Success factors for Indigenous entrepreneurs and community-based enterprises

Introduction: This resource sheet reviews the available literature on the key factors that have underpinned successful Indigenous entrepreneurs and community-based enterprises. It also explores the different characteristics of Indigenous entrepreneurs and community-based enterprises. Where possible, it also looks at the outcomes of government programs that have aimed to help these different types of Indigenous businesses. For the purposes of this resource sheet, the term ‘Indigenous entrepreneurialism’ (or ‘entrepreneur’) has been used to refer to Indigenous-owned private and commercial businesses that are run for a profit. Likewise, the term ‘community-based enterprise’ has been used to refer to businesses that have a more communal purpose (they are also known as ‘community-managed’ and ‘social’ enterprises). The two terms used in this resource sheet are defined below and were selected for convenience and because they were commonly used in the literature. Indigenous economic development is defined as the involvement by Indigenous people in employment, business, asset and wealth creation in the communities and regions where they live. One key aspect of improving Indigenous economic development is through Indigenous people operating their own private businesses or community-based enterprises (refer to the definition above). In the case of successful Indigenous entrepreneurs, self-employment and ownership of enterprises is believed to help individuals, families and communities improve self-sufficiency and decrease reliance on government welfare. This resource sheet is based on a literature review of approximately 30 sources. The review process used various search terms (for example, Indigenous economic development/Indigenous business; social enterprises, entrepreneurship) and research databases containing peer reviewed articles (AIFS Library catalogue; all of the EBSCO and Informit databases and collections) and general online resources from government or Indigenous community organisations

Investigating Successful Enterprise Resource Planning Implementation in Higher Education Institutions

This thesis investigates the successful implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). ERP is a business management system that has emerged to support organisations with a system of integrated applications to enhance their Information Technology (IT) infrastructures, enhance business processes and deliver a high quality of services. Research indicates limited success for implementing numerous ERP ventures and failure rates estimated between 60% and 90%. The failure of ERP implementation in higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide is much higher in comparison to other sectors, such as banking or manufacturing, yet limited research has been conducted on this issue. There is a lack of sufficient knowledge, expertise and training to implement such sophisticated integrated systems and top management lacks the ability to take appropriate decisions for ERP implementation. However, merely focusing on several factors influencing ERP implementation may not suffice, as there is a need for a systematic decision-making process for adopting and implementing ERP systems in HEIs. The limited number of ERP applications being used in HEIs has resulted in inadequate research and many issues which require further exploration. Despite this, all the implications for successful implementation of ERP systems have yet to be assessed in HEIs, making it a relevant area for study and creating a need for a unique piece of research work. Thus, the researcher demonstrates that it is of high importance to investigate this area and contribute towards successful ERP implementations. The present study adopted an interpretivist research philosophy and the approach was inductive in nature. To collect the data from the selected case studies, a semi structured interview protocol was designed in accordance with the research objectives which was aimed at getting the views and opinions of both the higher management personnel as well as technical level staff from the selected sample of universities. The study was focused on the implementation of ERP systems for higher education institutions in Jordan. Jordan has the highest demand for higher education in the region and the number of enrolments is growing annually. The demand for ERP systems in Jordan is rising owing to the rapid growth of the Internet and mobile users and the increase in the literacy rate. The content analysis technique was used supported by NVivi11 software to process the data gathered from the sample. The key success factors identified from the participants were split into technical, organizational, project and project support categories. This research made several contributions to knowledge. These included 1) the identification and characterisation of three new sector and context-specific KSFs, namely: the selection of the right ERP system; the need for qualified IT staff for in-house maintenance and fair vendor relations. 2) The development of a framework for enhancing ERP implementation. 3) Evaluation measures of ERP performance from an organisational, technical, project, and project support system perspective. 4) Development of a synthesized model that contains mapped and prioritised KSFs on the ERP implementation lifecycle based on their importance for successful implementation. In addition to these reflected theoretical contributions, this research also highlights the implications on the practices of higher education institutes, particularly for, but not limited to, Jordanian HEIs. The research findings provide an insight into the KSFs that are important for the successful implementation of ERP systems, identifying two new implementation lifecycle stages, the influential factors being mapped across the lifecycle phases providing a more detailed and in-depth understanding of what is required

Factors for analysing and improving performance of R&D in Malaysian universities

This paper presents a model for analysing and improving performance of R&D in Malaysian universities. There are various general models for R&D analysis, but none is specific for improving the performance of R&D in Malaysian universities. This research attempts to fill a gap in the body of knowledge with regard to developing countries by explicitly focusing on factors that are relevant for analysing and improving R&D performance in Malaysian universities.\ud The project's methodology essentially entails a deductive route to identify and progressively refine the factors that determine R&D performance. It is based on extensive literature study aimed at developing a model that is appropriate for researching and improving R&D in an emerging economy. The paper addresses the development of the model and the research project’s approach. This model will be applied in collecting data from surveys and a number of field studies. The results will be used to improve the model as well as recommending points of improvement for Malaysian universities

Yet Another ‘List’ Of Critical Success ‘Factors’ For Enterprise Systems: Review Of Empirical Evidence And Suggested Research Directions (2)

Critical Success Factors (CSF) remain the most-researched areas within the Enterprise Systems (ES) domain over the years and has resulted in a long ‘list’ of such factors. Consequently, many ‘factors’ are not more than ‘variables’ belonging to the same management area. Therefore, this paper argues for going back to the original definition of CSFs as few key areas and reviews empirical evidence in each CSF area. Thereafter, the paper notes other limitations of the CSF literature and suggests research directions to provide a deeper explanation of the ES phenomena. These include tracing CSFs across time, taking a change-centric view of the ES lifecycle, unpacking interrelationship among CSFs, paying attention to the implementation context, and moving from a list of CSFs to the identification of their underlying mechanisms. We hope that our suggestions will provide a roadmap to ES researchers on conducting focussed research on CSFs

Usage of enterprise resource planning systems in higher education institutions in Pakistan

Copyright and all rights therein are retained by the authors. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and conditions invoked by each author's copyright. These works may not be re-posted without the explicit permission of the copyright holdersThe main objective of the study was to identify the factors contributing to the usage of enterprise resource planning systems at the organisational layer, the departmental layer and the end-user layer in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Pakistan. The conceptual framework of this study is based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) developed by Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis (2003). The multi-level conceptual model developed for the study was tested empirically using three distinct questionnaires for analytical layers. Primary data was collected from 18 higher education institutions in Pakistan; 86 responses from the organisational layer, 143 from the departmental layer and 1088 from the end-user layer. Structural equations were formulated to investigate the effect of factors at three layers contributing to the usage of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERPS). Organisational training was found to be the only factor not making a significant contribution to the usage of enterprise resource planning systems while all other factors included in the conceptual framework were proved to be significant. The model formulation and application of SEM techniques to investigate the determinants of usage of ERPS in HEIs in Pakistan is the unique contribution of this studyFinal Published versio

QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF SELECTED FOOD AND BEVERAGE MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

The performance of Food and Beverages manufacturing firms is important to the development of the economy and this has been considered by researchers. In Nigeria, the decline in the performance of this sector in terms of competitive advantage has been noticed which could be as a result of a lack of quality management practices such as leadership behaviour, strategic quality planning, supplier quality management, process management and customer focus. The study investigated the effect of quality management practices on the competitive advantage of selected Food and Beverages manufacturing firms in Lagos State, Nigeria. The survey research design was adopted. The population of the study was 14, 591 top, middle and low-level management employees of the selected Food and Beverages manufacturing firms in Lagos State, Nigeria. A sample size of 491 was determined using the research advisor table. A simple random sampling technique was used. A validated questionnaire was used to collect data. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients for the constructs ranged from 0.866 to 0.954. The response rate was 100%. Data were statistically analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics (multiple and hierarchical regression). Findings revealed that quality management practices had a significant effect on the competitive advantage of Food and Beverages manufacturing firms in Lagos State, (Adj.R2 = 0.117; F (5, 485) = 14.025, p < 0.05). The study concluded that quality management practices affected competitive advantage in Food and Beverages manufacturing firms in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study recommends that Food and Beverages manufacturing firms should encourage the adoption of quality management practices to enhance competitive advantage.  Article visualizations

A REVIEW OF THE USE OF INTEGRATED INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR (24)

In Higher Education (HE) institutions, as in many other organisations Information Systems (IS) started as in house developments that tended to satisfy the immediate needs of the different departments and schools. As the universities continued to grow and become international organisations, incorporating students from all over the world, their needs changed and the need for integration across the institution processes intensified. It appears that Higher Education institutions make huge investments on integrated information systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems; however they do not seem to achieve the full potential of these systems while these new systems significantly alter the way academia is doing things nowadays. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to provide a review of this literature in order to gain insights of the implementation of integrated IS in the HE sector with a special focus on Higher Education in the UK. We start by looking into the use of IS in the HE sector. This sets the scene in order to understand how the HE environment has changed due to the extensive use of IS. From our comprehensive review we develop a number of themes that show the link between integrated IS and the HE environment

The Antecedents of Customer Relationship Management and Impact on Hotels Performance in Jordan

The last decade has seen the emergence of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as a technique to underpin organizational performance improvement in improving customer retention, customer satisfaction, and customer value. However, evidence suggests that many CRM initiatives fail to achieve desired results. Furthermore, empirical research is still scarce.In recent years, CRM has been the favored theme for numerous studies and reports. It has also been considered as a way of capturing comparative advantages in the face of the growing competition. However, despite many studies conducted on CRM in various industries in the past 20 years, there is still significant disagreement about its definition and meaning, and the framework for the effective implementation and evaluation of CRM practice. Moreover, there is a lack of systematic empirical evidence regarding the success factors of the CRM performance, and its impact on organizational performance. To address these issues, this study examines the degree of CRM performance of hoteliers as well as the relationship between CRM performance and organizational performance. Furthermore, this research also investigated the influence of organizational and technological factors on CRM performance. In this quantitative study, a total of 98 Jordanian hotels participated by voluntarily completing the survey questionnaire, constituting an overall 49% response rate. From the analysis undertaken, it was found that the CRM performance of the respondents were at moderate degree. The research results indicated that CRM performance has a positive influence on organizational performance. Four major factors were found to have significant influence on CRM performance namely top management, customer data, customer information processing, and CRM functionality. On the other hand, factors such as customer orientation, training orientation, and data integration were not significantly related to CRM performance. Theoretical implications and managerial implications of these findings are discussed

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