The selection of case studies: strategies and their applications to IS implementation case studies

Case study research by definition is well suited to the study of IS implementation, especially when context is important. Furthermore, its products are highly relevant and therefore they appeal to IS practitioners, an audience for which the IS literature has been critiqued of ignoring. While the value of single case research is methodologically viable in the study of critical cases, the multiple case study approach is believed to be more appropriate to the study of typical cases of IS implementations. However, the IS literature provides little guidance on strategies for case study selection, particularly for multiple case studies. More important, is the need to provide the rational for case selection that relates these suggested strategies to the particular objectives of the case research inquiry. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap by providing a review of strategies for single and multiple case study selection in the context of systems implementation. Furthermore, the application of these guidelines in a multiple case study of strategic decision making of enterprise systems implementations will be illustrated

An ES process framework for understanding the strategic decision making process of ES implementations

Enterprise systems (ES) implementations are regarded costly, time and resource consuming and have a great impact on the organization in terms of the risks they involve and the opportunities they provide. The steering committee (SC) represents the group of individuals who is responsible for making strategic decisions throughout the ES implementation lifecycle. It is evident from recent studies that there is a relationship between the decision making process and ES implementation success. One of the key elements that contribute to the success of ES implementations is a quick decision making process (Brown and Vessey, 1999; Gupta, 2000; Parr, et al., 1999). This study addresses the strategic decision-making process by SC through its focus on four research questions (1) How can the strategic decision-making process in the implementation of ES be better understood, during each phase of the ES implementation lifecycle? (2) What is the process by which the SC makes strategic decisions? (3) How are fast decisions made? and (4) How does decision speed link to the success of ES implementation? Process models of ES implementation will provide a framework to investigate the strategic decision making process during each phases of the ES implementation lifecycle. Patterns in the decision making process will be explored using strategic choice models. This study develops a research model that focuses on the decision making process by steering committee to explore research questions. It concludes with identifying contributions to both IS research and business practitioners

Decision Making in the Evaluation, Selection and Implementation of ERP Systems

The evaluation, selection and implementation (ESI) of ERP systems involve making multiple decisions during the lifecycle of the ERP project. This study tries to map six models of decision-making to the ERP project lifecycle, which is conceptualized using case study data for a health service provider organization in New Zealand. ERP projects are deemed strategic projects for which success or failure has a great impact on the organization. Gaining an understanding of the decisionmaking process during the life of the project helps in better preparations and planning before and during each phase. Findings suggest that some decision-making models apply to the stages of evaluation, selection and implementation while others are missing. The three models that apply are the administrative, adaptive and political models. This study aids practitioners in better planning and implementation of ERP projects through better understanding the decision-making process. A benefit to academics is in providing new insights for ERP systems implementation, an area where little research is conducted

A Framework for the Implementation of Eco-Efficient Business Systems

Environmental sustainability is an important issue for many individuals, businesses, and governments nowadays. One of the road blocks to sustainable practice is cost, which is an important consideration, particularly for business. The eco-efficiency movement was initiated to address this concern. This chapter reviews the eco-efficiency concept and explains why it is becoming a current issue for many organizations today. The chapter further aims to understand eco-efficient implementation strategies and methods, and the important role that information systems play in creating the required organizational capabilities for these implementations. A framework of eco-efficiency implementation is developed through mapping eco-efficiency strategies to different implementation methods. The framework illustrates how each method is suitable for a particular eco-efficiency strategy. With the understanding that information systems form an integral part of most eco-efficiency implementations, the role of information systems in creating eco-efficiency capabilities is highlighted to enrich the framework

ERP Trends, Opportunities, and Challenges: A Focus on the Gulf Region in the Middle East

This chapter highlights the key trends in the ERP market, with a focus on the challenges related to the implementation of these systems in the Middle Eastern Gulf region. The key trends discussed here include consolidation of the ERP market, diversification of the ERP product, new modes for ERP application delivery, ERP and new technologies, changing ERP pricing structures, ERP support operations, growing demands for ERP vertical solutions, demanding ERP customers, inter-organizational ERP solutions, and regional adaptations for ERP products. The chapter further provides insight into emerging and future trends in the region. Awareness of these issues plus knowledge of the local environment gives us a richer understanding of key ERP issues and how they apply within the unique limitations and opportunities of this region. © 2008, IGI Global

A Framework for the Implementation of Eco-Efficient Business Systems

Environmental sustainability is an important issue for many individuals, businesses, and governments nowadays. One of the road blocks to sustainable practice is cost, which is an important consideration, particularly for business. The eco-efficiency movement was initiated to address this concern. This chapter reviews the eco-efficiency concept and explains why it is becoming a current issue for many organizations today. The chapter further aims to understand eco-efficient implementation strategies and methods, and the important role that information systems play in creating the required organizational capabilities for these implementations. A framework of eco-efficiency implementation is developed through mapping ecoefficiency strategies to different implementation methods. The framework illustrates how each method is suitable for a particular eco-efficiency strategy. With the understanding that information systems form an integral part of most eco-efficiency implementations, the role of information systems in creating ecoefficiency capabilities is highlighted to enrich the framework. © 2010, IGI Global

The Role of Espoused National Cultural Values in Facebook Adoption: A Replication with Arabic Sample

With about 30% increase over three months, Facebook has become a major online venue among Arabic young generation. However the understanding of its adoption as well as the cultural influence remains in its infancy. In recent study, Srite and Karahanna [1] examined the cultural impact at the individual level and, built upon Hofstede’s framework, conceptualize it as espoused national cultural values, which were proposed to moderating the effects of TAM variables, i.e., perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and subjective norms, on IT acceptance. Although insightful, the conceptualization of espoused national cultural values and its impacts requires further validation with subjects from different cultural backgrounds and IT artifacts which may be more subject to cultural influences, e.g., social networking sites. Therefore, this study is aimed to validate and extend the work by Srite and Karahanna [1] by examining the role of espoused national cultural values in Facebook adoption among Arabic female college students. Considering the cultural differences, we extended the original cultural dimensions in [1] to incorporate long-term orientation and also explicate the dimension of collectivism/individualism along two directions, e.g., horizontal vs. vertical. Different from the IT artifacts (PC and PDA) examined in [1], the IT artifact examined in this study is Facebook and its usage may be subject to more cultural influences than using PC and/or PDA, since Facebook involves a lot of social interaction and socialization. A survey study with 200 college female students in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of UAE was conducted to validate the research model. 127 students returned the valid responses. At the moment of data collection, all respondents were new users of Facebook. Data collection involved two stages. The first stage was to collect the response for TAM variables and espoused national cultural values; while the second one, after one week, was for Facebook adoption. Smart PLS was used for data analysis. We expect that the results not only provide further empirical validation of Srite & Karahanna’s theory [1] with Arabic sample, but also extend the original research by demonstrating complete range of cultural dimensions. Currently, we are in the stage of finalizing data analysis results. By the time of the conference, we shall be able to provide the complete results

Internet usage among young Arab students: preliminary findings

Internet has profoundly transformed almost all aspects of our society. As a global phenomenon, Internet also bears distinct regional and cultural profiles. Much research has documented the Internet usage in Western world and its impacts on individuals. However evidence in this regards is dearth in Arab world, which represents an important but unique cultural region. In this study, we take an exploratory approach to examine the Internet usage patterns among young Arabic people, and the impact of Internet usage on their identity development. With surveys and structured interviews with 74 students from two universities in the UAE, one public and the other private, our results provide some preliminary results of the first generation of Arab youth exposed to the Internet. We found that Internet usage patterns were diverse however five main activities, searching, emailing, chatting, entertainment, and online discussions, form 75% of Internet usage time. Furthermore, a signification positive impact on self-perception of young Arabic students in the Middle East was observed

The lectins from European mistletoe (Viscum album): Isolation and detection of binding in primary breast cancer correlated with clinical behaviour

This thesis examines the place of Mistletoe plant extracts containing carbohydrate-binding proteins (lectins) in cancer treatment and their use as a tissue-based predictive test for biological behaviour of breast cancer. It begins with an account of the European Mistletoe (Viscum album), its mythology, history, use as an anti-cancer drug and the isolation and identification of 3 lectins. This is followed by an account of breast cancer, its problems of management and the value of prognostic factors. A review of lectin receptors in breast cancer is included. The practical work comprises: - Isolation and identification of 3 mistletoe lectins by gel, ion-exchange and affinity chromatography. Purity and molecular weight were determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis while major carbohydrate specificity was determined by haemagglutination inhibition. Part of this work was carried out in East Berlin/GDR. - Raising rabbit polyclonal antibodies to the lectins. Determination of specificity by Ouchterlony gel diffusion, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), dot- and Western type immunoblotting. - Using the 3 isolated lectins to stain paraffin sections of 234 primary breast cancers, by a histochemical method. - Correlation of clinical behaviour with staining (lectin-binding) of sections, comparing histological type and size of primary, blood group, lymph node status, disease free interval (recurrence) and survival of 234 patients followed for up to 11 years. The lectins used showed major sugar specificities as follows: Mistletoe lectin I(MLI): Galactose Mistletoe lectin II(MLII): N-Acetyl-D-Galactosamine (Ga1NAc) Mistletoe lectin III(MLIII): Ga1NAc No significant correlation was seen between the binding of the 3 lectins to paraffin sections and histology type, grade, tumour size, blood group nor lymph node status. However, differences were seen between survival of stainers and non-stainers for each of the 3 lectins, especially MLIII, although this difference only just reached statistical significance (P less than 0.0441). A significant association between staining and recurrence was seen with all 3 lectins, in particular MLIII (P less than 0.0007), Having a major specificity for the sugar Ga1NAc. This result might suggest that primary breast cancers expressing this sugar are likely to metastasize sooner than cancers that do not. Detection of mistletoe lectins binding to receptors in primary breast cancer sections, and assessment of their role in behaviour of breast cancer does not appear to have been described before