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An enterprise system (ES) implementation proceeds as a multi-team system (MTS), with multiple project teams spanning time and business functions to meet organization-wide goals. Thus, the focus shifts from the output of a single project team to the outcomes of all ES project teams as part of the larger MTS. This study extends concepts of shared mental models (SMMs) in aspects of goals and plans in both MTS level and project team level and further examines SMMs' interactive impact on the MTS-based project performance.

This study tests the model with survey data from 140 MTS-based ES implementations in China. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS SEM) served to test the hypothesized relationships.

SMMs of project team-level goals and plans contribute to the cooperation and coordination in the ES implementation and thereby improve final implementation efficiency either directly or in combination. However, SMMs of MTS-level goal and plans contribute integration only when considered with achievements at the project level.

Prior literature suggests a critical role of integration among ES project teams but finds challenges in achieving such integration. By leveraging shared mental model theory, the authors' results show that both common goal and plan understandings in the integration team critically influence integration in ES implementation and, thus, the final ES implementation efficiency, though not in a strictly linear relationship.

Many retailers in India have decided to adopt one or another enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to improve their businesses, but implementing an ERP system can be a demanding venture. ERP implementation has always been an intricate process and is one of the challenges of the retail sector. There have been many obstacles seen in implementing ERP successfully. According to Standish Group's report, around 75 per cent of the ERP projects are classified as failures. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the process of identifying, analyzing and prioritizing the failure factors of ERP implementation using cause‐effect and Pareto analysis.

Empirical data were collected via a survey questionnaire/interview technique. The questionnaires were distributed to practitioners like project sponsors, project managers, implementation consultants and team members who had been involved/implementing/using ERP in retail sector.

Results suggest that 9 critical failure items namely Inadequate resources, Poor User involvement, Users' resistance to change, High Attrition rate of project team members, Lack of top management commitment, Poor project management, Inadequate project team composition, Ineffective organizational change management and Unrealistic project scheduling have a high impact on ERP implementation and therefore deserve serious attention in the process of ERP implementation.

This paper identifies and prioritizes the critical failure factors of ERP implementation in Indian retail sector. The awareness about these critical failure items may help the decision makers in formulating a better strategy for ERP implementation in Indian retail.

This paper sets out to examine the conditions of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations on the basis of research conducted among practitioners dealing with ERP projects.

This paper builds on the research conducted among a few dozen practitioners dealing with ERP projects. The queried respondents include both ERP adopters and experts representing system suppliers. The study discusses how the researched projects were linked with enterprise strategy, how their efficiency was measured and to what extent they defined implementation goals. The analysis takes into consideration various types of projects and success levels achieved.

The results show that adopters experience different conditions depending on the project type. The findings suggest that practitioners should be more focused on the business benefits. The outcome shows that implementers from very complicated projects are more aware of the overwhelming challenge at large, while, on the other hand, the relatively simpler projects seem to be underestimated.

This study suggests that ERP researchers should take into account the particular type of project being studied. Further research can develop a methodology by which implementation projects can be evaluated. This methodology could cover a broader range of conditions.

Illustrating the conditions of real ERP projects, this study gives insight into the actual problems experienced by the ERP adopters. Drawing on these results, the practitioners may better anticipate possible problems and assess potential threats in their projects.

This paper investigates the conditions that surround the different projects and how they relate to successful performance. These findings will then in turn shed light on the mechanisms that determine the results of ERP.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the critical success factors of ERP implementations in Belgian SMEs and to identify those success factors that are specific to a SME environment.

The authors survey the literature to discover and classify critical success factors that are potentially applicable to small and medium‐sized enterprises. Through a survey and a multiple case study within four Belgian companies, the authors investigate which of these critical success factors apply to SMEs.

The results show that most of the success factors found in the literature apply to SMEs. Nevertheless, distinct differences were found as well. Some factors, such as a clear scope definition and a standardised infrastructure, are not regarded as critical success factors for SMEs. Moreover, SMEs tend to rely relatively heavily on the input of consultants, who they use as a source of knowledge and experience. Moreover, SMEs need to be able to adjust their businesses quickly to be able to exploit their niche to the fullest extent.

The research is limited to Belgian enterprises.

For SMEs, it is particularly important to recognise the elements for a successful ERP implementation. This paper examines the critical success factors of ERP implementations in small and medium‐sized enterprises, while the existing literature on critical success factors of ERP implementations focuses on large enterprises.

This paper reports the study of key success factors (KSFs) in the project management of the implementation of strategic manufacturing initiatives (SMIs).

In order to gather the experience and knowledge of many industries, from different geographic locations, in a broad range of types and sizes of SMIs, a questionnaire‐based survey of practitioners worldwide was selected as the most appropriate research method among those available.

The identification of those tasks and activities that must be done well in order to succeed in the implementation of a SMI in practice.

Practitioners focusing their attention on the KSFs identified are more likely to succeed. Once these factors have been identified, the value of benchmarking project management methodologies then comes from drawing attention to those tasks that are key to the success of the implementation of SMIs.

The paper presents new thinking by bringing project management into the operations strategy implementation literature as an important mediating factor for success. In this context the factors that are required for successful implementation are identified.

The success rate of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations is not high in view of the sums invested by organisations in these applications. It has often been indicated that a combination of inadequate preparedness and inappropriate project management have been responsible for the low‐success rate of ERP implementations. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of a successful ERP implementation.

In this paper, the authors use a case study of a very successful roll out of an ERP application in the Irish subsidiary of a UK multinational to investigate the validity of one of the most commonly cited project management frameworks, the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK), to ERP projects. Discussing each category of the framework in turn, the case data to illustrate where the PMBOK framework is a good fit or needs refining for ERP projects is used.

It is found that, by and large, PMBOK, because it is a very broad framework, can shed light on most of the key aspects of an ERP project. However, the specificities of this type of project require a different emphasis on some of the factors, as discussed in the authors conclusions. The case analysis also raised some interesting insights into how companies evaluate the success of such highly complex change management initiatives.

This research work will need to be extended to cover other case studies of ERP implementation across other industries and organisational contexts; for example in less tightly regulated industries and smaller organisations.

This discussion will be of great value to ERP project managers who are in the early stages of a project and need to understand and anticipate the areas which will require specific attention on their part, based on their knowledge of the specific circumstances within their organisational context.

This paper presents an investigation into the project management strategy adopted in the Pharma Inc. case and illustrates the mechanics of a successful ERP project implementation, categorised using the PMBOK framework.

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.

Implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a challenging task for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated decision support system (DSS) for ERP implementation (DSS_ERP) to facilitate resource allocations and risk analysis.

Analytical regression models are developed using data collected through a survey conducted on 400 SMEs that have implemented ERP systems, and are validated by a simulation model. The validated analytical regression models are used to construct a nonlinear programming model that generates solutions for resource allocations, such as time and budget.

ERP implementation cost increases along the time horizon, while performance level increases up to a point and remains unchanged. To maximise or achieve a certain level of performance within a budget limitation, CSFs are prioritised as: project management (highest), top management, information technology, users and vendor support (lowest). SMEs are recommended to concentrate effort and resources on CSFs that have a greater impact on achieving their desired goals while optimising utilisation of resources.

DSS_ERP proves to be beneficial to SMEs in identifying required resources and allocating resources, but could be further tested in case studies for its practical use and benefits.

DSS_ERP serves as a useful tool for SMEs to predict required resources and allocate them prior to ERP implementation, which maximises the probability of achieving predetermined targets. It also enables SMEs to analyse risk caused by changes to resources during ERP implementation, and helps them to be better prepared for the risks.

The research contributes to the scarce research on ERP implementation using scientific methods. A novel nonlinear programming model is constructed for ERP implementation under time and budget limitations, facilitating resource allocations in an ERP implementation, which has not been reported in any previous research. The research offers a theoretical basis for empirical studies of resource allocations in ERP implementation.

Digital transformation projects are complex, lengthy and difficult to implement, often failing to meet their objectives. Previous research has attributed this failure to competing institutional logics influencing actors’ coping responses, and differences in actors’ interpretations of the project’s goals, technology and processes - their “organising vision”. The purpose of this paper is to analyse a complex technology implementation project from an institutional perspective, to further elucidate the role of multiple logics and organising vision.

A qualitative single study approach was used to investigate a public-sector technology project aimed at delivering a unified Human resource information system (HRIS) across regional health organisations in one country.

Four logics characterised the project (public sector, professional, corporate and market), but their relative dominance shifted as the project transitioned through stages, from comprehension to implementation. These shifts exposed tensions between components of actors’ organising vision, which influenced their coping behaviours in response to unexpected changes in the project’s strategic ambitions and technological scope. Coherence of vision, both within groups of actors and between them, was a key mediator of coping responses and project outcomes.

This analysis demonstrates the role of actors’ organising vision in bridging institutional logics and coping responses to shape digital transformation projects. It highlights the need to account not only for diverse institutional logics, but also for their changing influence as projects unfold and actors’ attention is directed onto different aspects of the organising vision. From a management perspective, it illustrates the importance of clear and consistent communication, to avoid entrenching conflicting interpretations.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the nature of the difficulties experienced during enterprise system (ES) adoption. More specifically, this paper aims to investigate interrelations between these difficulties and therefore identify the source difficulties that cause other problems.

The research methodology is based on grounded theory approach and draws from the experience of a few dozen ES adopters. Interviews with ES practitioners are conducted and open coding procedure is applied during the process of data gathering. Next, axial coding is used to verify problem categories and subcategories. Finally, causal mapping analysis is performed in order to reveal interrelations among difficulties and elicit source problems.

The results suggest causal relationship among various problem categories and reveal seven source difficulties in ES implementation: knowledge of employees holding various positions in the adopter organisations' hierarchy, changes in the enterprise occurring during ES adoption, finance, enterprise structure, information technology (IT) infrastructure, data import and legacy systems, and training schedule.

The need for further research in order to incorporate multiple stakeholder view, project phase, and success measure.

The results may help practitioners in reaching the problems' source and thus facilitate overcoming the actual problems rather than ineffectively struggling with their symptoms. As a result, practitioners may better anticipate possible problems and assess potential threats to their projects.

This study gives insight into the actual problems experienced by ES adopters. It also identifies the real problems encountered during ES implementation as well as the other problems that occur as a result of these source difficulties.