on-line questionnaire survey was designed and pre-tested before targeting it at 800 students, of whom over 25% responded. An ‘importance-performance’ analysis of this data was conducted to explore whether there were significant differences in customers’ perception of the importance against the performance of retailers’ ability to manage e-service quality. By and large, the results of this analysis should provide some reassurance to the on-line retailers, as the customers generally believed that the retailers were performing well in the areas that were most important to them. However, when the results of the customer and retailer studies were compared, some interesting imbalances were revealed. For example, the retailers perceived the provision of privacy policies to be extremely important, whilst generally; the customers weren’t too concerned with this aspect of e-service quality. The thesis concludes by highlighting its contribution to the body of current knowledge, reviewing the limitations of the research and exploring the implications for practice of the many interesting new insights generated through this empirical study

A New Framework for Strategic Information Systems in Airline Industry

Stiff competition in the Airline sector mandates airlines to innovate ways to gain a competitive advantage over their rivals; however, without a strong IT the mission to attain this would be arduous. Large airlines do their best to maximise the use of enterprise systems to stream their business processes. Nonetheless, some airlines are not up to date with technology and are left with few choices when attempting to secure their existence in today’s harsh market. One option is to implement bleeding edge systems concurrently (which is our focus in this paper) due to the fact that very scant research exists regarding this phenomenon, let alone the airline sector itself. The aim of this study is explore and investigate the phenomenon of deploying multi enterprise systems concurrently due to its uniqueness and owing to the fact that this approach is not the common practice most airline undertake. We argue here that having multi Airline Solution Providers (ASP) working together concurrently to constitute a homogeneous solution generates many aspects that necessitate a deep understanding in such matters as competitor ASPs and technology leakage. In addition, the study explored various themes that unleash the phenomenon of the concurrent Multi- collaborative Enterprise Systems (MES). The role of cohesion factors that groups the rivals to work under the umbrella of an organisation was also embarked upon in this study. Various aspects contributing to the success of the MES phenomenon have been exposed with regarding ASP’s interplay, organisation, and other contextual surrounding MES. Finally, this study drew a strategic frame work for airlines that unleash the MES phenomenon. A large airline and its collaborative airline solutions provider were taken as the scope of study; the airline had over twenty six thousand employees. Five reputable world class ASPs in the airline industry in various fields were also included. The twenty five participants in this study were professionals in IT and the airline business besides being involved heavily in the phenomenon of deploying concurrent multi enterprise systems. Grounded Theory techniques were used to analyse the large volume of data gathered underpinning this by using state of art software package such as nVivo. This research has explored the phenomenon under study using grounded theory methodology to build a theoretical model that best presents the MES initiative. In addition, it has offered a well-founded framework that explains the MES phenomenon in details, which is relevant to both practitioners and researchers.This research has clearly explored and demonstrated the inhibitors and enablers in the undertaking of MES. In particular, it has focused on enablers of the organisation that received the MES. Furthermore, it has explored the interrelationship between ASPs and exposed some of the aspects that need more focus between rivals working on the same project.Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabi

A STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVE OF ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION: A CASE STUDY OF A UNIVERSITY'S ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING PROJECT

Master'sMASTER OF SCIENC

The recursive dualizm of technology:

The notion of technology is often consumed with its purely practical, equipmental interpretation in everyday life which assumes the neutrality of technical things, fully justifying the equivocation of the technical with the technological. However, technology, as a major constituent of contemporary society, is intimately connected with politics, economics, culture, and all forms of social and personal life. Previous research followed a variety of approaches and analyzed the technology phenomena in organizations from structural or agency-based perspectives. The structuration theory, attempting to resolve the deep-seated ontological division in social sciences, has offered a way out from the impasse between structure and agency based perspectives, but a number of criticisms have been posed against it in the literature (Clegg 1989; Archer 1982, 1989, 1995; Layder 1987; Callinicos 1985; Mouzelis 1995). Following the structuration theory, Orlikowski (1992) suggested the structurational model of technology and offered the duality of technology model. In this study, the recursive dualism of technology (RDT) model is developed as a new theoretical model to provide an understanding as to how technology is experienced and the way technology adaptation unfolds in organizations. The model explains how technology shapes and also is shaped by organizational affairs at macro, meso, and micro levels in organizations. The RDT model combines structuration and institutionalization perspectives, reconsidering criticisms against the structuration theory. A set of theoretical propositions has been developed also drawing from the power literature to describe the interplay of actors and structures using 'power-based institutionalization mechanisms2 (Lawrence, Winn and Jennings, 2001) during technology adaptation in organizations. Research propositions have been empirically studied in five cases of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software adaptation in four different organizations. ERP is a software technology frequently associated with organizational change and transformation in relation to its adaptation in organizations. Case studies are compared and contrasted to empirically evaluate the RDT model and discuss the process of technology adaptation in organizations in relation to structuration and institutionalization processes. The theoretical and practical implications of the study and potential further studies are also addressed

Post-Implementation Evaluation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems

The purposes of this dissertation were to define enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, assess the varying performance benefits flowing from different ERP system implementation statuses, and investigate the impact of critical success factors (CSFs) on the ERP system deployment process. A conceptual model was developed and a survey instrument constructed to gather data for testing the hypothesized model relationships. Data were collected through a cross-sectional field study of Indian production firms considered pioneers in understanding and implementing ERP systems. The sample data were drawn from a target population of 900 firms belonging to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The production firms in the CII member directory represent a well-balanced mix of firms of different sizes, production processes, and industries. The conceptual model was tested using factor analysis, multiple linear regression analysis and univariate Anova. The results indicate that the contributions of different ERP system modules vary with different measures of changes in performance and that a holistic ERP system contributes to performance changes. The results further indicate that the contributions of CSFs vary with different measures of changes in performance and that CSFs and the holistic ERP system influences the success achieved from deployments. Also, firms that emphasize CSFs throughout the ERP implementation process achieve greater performance benefits as compared to those that focus on CSFs during the initial ERP system deployment. Overall, the results of the study support the relationships hypothesized in the conceptual model