A Study on Critical Success Factors for Enterprise Systems Implementation - A Failure Case Analysis Based on Process Theory

A Study on Critical Success Factors for Enterprise Systems Implementation

  Although Enterprise Systems (ES) have promised major strategic benefits and process improvements from business and technology integration, their implementation has been plagued by a high failure rate and difficulty in realizing the promised benefits. For the purpose of understanding implementation failures, previous studies have focused on identifying critical success factors (CSFs) for information systems implementation. However, there has been little research on how these CSFs actually lead to successful results. In this study, based on process theory, we examined the process of ES implementation by explaining how the factors of ES implementation influence each other and how interaction among them produces results. Based on a failure case, we then developed a process model of ES implementation thus allowing us to explain the process of ES implementation. The proposed model facilitated an understanding of how repeating patterns of ES failure can be reversed. This model can be used for guiding new ES implementation projects.