PurposeThis paper aims to present a discussion of the critical success factors (CSF) that affect the acquisition process for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.Design/methodology/approachThe research strategy was a multiple‐case design with three organizations that had recently completed the acquisition of an ERP solution. The rationale for the multiple‐case design was that, as a research strategy, the focus could be directed to understanding the dynamics and complexities present within each case, these being critical success factors of the ERP software acquisition process within the organization.FindingsThis study identified ten factors critical to the successful outcome of acquiring an ERP solution. Their omission would have resulted in a less than optimal outcome for the organization. For each of the three cases, the elements that stand out the most are as follows: clear and unambiguous authority, a structured, rigorous and user‐driven process, its planning, the establishment of criteria, and the sense of partnership that the team works to establish not only with various user commitments, but also with the potential vendor.Originality/valueIt is important to note that no one CSF alone is going to make an ERP acquisition successful. It is rather the combination of several critical factors that will result in its successful outcome.
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to understand the decision process of enterprise software acquisition. The research aims to focus on identifying significant influences on enterprise software acquisition decisions. Design/methodology/approach -As a research model and theoretical background, the organizational buying model (OBB) is proposed for the acquisition of enterprise systems. Influences on enterprise software acquisition decision processes were found by an empirical study carried out from a practitioner's perspective. The study collected data via a mail survey administered to information systems (IS) professionals involved in the acquisition of enterprise software (ES). The survey questionnaire was developed based on a previous research project and a literature review. Organizational buying behavior (OBB) models in the literature served as the basis for the influences included in the survey instrument. Factor analysis was carried out on the survey data to identify the most significant factors/influences. Findings -The following five factors emerged as significant influences on the acquisition decision process of enterprise software: ES strategy and performance; BPR and adaptability; management commitment and user buy-in; single vendor integrated solution; and consultants, team-location, and vendor's financing. These factors are discussed and managerial implications are extracted. Conclusions are derived from the study findings and guidelines for further research are suggested.Research limitations/implications -The present study provides a starting point for further research in understanding a more comprehensive list of influences on enterprise software acquisition. A bigger sample from more industries is required to examine whether the significance of the influences remains stable. Originality/value -Using OBB models has proven to be useful for organizations in making effective decisions on enterprise software acquisition.
This paper is based on an extensive study of the evaluation process of the acquisition of an ERP software of four organizations. Three distinct process types and activities were found: vendor's evaluation, functional evaluation, and technical evaluation. This paper provides another perspective on evaluation and sets it apart as modality for action, whose intent is to investigate and uncover by means of specific defined evaluative activities all issues pertinent to ERP software that an organization can use in its decision to acquire a solution that will meet its needs (i.e., the assessment of the vendor, technology, and fit of a specific ERP software to a given organization).
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 34.2pt 0pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Often researchers in the field of information systems face problems related to the variable selection for model building; as well as difficulties associated to their data (small sample and/or non normality). The goal of this article is to present an original statistical blocking-technique based on relative variability for screening of variables in multivariate regression models. We applied the blocking-technique and a nonparametric bootstrapping method to the data collected on the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">USA-South border</span> for a research concerning enterprise software (ES) acquisition contracts. Three mutually exclusive blocks of relative variability for the response variables were formed and their corresponding regression models were built and explained. A conclusion was drawn about the decreasing tendency on the adjusted coefficient of determination (R<sup>2</sup><sub>adj</sub>) magnitudes when the blocks change from low (L) to high (H) condition of relative variability. The obtained models (via stepwise regression) exhibited significant p-values (0.0001).<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span></p>
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