Determining factors of ERP adoption: an indicative study in the Greek market

Abstract

ERP systems constitute one of the most important technological innovations in modern enterprises. The present study examines a set of factors that influence the adoption of ERP systems within the context of the Greek market. On that sense, we identify two major categories of determinants: the intra-organizational, and the inter-organizational factors. By contrasting a sample of Greek SMEs and ERP vendors, we conducted several semi-structured interviews and we advance a number of important results. First, the lack of financial and human resources, the highly centralized structure and the limited technical knowledge of the personnel seem to negatively affect ERP adoption process in SMEs. Conversely, ERP vendors underline factors involving the knowledge and the access of the related personnel to the specific ERP functions, the managers' technological capabilities, and a user-friendly and flexible ERP package, as those that exert somewhat positive influences on ERP adoption. Finally, some research directions are provided.