We develop and test a theoretical model to investigate the assimilation of enterprise systems in the post-implementation stage within organizations. Specifically, this model explains how top management mediates the impact of external institutional pressures on the degree of usage of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The hypotheses were tested using survey data from companies that have already implemented ERP systems. Results from partial least squares analyses suggest that mimetic pressures positively affect top management beliefs, which then positively affects top management participation in the ERP assimilation process. In turn, top management participation is confirmed to positively affect the degree of ERP usage. Results also suggest that coercive pressures positively affect top management participation without the mediation of top management beliefs. Surprisingly, we do not find support for our hypothesis that top management participation mediates the effect of normative pressures on ERP usage, but instead we find that normative pressures directly affect ERP usage. Our findings highlight the important role of top management in mediating the effect of institutional pressures on IT assimilation. We confirm that institutional pressures, which are known to be important for IT adoption and implementation, also contribute to post-implementation assimilation when the integration processes are prolonged and outcomes are dynamic and uncertain.

/pdf/assimilation-of-enterprise-systems-the-effect-of-4bilo1zpw7.pdf

Assimilation of enterprise systems: the effect of institutional pressures and the mediating role of top management

How to ... be a reflective practitioner.

[서평]「The Unified Modeling Language User Guide」

Normal accidents. Living with high-risk technologies

Process studies focus attention on how and why things emerge, develop, grow, or terminate over time. We identify various ontological assumptions underlying process research, explore its methods and challenges, and draw out some of its substantive contributions revealed in this Special Research Forum on Process Studies of Change in Organization and Management. Process studies take time seriously, illuminate the role of tensions and contradictions in driving patterns of change, and show how interactions across levels contribute to change. They may also reveal the dynamic activity underlying the maintenance and reproduction of stability.

/pdf/process-studies-of-change-in-organization-and-management-2p8lt2mvfa.pdf

Process studies of change in organization and management : unveiling temporality, activity, and flow

ERP implementations are complex undertakings. Recent research has provided us with plausible critical success factors (CSFs) for such implementations. This article describes how one list of CSFs (Somers & Nelson, 2001) was used to analyse and explain project performance in one ERP implementation in the aviation industry. In this particular case, poor project performance led to a serious project crisis but this situation was turned around into a success. The list of CSFs employed was found to be helpful and appropriate in explaining both the initial failure and the eventual success of the implementation. CSFs in this case appeared to be highly correlated, ie changes in any one of them would influence most of the others as well. The reversal in performance after the project crisis was caused by substantial changes in attitudes with most of the stakeholders involved, such as top management, project management, project champion and software vendor.

/pdf/vicious-and-virtuous-cycles-in-erp-implementation-a-case-3jgrdv0u84.pdf

Vicious and virtuous cycles in ERP implementation : a case study of interrelations between critical success factors

https://pure.tue.nl/ws/files/2211879/551152.pdf

The impact of ERP on supply chain management: Exploratory findings from a European Delphi study

An increasing number of companies claim to pursue international supply chain management (ISCM), but the empirical evidence of successful implementation programs is still scarce. This paper aims to contribute to theory‐building in this area by presenting an exploratory causal model of goals, barriers, and enablers on the road towards effective ISCM. The model was established in a workshop with a panel of content matter experts. The results point at a disturbingly gloomy picture of vicious cycles frustrating the implementation of effective ISCM strategies. Fortunately, it appears that it is possible to apply the same generic mechanisms to create a virtuous cycle, for instance by promoting cross‐functional careers and by actively responding to demanding customer needs. The challenge ahead is to test the model’s content and validity.

Virtuous and vicious cycles on the road towards international supply chain management

Evidence on the impact of amplification, or bullwhip, effects on supply chain performance has primarily been derived from studies in manufacturing industries. This paper reports on a case study from the telecommunication industry, aiming to analyze relevant root causes and associated counter-measures of the amplification phenomenon in service supply chains. Case findings confirm the occurrence of upstream amplification of workload in the service supply chain, workload being a more appropriate measure for amplification effects in service supply chains than inventory levels. Not all of the root causes for amplification effects known from research in manufacturing environments were found to apply in this particular service context. Our telecom case study did highlight an additional root cause: interactions of high workloads and reduced process quality that start reinforcing each other in a vicious cycle once workloads pass a certain threshold. In this particular case, many of the known counter-measures to eliminate amplification did not apply given the nature of the service process or could only yield limited results. A potentially very powerful counter-measure is to implement quality improvements throughout the service chain. This quality dimension links our research to the literature on service management in general, where service quality is on top of the research agenda.

/pdf/amplification-in-service-supply-chains-an-exploratory-case-30q7rr9abj.pdf

Henk Akkermans

Papers

Vicious and virtuous cycles in ERP implementation : a case study of interrelations between critical success factors

The impact of ERP on supply chain management: Exploratory findings from a European Delphi study

Virtuous and vicious cycles on the road towards international supply chain management

Amplification in service supply chains: an exploratory case study from the telecom industry

Travail, transparency and trust: A case study of computer-supported collaborative supply chain planning in high-tech electronics