Purpose Extant literature regarding factors essential for successful information technologies (IT) implementation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) does not significantly address readiness factors for IT implementation in an Indian context. This exploratory research develops and tests a framework to analyse the antecedents to organisational preparedness for adoption of IT infrastructure in SMEs. Design/methodology/approach This exploratory research adopts a mixed-method approach to test the technology, organization and environment (TOE) framework. In-depth interviews with SME owners are conducted to develop the case study, and the measures obtained are tested through a survey at a small and medium business industrial cluster in Southern India in SMEs. Findings The case study indicates SME owners’ drive to initiate technology preparedness for organisational sustainability is a key factor, a measure not seen during the literature review. An empirical study tests the measures. Pressure from customers, owner’s age, sales of SME, owner’s attitude towards IT and owner’s knowledge of IT was confirmed, which indicates organisational factors have more impact compared to technological and environmental factors. Research limitations/implications The academic scope of this research paper can be extended to contexts such as readiness in IT infrastructure for digital transformation. Practical implications The validated research framework can be used by organisation stakeholders and SME IT practitioners for successful IT adoption. Social implications SMEs contribute significantly to gross domestic product (GDP) and provide employment opportunities. Hence, this research provides a tested model that SMEs owners/managers can adopt as a framework to augment competitiveness to implement IT. Originality/value The study adopts a mixed-method research design and is, perhaps, a first in the Indian context to explore variables through case study and validate identified measures through an empirical study. The model can be used by SME owners and practitioners to ascertain factors for organisational preparedness for IT adoption.

The success of implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system has substantial benefits to an organization due to its large scale tangible and intangible benefits. However, the failure of ERP system implementation is a considerable challenge since it poses significant intervention on internal stakeholders, internal organization, business processes and technology. Though literature recognizes that these interventions bring about technological change during ERP implementation, hardly any article has conceptualized these interventions in evaluating its performance. Drawing on the Process-Variance (PV) and Adapted Socio Technical (AST) system perspectives, the objective of this article is to conceptualize the interventions through socio-technical perspective and develop a comprehensive conceptual model to assess the success or failure of ERP system implementation. The conceptual model, Process-Variance and Adapted SocioTechnical (PVAST) proposed in this article will enable decision makers and practitioners to measure ERP project performance at every stage of its life cycle in a coherent method and adopt corrective measures.

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Purpose The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to develop a framework to implement electronic delivery systems for connecting federal government with rural citizens using banking infrastructure as a reintermediation platform; and second, to understand the challenges faced by banks in reintermediation for financial inclusion (FI). Design/methodology/approach This exploratory research adopts case study method to gain insights of the challenges faced by banks in e-government services for FI. In-depth structured interviews are conducted with key respondents: branch managers heading banks in rural areas. Findings Preliminary results based on in-depth interviews with branch managers of banks suggest that banks leverage facilitators called Bank Mitras (BM) (friends from bank as per the local language) to disseminate services offered by the banks to rural customers at each village. However, a key challenge faced by banks is the increased dependency on bank employees to complete the process of e-government transactions by the beneficiaries because of trust factor. Research limitations/implications This exploratory research builds on the case study approach using in-depth interviews with the branch managers of five banks as key respondents to develop the preliminary research framework for FI. Practical implications Policymakers can design banking systems to enhance transparency by implementing technologies and decentralizing routine transactions to citizens by enhancing the role of facilitators (BM). Social implications FI aims to reach out and empower citizens with banking facilities for disbursing e-government services. This process needs to be refined for the rural population of India to understand and better use the e-government services and schemes. Originality/value Insights from in-depth interviews with key respondents of the banks were collated and augmented with literature to enhance the rigor of the exploratory research.

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