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Although change is a necessary part of organisational life, achieving a successful change is complex. Change readiness is a critical element in successful change implementation, yet studies assessing change readiness as an underlying mechanism in the link between organisational-level factors and successful change implementation are scarce, particularly in the African context. Accordingly, the present study examined the extent to which change readiness mediates the link between learning organisation and successful change implementation in the Ghanaian context.

The study utilized a standardized questionnaire to collect data from 364 participants, working in public and private universities in Ghana. The participants were selected via the convenience sampling strategy to complete the survey on the main variables at a single point in time. The study was purely quantitative, as path analysis – a form of structural equation modelling was employed to test the hypothesized relationships in the study.

The results show that both learning organisation and change readiness facilitated successful change implementation. Finally, it was observed that change readiness served as an important mediating mechanism in the link between learning organisation and successful change implementation.

Change readiness was found to explain the link between learning organisation and successful change implementation. Thus, it is important that managers and leaders of public and private sector educational institutions in Ghana invest resources into preparing and getting employees to accept, be committed to and ready for change.

The present study contributes to the scarce knowledge of the mediating role of change readiness in the link between learning organisation and successful change implementation in the African context.

Industry 4.0 (I 4.0) consists of numerous digital technologies applied in organizations strategically to add value to the customer. Different organizations have varying degrees of technological capability and strategic flexibility. This paper aims to explore the relationship between technological capability and strategic flexibility on successful implementation of I 4.0.

A qualitative study using a grounded theory approach is conducted on 34 senior managers from Europe and North America who have implemented I 4.0 participated in this study through a theoretical sampling frame.

This study finds that technological capability and strategic flexibility have an impact on the successful implementation of I 4.0. The study also finds that different dimensions of technological capability also impact I 4.0. The interactive effect of strategic flexibility and technological capability is also noted. The study also develops a framework for successful implementation of I 4.0.

This study can be used by managers while implementing I 4.0 to devise a strategic roadmap for acquiring technological capability with I 4.0 technologies. Besides, it will help the managers to consider the bidirectional relationship between technological capability and strategic flexibility while formulating I 4.0 strategy for successful implementation of I 4.0 in their organizations.

Previous studies have examined the importance of I 4.0 technologies. However, this study extends the previous works by suggesting how technological capability and strategic flexibility can help in the successful implementation of I 4.0.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the intra-organizational factors effective in a successful strategy implementation, measure the interaction intensity, analyze relation patterns among those factors, and lastly, prioritize the factors according to the level of importance and effect in the success of a strategy implementation.

A review of the literature produced 13 key intra-organizational factors involved in successful strategy implementation. The factors were then prioritized and the interaction among them was identified using interpretive structural modelling (ISM). DEMATEL was employed to quantitatively calculate the importance, intensity and effect in the interaction among the factors. Finally, combining both the aforementioned methods an integrated ISM-DEMATEL model was devised through which the factors were prioritized while the importance, intensity and effect of each factor were quantitatively calculated.

Prioritization and establishing relations and interactions among the identified factors by ISM; determining the priority of each factor and their intensity of effect and interaction on a quantitative basis through DEMATEL method and developing the integrated model of ISM-DEMATEL for intra-organizational factors effective in successful strategy implementation.

Due to time limitation, the hybrid model could not be practically applied to any organizations or businesses and in this research, only 12 experts were consulted to construct the model. If the experts involved were increased both quantitatively and qualitatively no doubt the final model would be upheld.

Managers who are involved in strategy implementation or who intend to enter this phase are advised to apply the integrated ISM-DEMATEL model that presented in this paper in order to obtain good perspective about interaction and prioritization among the intra-organizational factors effective in strategy implementation success.

Identification of 13 key intra-organizational factors effective in successful strategy execution, by studying through the literature; prioritization and establishing relations and interactions among the identified factors by ISM; determining the priority of each factor and their intensity of effect and interaction on a quantitative basis through DEMATEL method; developing the integrated model of ISM-DEMATEL for intra-organizational factors effective in successful strategy execution; improving the integrated model through ISM by applying the findings obtained through DEMATEL.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have become imperative for companies in order to be competitive in a turbulent and highly competitive business environment. Unfortunately, the success rate of ERP implementations is very low, which was cited in many researches and a majority of authors have reported up to 90 percent failure rate. Therefore, new empirical studies are more than necessary to validate companies' contributions to the increase of the success rate of ERP implementation, which was the primary reason for this investigation. The main goal of this paper is to stress the impact of business process management (BPM) and some other critical success factors (CSFs) on successful ERP implementations.

The paper details an empirical investigation combined with a confirmatory approach using structural equation modeling.

The hypotheses confirm the impact of top management support, change management, and BPM on successful ERP implementation. These factors have a positive impact on successful ERP implementation and should be treated as very important in ERP systems implementation projects. The results also support the importance of top management perception (MP): if they consider BPM as a basis of business change, this contributes to a strong and positive influence on successful ERP implementation.

Other CSFs, also required for successful ERP implementations are not covered in this paper. The sample of companies used in this study is limited only to one country, and the aspect of chief information officers (CIOs) should not be omitted either, because other CIOs might have answered the questionnaire in a different way.

Companies should treat BPM as a basis of business change and therefore increase its usage in order to increase a possibility for a successful ERP implementation. Although the ERP implementation is not the most efficient per se, its effectiveness on business performance can be greater.

Contributions of the paper are important for both practitioners and researchers. The paper will provide a very few specific factors and findings which are useful for companies when planning to implement ERP systems, and should not be omitted. From theoretical standpoints the most CSFs in ERP implementations can be combined, which are dispersed in the literature, and thus facilitate or somehow even stimulate other researchers in further investigations of those factors, which are still not defined enough or investigated.

The most critical phase of a change process is change implementation and it is evident that the masterfully originated change process fails due to its poor implementation. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to profile how knowledge management (KM) strategies, personalization and codification, are helpful in successful change implementation by reducing employee cynicism and increasing the level of readiness for change.

Data were collected from 196 executives of National Bank of Pakistan at Time 1 (pre-implementation) and Time 2 (post-implementation) with the temporal research design. Multiple regression analysis is used to test the direct effect; Preacher and Hayes (2004) test is applied to measure the mediating effect and guidelines of Aguinis (2004) are followed for analyzing the moderating effect.

The result of the direct effect shows that both KM strategies have significant positive effect on successful change implementation. Further, mediation analysis proves that readiness for change partially mediates between KM strategies and successful change implementation. In addition, partial interactive effects of employee cynicism is observed between readiness for change and successful change implementation.

The management should initiate steps to boost personalization and codification strategies at their optimal levels. This would ultimately be helpful to implement a successful change through developing readiness for change and reducing the employee cynicism regarding change.

The area of successful change implementation in the context of KM strategies was untapped, and is examined in this study.

The present study aims to investigate the impact of organizational capabilities in the successful implementation of e-business. More specifically, the study proposes a three-dimensional conceptual framework, including “organizational learning capabilities”, “knowledge management capabilities” and “organizational readiness”. Such a multidimensional approach has randomly been explored in the existing literature, making the examination of the proposed conceptual framework an interesting research topic.

The proposed conceptual framework was tested on a sample of Greek companies with an online involvement. Information System executives were used as key respondents. The final sample consisted of 213 companies. The reliability and the validity of the newly developed questionnaire were thoroughly examined. Empirical data were analyzed using the “structural equation modeling” technique.

The results of the study reveal that “training availability”, “knowledge level” and “knowledge sharing” are the most significant factors for successfully implementing e-business. Moreover, “firm size” seems to be another important determinant. On the other hand, “technical expertise”, “knowledge accumulation” and “knowledge application” were not found to have a statistically significant impact on the implementation of e-business.

A limitation stemming from the implemented methodology is the use of self-report scales to measure the constructs of the proposed model. Moreover, the present paper lacks a longitudinal approach, as it is cross-sectional and provides a static picture of e-business implementation.

The paper makes an analytical effort to point out areas that companies should emphasize to successfully implement e-business and, therefore, harvest its potential benefits. Certain practical implications are offered in the final part of the paper.

The paper proposes an enhanced conceptual framework that examines vital issues concerning the successful implementation of e-business, thus providing valuable outcomes for decision-makers and academics. Moreover, the results of the study may be generalized in other developed countries whose economy faces similar significant challenges as Greece (e.g. Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, etc.).

The purpose of this case study is to develop a complete understanding of the sales and operations planning (S&OP) process implementation effort at ASTRO Inc. and to determine the influential factors that led to its success, the interrelationship between them, as well as the level of influence of each factor compared to their counterparts. As we trace the evolution of S&OP in the organizational context, the view that its implementation leads to a positive impact in changing the way companies do business is not in itself novel. To date, there is limited academic investigation on how and why the S&OP process implementation leads to a successful organizational transformation.

The data used in this case study were collected through semi-structured interviews with selected employees and through documentary analyses based on the archives at ASTRO Inc., a large North American company, for the period from 2016 to 2018. The paper adopts a methodology based on a retrospective study and interviews.

The analysis shows that the S&OP process design and its implementation required efforts on many distinct but complementary fronts to be successful. However, the level of influence varies across the organizational enablers that contribute to this success. Its successful implementation is fundamentally dependent on the managers' ability to create mindset changes in the organizational culture, and to plan and coordinate the S&OP process deployment. The key enablers need to be skillfully combined, taking into account the contextual variables, namely, the company's internal context, the company's external context and the specific characteristics of the industry in which the company belongs.

The current study provides a better understanding of the implementation of the S&OP process and highlights the key enablers that led to its successful implementation. It provides practical managerial guidelines for designing, deploying and using an S&OP process in response to and in anticipation of customer demands, and competitive pressures.

The purpose of this paper is to explore enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation project performance of successful and unsuccessful implementations; critical elements (CEs) that are conducive to success; and whether implementation project performance and CEs vary across the number of modules implemented, product type, and number of employees affected by the ERP.

Survey research methodology was used and data collected from 74 ERP implementation projects in Sri Lanka. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, independent sample t‐test, one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and logistic regression.

ERP implementation project performance significantly differs between successful and unsuccessful implementations. The importance given to CEs of training and education, user involvement, managing user expectations, interdepartmental cooperation, ERP teamwork and team composition, software development, testing and troubleshooting, project management, project champion, BPR and customisation, change management programme and culture, and effective communication significantly differ between successful and unsuccessful implementations. Although ERP implementation project performance does not vary by the number of ERP modules implemented, product type, and number of employees affected by the ERP, several CEs were found to vary by these three contextual variables.

Despite extensive literature on ERP implementations, empirical studies are needed for a better understanding of CEs that are conducive to success. In the context of globalisation of business operations and interlocking supply chains, research on CEs that are conducive to success in Sri Lanka is interesting, relevant and timely, since there is an increasing interest in understanding the work environment in Asia.

In Taiwan, hypermarket stores should implement hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) according to regulations. The aim of this study was to investigate key factors influencing successful implementation of HACCP in hypermarket stores that prepare hot meals.

We used a survey design and thus posted four questionnaires to each of the 136 hypermarket stores in Taiwan (two questionnaires for employees and two for managers). Therefore, a total of 544 questionnaires were posted, and 188 responses were received, yielding a 34.6% response rate.

Food safety knowledge, teamwork, perceived cost, perceived benefit and leadership were tested. Binary logistic regression results indicated that food safety knowledge and teamwork were key factors related to successful HACCP implementation. Perceived cost, perceived benefit and leadership were not related to successful HACCP implementation. Control variables, such as number of full-time employees and number of products sold, were discovered to be related to successful HACCP implementation.

Overall, the findings of this study can help the hypermarket industry assess its current quality management practices and focus on food safety performance improvement.

The purpose of this study is to explore the mediation effect of volatile economic conditions on performance benefits of successful kean manufacturing implementation (LMI). The mediating factor of economic volatility (EV) is constructed based on four macroeconomic dimensions – supplier uncertainty, market demand fluctuations, governmental policy changes and peer competition.

An attempt is made to build an exhaustive list of the internal operational manifests grouped into one human and three technical input factors. Similarly the benefits accrued are collated under two performance measures – customer satisfaction (CS) and organizational goal satisfaction (OGS). Based on data from the Indian manufacturing sector, structural equation modelling (SEM) and ordinary least square (OLS) analyses are carried out to validate the proposed model.

Results of the structural model validate the first six hypotheses posited in the model. Results of OLS further reveal the mediation effect of EV having negative impact on LMI–CS and LMI–OGS nexus.

This research offers a fair understanding of the internal operational lean factors and the effect of volatile macroeconomic conditions on lean benefits. The structural model will aid the academicians and lean implementers comprehend the dimensional structure underlying the lean practices and beliefs. This work further helps to understand the moderation effect of environmental complexity on the output measures of LMI in the Indian manufacturing sector.

This work is one of the very first empirical analyses of lean performance under contingent economic conditions. The paper presents a valuable recommendation to practitioners for considering the dynamism of external economic environment instead of simply adopting standalone internal lean parameters, if satisfactory levels of performance in terms of CS and OGS are to be achieved.