A Successful Enterprise System Re-Implementation Against All Odds - A Mulitsourcing Case Study

Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 3-31, 2011

Posted: 15 Aug 2012

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

Achieving success in enterprise systems (ES) implementations is challenging. The success rate is not high in view of the sums invested by many organizations in these companywide systems. The literature is charged with reasons for unsuccessful implementations, such as a lack of top management support and insufficient change management. Contrary to this research, empirical data from an ES re-implementation in a Scandinavian high-tech company shows successful implementation despite many problematic shifts in outsourcing partners. Therefore, it is natural to ask: why was the re-implementation of the ES at SCANDI successful despite the major troubles encountered during the project? Building on critical success factor (CSF) analysis of ten CSFs combined with an investigation into the institutional structures at play, we present several reasons for the successful implementation. The CSF analysis shows an equivocal result: four fulfilled, three partially fulfilled and three not fulfilled. Even the two top CSFs, top management support and change management, are either not fulfilled or only partial fulfilled. However, the institutional analysis provides additional explanations, such as a few heroes acting as glue in a conflicting multisourcing environment and resilience towards ES implementations created over many years. Important implications from this study are that one should be critical of CSFs and that the combined analysis can guide both practitioners and researchers to understand and position factors better for success in ES implementations.

Keywords: Enterprise system, ERP, Critical Success Factors, Institutional Theory, Implementation, Case Study

Suggested Citation

Svejvig, Per, A Successful Enterprise System Re-Implementation Against All Odds - A Mulitsourcing Case Study (2012). Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 3-31, 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2129186

Per Svejvig (Contact Author)

Aarhus University ( email )

Nordre Ringgade 1
DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark

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