Editorial

Citation

Irani, Z. (2009), "Editorial", Journal of Enterprise Information Management, Vol. 22 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeim.2009.08822faa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Enterprise Information Management, Volume 22, Issue 6

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the sixth issue of the 22nd volume of the Journal of Enterprise Information Management. This issue covers a variety of contributions that span the theoretical and practical.

We kick off with a paper written by Capaldo and Rippa, which proposes a methodological approach aimed at identifying the technical and organizational capabilities that firms should have before the ERP implementation process start. This approach facilitates the selection of the most appropriate implementation strategy and the change management interventions to support the selected strategy. The proposed methodological approach has been tested through a validation experiment. Results revealed the usefulness of the methodology in estimating the capabilities that firms should have to select the most appropriate implementation strategy. The methodological approach is the results of a research project based on tight collaboration between academic researchers and IT managers involved in an ERP implementation processes. Such collaboration generated tacit knowledge from the IT managers during the ERP implementation processes. The result is a model that goes beyond descriptive analysis and offers prescriptive advice on how to address the potential challenges prior to and during the implementation processes.

Sambasivan, Nandan and Mohamed explain that many researchers have stressed the importance of using the right measures and metrics to manage a supply chain efficiently and effectively. The purpose of the paper presented by Sambasivan, Nandan and Mohamed is to consolidate the measures and metrics that have been developed so far, verify the relevance of these measures from the practitioners perspective to produce a usable list with classification. An initial list of metrics and measures was consolidated after analyzing the literature. A questionnaire was designed with these measures and metrics, and was sent to 300 companies within the electronicsindustry in Malaysia to obtain feedback from industry practitioners about the relevance of these measures. A case study was then conducted with an electronics manufacturing company to demonstrate the use of the resource to identify relevant measures and metrics. About 838 performance measures formed the initial list. The entire list of measures was classified into the following metrics:

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  fund flow;

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  internal process flow;

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  material flow, sales and services flow;

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  information flow; and

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  partner evaluation.

Then, Saatçioglu explores what determines user satisfaction in ERP projects, from the perspective of benefits, barriers and risks. ERP systems are traditionally costly and complex systems and require significant investments. Although ERP systems provide a lot of benefits, there are some barriers that need to be overcome during implementation for the system to be deemed a success. If barriers are not overcome then they become drivers of risks. Benefits, barriers and risks have important effects on user satisfaction, with post-implementation reviews being an important mechanism to gain insights about user satisfaction. However, post-implementation reviews of ERP projects are not commonly used as an integral part of a life-cycle evaluation process. The research presented starts off with a literature review on ERP benefits, barriers and risks. Then, benefits, barriers and risks were checked through a statistical enquiry for their effects on user satisfaction in ERP projects. The research was conducted in a branch of a multinational firm, with a questionnaire consisting of statements related with benefits, barriers, risks and user satisfaction.

Enterprise application integration (EAI) technologies are critical to functionally integrate diverse corporate computer systems, and as such may be expected to have a positive effect on business value. Roztocki and Weistroffer examine the market reaction to announcements of EAI investments as a surrogate for investor perceived business value of such technology. An event study approach was used with 81 announcements of EAI investments between 1998 and 2005, taken from the Lexis-Nexis database. The results suggest that investors do not always receive EAI investments positively, especially if the announcements are from financially distressed companies, and if market conditions are unfavorable. This study expands the existing body of knowledge on IT contribution to market value. The focus on EAI technology allows for better comparison of results and testing of hypotheses. Also new is the finding that perceived company risk as well as market conditions play an important role in the reaction to IT investment announcements.

Finally, Yang and Su explain that as the business environment changes, supply chain design is becoming a core competence. At the same time, ERP systems are always expected to be an integral component of supply chain management (SCM). Managers have to take into account the direct and often larger indirect costs that are typically associated with ERP system deployments and, make the right investment for better firm performance of SCM. The purpose of this study is to provide managers with a critical insight into the relationship between the benefits of ERP systems implementation and the impacts on firm performance of SCM. This study uses structural equation modelling to analyze the relationship between ERP benefits and SCM performance. An empirical survey was conducted to collect data from Taiwanese IT companies listed in the Taiwan Stock Exchanges on several aspects of firm competences and supply chain performance that adopted ERP systems and/or SCM systems. The results confirm the operational, tactical, and strategic benefits of ERP for the firm performance of SCM in the internal and external business processes, customer service, and cost management, except for the strategic benefits of ERP that are not significant predictors of SCM performance in the external business process. Furthermore, responses show that ERP implementations in these Taiwanese companies have a significant impact on other companies, both small and medium-size enterprise, within the global supply chain.

We hope you enjoy reading this issue, and hope to receive your valuable contributions for the following issue.

Zahir IraniEditor

Ahmad GhoneimEditorial Assistant