ERP Success Factors: The Impact of Knowledge, Organizational Context and Institutional Forces

Organizational learning could be considered both a general and specific theory of interest to the research of ERP implementations. This article explores how organizational learning can be used to study ERP change. We study two ERP projects in two European MNC’s, including ten embedded cases and 196 interviews. Findings support that managing organizational and institutional forces as well as structuring the division of labour beyond mere implementation and education is very much required yet often overseen in theory. Such change efforts may include consultants’ tool-box type solutions but it also requires character, decisiveness, organisational changes, incentives, corporate involvement, endurance over long time-periods and an ability to execute potentially stressful decisions such as making staff redundant. We argue that fundamental matters, such as the will, the structure and the ability to change, are important to focus on in order to successfully implement ERP systems

Managing Technological Change in a Call Centre Context - A Question of Learning?

A change of information system, in a call centre - which has developed its self-image around working with technology - puts pressure on both employees and management to learn new ways of working. And while some argue that call centres conduct work that is knowledge-intensive, others argue that call centre staff is becoming more controlled, more dependent upon technology and routines, and so less autonomous. With reference to a longitudinal case study of a Swedish customer service centre this article explores organizational consequences of technological change. In so doing we look deeper into the challenges of learning that emerges as companies try simultaneously to achieve a high degree of internalization and externalization

The Business Model: A Means to Comprehend the Management and Business Context of Information and Communication Technology

This paper presents a conceptual business model, which aims to improve the understanding of the business context of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). We argue that research into how ICT generates economic value is limitedly valid due to lacking comprehensive knowledge of strategy theory and lacking abilities to integrate strategy perspectives, and the fragmentation of strategy theory. We discuss the main strategy perspectives as well as ICT research within each of these perspectives and conclude that in order to improve the understanding of the ways in which ICT generates value, research must integrate different perspectives. We also review some of the new ebusiness texts that addresses business models. The business model is broader than any individual strategy perspective (such as Industrial Organisation, the Resource-Based View or the Strategy Process Perspective) and includes market factors, offering, activities, organisation and resource bases as well as longitudinal management processes. In addition, we illustrate how the management and business context of ICT (such as ERP and CRM systems) can be viewed through the business model