Critical success factors for ERP projects in small and medium-sized enterprises - The perspective of selected German SMEs

Outline

• Abstract
• I. Introduction
• II. Critical Success Factors Identified
• III. Literature Review of Critical Success Factors
• IV. Critical Success Factors for Smes Erp Projects
• V. Conclusion and Limitations
• VI. References
• Appendix

Conclusions and Limitations

The aim of our study was to gain insight in the research field of CSFs for ERP implementation projects, with a focus on ERP projects in small and medium-sized enterprises. Research in the field of ERP system projects and their CSFs provides valuable information that may enhance the degree to which an organization’s implementation project succeeds [15]. As a first step, we carried out a systematic literature review to identify CSFs and to update existing reviews. Our review found a variety of papers, i.e., case studies, surveys, and literature reviews, focusing on CSFs. All in all, we identified 320 relevant papers dealing with CSFs of ERP system projects. From these existing studies, we derived 31 different CSFs (see Figure 1). Most of the identified papers and studies focus on large companies. Small and mediumsized enterprises are – if included at all – usually underrepresented in quantitative studies. Studies exclusively focusing on SMEs are rare. We identified 37 of the 320 articles with this explicit focus. These represent only 12 percent of all published papers with a focus on CSFs. Even though research focusing on CSFs in smaller companies has been recommended by the research community for several years (e.g., [17], [18]), our reviews reveal that SMEs are still not the primary focus of CSF research. Therefore, this still can be seen as a clear lack of research.

To address this concern, we developed a study with a specific SME focus. We conducted several interviews within SMEs that have implemented ERP systems. Using a guideline consisting of 52 initial questions about CSFs, we conducted nine interviews. We found that all 31 factors found in the literature review were mentioned by at least one interviewee, and therefore, all 31 factors also in some way affect the success of the ERP system projects in SMEs. However, contrary to the ranking resulting from the literature review, we identified factors with a more technological focus as being important for those ERP projects. Here, the factors ERP system tests and Organizational fit of the ERP system as well as ERP system configuration as part of the top five factors refer to more technological aspects. Hence, factors with an organizational characteristic could also be identified as part of the top five factors in our study (User training, Clear goals and objectives). For the interviewees, User Training is seen as the most important factor influencing the success of ERP implementation projects.

Regarding the research question, our study was able to show that all factors that influence the success of ERP system implementation projects in large-scale enterprises also influence ERP projects in SMEs. We could not identify any additional factors that were not already referred to in the literature. However, we could show that the importance of the factors differs a lot and that SMEs and also the ERP manufacturers have to be aware of these differences in the factors’ characteristics, focusing also on technological aspects of the ERP implementations rather than focusing mainly on the organizational factors, as they are more important for large-scale companies.

A few limitations of our study must be mentioned as well. For our literature review, we are aware that we cannot be certain that we have identified all relevant papers published in journals and conferences, since we made a specific selection of five databases and five international conferences (see Tables 6 and 7 in the Appendix). Therefore, journals not included in our databases and the proceedings from other conferences might also provide relevant articles. Another limitation is the coding of the CSFs. We attempted to reduce any subjectivity by formulating coding rules and by discussing the coding of the CSFs with several independent researchers. However, other researchers may code the CSFs in other ways. For the interview study, the interviews conducted and data evaluated represent only an investigation of sample ERP projects in SMEs. These results are limited to the specifics of these enterprises. In light of this, we will conduct further case studies and several larger surveys to broaden the results of this investigation.