Examining the Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementation: An Explanatory Study Conducted in SMEs

The contemporary business environment is characterized by intense global competition, emphasis on the use of technology and need for integrating business processes. In that context, organizations are urged to reduce their costs, increase their productivity and improve customer satisfaction. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems represent state-of-the-art information technologies that are able to integrate business processes within and beyond organizational boundaries and facilitate the flow of information across all functions. Despite that, ERP implementation projects are complicated, costly and include high failure risks. Moreover, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) rarely possess the appropriate resources and expertise in order to successfully implement ERP systems. The present study aims (a) to develop and (b) empirically test a conceptual framework that investigates the factors affecting ERP system effective implementation in SMEs. The examination of the conceptual framework was made with the use of a newly-developed structured questionnaire that was distributed to a group of Greek SMEs. The reliability and the validity of the questionnaires were thoroughly examined, while research hypotheses were tested using the “Structural Equation Modeling” (SEM) technique. Results offer interesting empirical observations and managerial implications.