Technological, Organisational and Environmental Drivers for Enterprise Systems Upgrade

Purpose Enterprise systems (ES) upgrade is a complex phenomenon, yet it is possible to reduce the complexity through understanding of the upgrade drivers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the various upgrade drivers, in order to provide a detailed understanding of the factors driving upgrade decisions. Design/methodology/approach This research is grounded in a qualitative survey design. It utilises a web-based survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to collect data from 41 respondents representing 23 large organisations. The data were qualitatively analysed and coded to identify the various drivers and their influence on ES upgrade decisions. Findings The findings suggest that the upgrade decisions are dependent on establishing the need to upgrade, which is influenced by various drivers and stakeholders interests. In addition, the findings suggest that organisations would only opt to upgrade when benefits are aligned with the upgrade and when the decision makes business sense. Research limitations/implications In this paper, the authors propose that there is a relationship between the upgrade drivers and the upgrade strategy. However, qualitative studies can only formulate logical generalisations. Hence, future research could explore these associations through a quantitative study in order to provide probabilistic generalisation that offers either similar or conflicting arguments applicable to ES upgrade phenomenon. Originality/value This paper provides an alternative classification of upgrade drivers, and conceptualises an association between upgrade drivers and the upgrade strategy, which in turn facilitates minimising disruptions and upgrade risks

Practices for strategic capacity management in Malaysian manufacturing firms

While the notion of manufacturing capabilities is a long-standing notion in research on operations management, its actual implementation and management has been hardly researched. Five case studies in Malaysia offered the opportunity to examine the practice of manufacturing managers with regard to strategic capability management. The data collection and analysis was structured by using the notion of Strategic Capacity Management. Whereas traditionally literature has demonstrated the beneficial impact of an appropriate manufacturing strategy on the business strategy and performance, the study highlights the difficulty of managers to set the strategy, let alone implementing it. This is partly caused by the immense pressure of customers in these dominantly Make-To-Order environments for SMEs. Current concepts for manufacturing capabilities have insufficiently accounted this phenomenon and an outline of a research agenda is presented

Enterprise resource planning systems implementation and upgrade (a Kenyan study)

In recent years there has been an increase in using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in large companies and government corporations mainly in developed countries. While there is wide adoption of ERP systems in Western economies, developing countries lag far behind. However, due to recent economic growth, developing countries such as Kenya are increasingly becoming major targets of ERP vendors. There is an urgent need for under- standing ERP implementation issues in developing countries, as ERP systems are still in their early stages in these countries. They face additional challenges related to economic, cultural and basic infrastructure issues. This research investigates the organisational and national context within which ERP is adopted and used in Kenya, and how the context and ERP influence each other. In general, this research is based on the need to study organisations in their societal contexts and information systems in their organisational settings. The research contributes to the controversial debate on the conflict between standardisation imposed by ERP systems and localisation of business practices. This study provides some key insights into the implementation and use of ERP systems in the public and the private sectors in Kenya. Case study findings suggest that the company sector plays an important role in ERP implementations in several key dimensions. ERP systems with in-built business practices express the tendency toward standardisation. In addition, the study investigates the challenges faced by organisations implementing ERP systems in Kenya and factors influencing ERP upgrade decisions. Findings of this research suggest that ERP implementation and upgrade is influenced by, but not necessarily bound by, existing contextual factors - national and organisational. Two models, namely, the Empirical ERP Implementation Model (EEIM) and the Upgrade Decision Model (UDM), are developed to represent ERP implementation and upgrade practices. The EEIM helps to identify why there will be particularly high variance in potential outcomes and further validates which organisational contexts and ERP implementation configurations create options during ERP implementation and usage. The UDM makes a novel contribution by showing how different forces interact to bring an aggregate of influences to a threshold level where an ERP system upgrade becomes necessary. The findings of this study also aid the management of organisations that are implementing ERP systems to gain a better understanding of the likely challenges they may face and to enable them to put in place appropriate measures to mitigate the risk of implementation failures. This study also proposes an IT strategy framework which can be used by organisations planning to implement ERP to align their business and IT strategy. Finally, the study provides practical guidelines to practitioners on ERP implementation and upgrade based on the experience of the case study organisations and the ERP consultants interviewed

Differences in forecasting approaches between product firms and product-service systems (PSS)

This paper examines the forecasting implications for Product-Service Systems (PSS) applications in manufacturing firms. The approach taken is to identify the scope of operations for PSS applications by identifying all the activities associated with the total cost of ownership (TCO). The paper then develops a revenue model for manufacturing firms providing PSS applications. The revenue model identifies three generic revenue streams that provide the basis for discussion on the differences in forecasting approaches between product firms and Product-Service Systems (PSS) in manufacturing firms. The forecasting approaches are different due to the nature of customer involvement in the service aspect of PSS applications. This necessitates an understanding of the customer service experience and the factors affecting this such as the service profit chain which links profitability, customer loyalty and service value to employee satisfaction, capability and productivity. The forecasting approaches identified raises forecasting challenges for each of the three generic revenue sources. These challenges vary from the difficulty in obtaining the service user’s viewpoint through to difficulties in determining market acceptance of PSS applications

Upgrade Decision Support Model (UDSM) for enterprise systems: drivers and processes

Enterprise Systems (ES) have matured over the years, offering continuous improvement to the underlying technology and functionality, hence, it is reasonable to anticipate that organisations would upgrade their systems to realise the benefits of these improvements. However, the range of benefits and risks involved within upgrade projects, motivates only few organisations to upgrade; indicating that upgrade decision-making is not trivial, and requires a comprehensive consideration of the impacts, efforts, and benefits. To date, research on ES upgrade recommends practical guidance for managing and supporting upgrade projects, with few studies focusing on upgrade decision-making, yet the upgrade decision process remains one of the areas in post-implementation that is least explored. This research investigates the interrelated aspects of ES upgrade phenomena to explore the drivers and decision processes. A qualitative survey design was adopted to explore ES upgrade decision-making process and through web-based questionnaires and semistructured interviews, qualitative data from 41 respondents representing 23 organisations was collected, coded, and analysed. Drawing from the Technology-OrganisationEnvironment (T-O-E) framework and process view of decision-making to theorise the findings, this research proposes an Upgrade Decision Support Model (UDSM) to represent ES upgrade decision-making process. The model comprises of two phases namely exploration and evaluation. The evaluation phase consists of two processes, which are objective assessment and strategy selection. In addition, objective assessment includes three sub-processes these are technical analysis, functional gap-fit analysis, and impact assessment. The study findings indicate that the decision to upgrade is an outcome of understanding the upgrade need, possible impacts, and benefits. Thus, asserting the importance of assessing the level of change, effort required and modifications to be reapplied prior to the upgrade decision. Additionally, the findings advocate that there is a relationship between upgrade drivers and the selection of an upgrade strategy, which guides the processes undertaken during the decision-making. This research contributes key insights on ES upgrade decisionmaking offering a thorough understanding of the drivers and processes. In addition, it presents decision makers with a methodical strategy for approaching upgrade decisions; hence, enables the identification of possible challenges and measures to overcome these issues

A Taxonomy of Motives for Cloud ERP Adoption

Much of the existing literature focuses on critical factors for successfully introducing cloud ERP systems. However, researchers have paid relatively scant attention to identifying the underlying motives that persuade organisations to consider adopting cloud ERP systems successfully. Understanding organisational motives are essential because: a) they can affect the extent of cloud ERP deployment and b) changes that organisations are willing to incorporate for achieving the expected business values. Based on a content analysis of 40 online Australian case stories, this research reports an empirically derived taxonomy of organisational motives for adopting cloud ERP. The 2-dimensional taxonomy consists of types and locus of motive. The strategic motives were found to be the most significant type of motive for cloud ERP adoption, whereas the internal motives indicated a stronger influence on the adoption decision. The proposed taxonomy provides a springboard for further studies to investigate motivations for the adoption of cloud ERP

Change Processes and Future Perspectives in the Knowledge Society. The Example of Clothing and Textile Industry

The paper examines change processes und future perspectives in the knowledge society. It presents the clothing and textile industry as an example for a transforming industry in a global economy. The paper reviews existing future studies, which have surveyed change processes and future developments in the clothing and textile industry. Main goals of the review are the identification of changes in work and the description of the restructuring of global value chains within the clothing and textile sector. The paper also highlights major current trends, drivers of change and future prospects in this sector.knowledge-based society; foresight; clothing industry; textile industry

Conceptual Model of Big Data Technologies Adoption in Smart Cities of the European Union

Big data technologies enable cities to develop towards a smart city. However, the adoption of big data technologies is challenging, which is why it is essential to identify factors that influence the adoption of big data technologies in cities. The main goal of the paper is to propose a conceptual model of big data technologies adoption in smart cities of the European Union. In order to derive the conceptual model following is done: i) overview of the previous Technology-OrganisationEnvironment framework - based research on the adoption of selected information and communications technologies crucial for the development of smart cities, and ii) selection of factors based on the critical examination of the previous research. Selected factors, Absorptive Capacity, Technology Readiness, Compatibility, City Managements Support, the Existence of Smart City Strategy and Stakeholders Support, were incorporated into the conceptual model of big data technologies adoption in smart cities of the European Union. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</p