Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integration of advanced enterprise management concepts and information technology. As an information system with advanced management ideas, its successful application can effectively integrate enterprise resources, improve enterprise management level and enhance enterprise competitiveness. However, according to incomplete statistics, among the enterprises applying ERP, only 65,438+00% ~ 20% have successfully realized system integration, 30% ~ 40% have no integration or only partial integration, and as many as 50% have failed. So far, less than one-third of enterprises in China have successfully implemented ERP, and only 3.8% of small and medium-sized enterprises have chosen to implement ERP.
Although the adoption rate of ERP is very low, there are many studies on the successful implementation of ERP in China, mainly focusing on the problems after the adoption of ERP, and there are not many studies on the adoption decisions and factors, that is, the problems before the adoption. China's small and medium-sized enterprises account for more than 97% of the total number of enterprises, achieving 60% of the total industrial output value and 40% of profits and taxes, which is the most dynamic part of the national economy. Therefore, it is very important for small and medium-sized enterprises that have not implemented ERP to pay attention to their adoption decisions. Based on innovation diffusion and institutional theory, this paper establishes a comprehensive factor model of ERP adoption by small and medium-sized enterprises in China.
First, innovation diffusion theory.
The theory of innovation diffusion () was put forward by Rogers in 1983 to describe the basic law and process of technological innovation diffusion in a social system. Among them, the acceptance factors affecting innovation include: the characteristics of innovative technology, the characteristics of adopting decision makers, and communication channels. Innovative technology is characterized by individual's subjective feelings about innovative technology, including relative advantages, compatibility, complexity, observability and testability. Rogers believes that the characteristics of innovative technology can usually predict the individual's adoption behavior of innovation more than other factors. The theory of innovation diffusion was originally applied at the individual level, but in recent years it has been increasingly applied at the organizational level. The research at the organizational level focuses on the process of organizational adoption and diffusion, and describes or predicts the adoption decision and the degree of IT/IS diffusion in the organization through various models, including the research on the related factors of IT adoption and diffusion. These important adoption factors include individuals, organizations and technologies. The most studied factors abroad are income, scale, internal resources and competition. Some of them are aimed at general IT, while others are specialized IT, such as WEB mining, website and data warehouse technology. Huang Guoqing and others in China have studied the scale of enterprises, the degree of decentralization of organizational structure, the degree of change of corporate culture, the uncertainty of corporate environment and the adoption of ERP in enterprises.
Second, institutional theory.
Institutional theory provides another perspective to understand the adoption of organizational IT/IS. According to this theory, the change of organizational structure and activities is sometimes a response to environmental pressure. Not just for economic reasons. For example, laws, reputations or norms may force enterprises to adopt IT/IS. Institutional pressure includes competitive pressure, imitation pressure and normative pressure. Institutional pressure explains the phenomenon of technology homomorphism, that is, enterprises in the same industry tend to adopt the same technology. According to the literature, institutional pressure indirectly affects the organization's absorption of ERP by affecting the belief and participation of top managers.
The decision of an organization to adopt information technology is not only a technical process, but also a social process, and its final result is influenced by many factors. The literature focuses on decision makers, and analyzes the influencing factors of IT investment decision-making behavior of enterprises through their perception of internal and external environment, including competitiveness, trends, policies, basic conditions of enterprises, corporate culture, maturity of information systems, etc.
Third, SMEs ERP adoption model
The decision-making of small and medium-sized enterprises is more personalized and centralized, so the information technology adoption of small and medium-sized enterprises has both organizational characteristics and individual characteristics, so some characteristics of senior personnel usually affect the decision-making results of enterprises. Innovation diffusion theory does not provide a complete explanation for inter-organizational technology diffusion, and the decision of innovation adoption should consider the particularity of the corresponding environment and innovation, so it is based on innovation diffusion and institutional theory. On the basis of predecessors' research, we add two factors, CEO's innovation and the compatibility between ERP and organization, and build a comprehensive model of ERP adoption in small and medium-sized enterprises around four aspects: individuals, technology, organization and external environment.
1.CEO innovation
Due to the limitation of strength, small and medium-sized enterprises pay more attention to short-term interests and visible returns. However, the implementation of ERP is not only risky, but also the investment can not be immediate, which makes the implementation of ERP mainly rely on the foresight of enterprise leaders. CEO is an important decision-maker of small and medium-sized enterprises, and adopting ERP will face many uncertainties and risks. CEO's preference for new things and risk tolerance reflect the size of individual innovation ability, which will ultimately affect the adoption of ERP by enterprises.
2. Enterprise resource planning and organizational compatibility
The compatibility between ERP and organization refers to the extent to which ERP system is suitable for organizational needs and organizational culture. Innovation diffusion theory only considers the characteristics of technology itself, but complex information technology adoption, adoption and diffusion research need to consider the characteristics of organization and task at the same time. No matter how advanced the technology is, only when it meets the actual needs of the organization can it be recognized by them. Different ERP systems have different development emphases, different functions and applicable industries. Enterprises need to integrate with other systems when implementing ERP systems, and different enterprises already have different systems. The higher the compatibility, the less uncertainty when adopting ERP, and the easier it is for enterprises to accept.
3. Informatization level
The level of enterprise informatization is reflected in two aspects: the first is the level of hardware, including the use of networks, computers and various application systems; The second is professionals who have the ability to use and manage. The level of informatization represents the degree of integration of business and information technology, that is, the trend of informatization. If the informatization of enterprises has a certain foundation, then the experience and talents needed for enterprises to introduce ERP are dominant. Through the existing IT investment, we have accumulated some project experience, trained a group of professional backbones and exercised the computer operation level of grassroots employees. These early accumulations can reduce the fear and resistance of enterprises to ERP, thus improving the adoption intention of small and medium-sized enterprises, and people are usually full of confidence in familiar things.
4. Enterprise scale
Enterprise scale is usually considered as an important factor in technology adoption. The larger the organization, the more resources and assets are allocated. Not only can IT attract excellent IT professionals, but even if it fails, the enterprise will be less affected. Therefore, small-scale enterprises face many obstacles in implementing ERP, and their ability to take risks is even worse. Moreover, as an IT investment, the larger the enterprise scale, the easier it is to achieve scale effect in investment benefit.
5. External competition
Organizations usually try their best to reduce the uncertainty of the surrounding environment, for example, by introducing new technologies to create competitive advantages. Various pressures make organizations and competitors very similar in practice and process, and competitive pressure is one of them. Competition makes organizations that ignore advanced technology perish, eliminate inappropriate ones and leave adaptive ones. All the needs of enterprises are caused by competition, and so are IT needs. Small and medium-sized enterprises are often market followers. When the competitive pressure increases, they are more likely to turn to information technology such as ERP to maintain their market position. Moreover, the simple business of small and medium-sized enterprises makes the ERP implementation cycle short and can quickly respond to changes in the external environment.
6. Government policies
Research shows that the influence of external environmental policies is more obvious in developing countries. Compared with powerful large enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises are at a disadvantage in terms of capital, talents, management and technology. Therefore, it is very important for government policies to support the informationization of small and medium-sized enterprises. In the process of informatization of small and medium-sized enterprises, the government can organize expert groups to go deep into enterprises to find problems, solve difficult problems in the process of informatization together with enterprises, and hold "achievement display" and "forum" through demonstrations, speeches and discussions to promote informatization.
Fourth, summary.
As the key first step for an organization to introduce information technology, the adoption of organizational information technology is influenced by many factors, such as the characteristics of the technology itself, the characteristics of the organization and its environment. Based on the research results of innovation diffusion and institutional theory, this paper analyzes their influence on the adoption of ERP in small and medium-sized enterprises from six aspects: individual, technology, organization and external environment, which not only lays the foundation for the next empirical research, but also looks forward to providing some reference value for government departments and software manufacturers committed to the promotion of ERP in small and medium-sized enterprises.