Research On The Growth Process And Evolution Mechanism Of Enterprise Information Systems

Since the 1970s, many foreign scholars studied the growth process theory of the enterprise information systems, of which the typical representative was the Nolan's Model. However, due to differences in the environment, those existing research have been inconsistent with the actual situation of Chinese enterprises. The common problem of those researches was the lack of large sample on the basis of empirical data, in particular, for the research of Chinese enterprises. It would be a worthy and important research to study the growth process and evolution mechanism of Chinese enterprise information systems by the way of empirical study.In this paper, the growth process and evolution mechanism of enterprise information systems are researched. The study has five major contents as following:It collected a large number of data, and explored the law of macroscopic growth process of Chinese enterprise information systems by the way of positivism.It explored the law of growth process of Chinese enterprise information systems and developed the growth process model of information systems on the basis of positive study.It studied the difference of the growth process of Chinese enterprise information systems, including the difference of growth path, the time span of stage experience and the organization form of IT department, and explored how the scale of enterprises, the ownership of enterprises and the stage of introducing IS influenced on the three above-mentioned fields.It researched on the evolution mechanism of enterprise information systems. The paper developed an model of driving force for IS, and studied the changes of driving force factors by the way of positivism. It studied the changes of influencing factors for IS by the way of positivism. On the basis of the theory of synergetic, it researched on the evolution mechanism of enterprise information systems, including the direction of evolution, the synergetic mechanism of driving force factors and the order parameters of evolution.The study has achieved results as following:It collected and processed the history data of their information system construction through an investigation of a large number enterprise in China. It applied the optimal partition method to divide stage with annual IS expenditure total as samples, analyzed stage's features and development tendency. It proved that the IS expenditure curve of Chinese enterprise was an S curve. The proliferation of information technology was one reason of S curve. The extensive use of LAN and ERP led to the abrupt of S curve. The development of Chinese macro-economy which led to keen competition among enterprise was basic reason of S curve. These results were the basis of other researches for IS. It provided scientific basis for formulating policies for related government department and provided references for IT enterprise.The study proved that IS expenditure was not appropriate for the stage division indication variable of IS growth process. It advanced new stage division indication variables—depth and scope of the IS application,and advanced new stage characteristic variables according to the composition of IS and the procedure of IS implementation. It divided stage of IS growth process by clustering analysis with collected data for the first time, and it explored the characters of each stage. The study proved that there are multiple paths for the IS growth process in our country. It analyzed the links between the stage characteristic variables, and explained the view that enterprise can measure the stage from corresponding stage variables and implement IS according to the tendency variables. It developed the growth process model of IS. The research enriched theories of IS and provided references for the implementations of enterprise information systems.It studied the difference of the growth process of Chinese enterprise information systems. It proved that the scale of enterprises has influence on the time span of stage experience and the organization form of IT department. Large-scale enterprises experienced much long time at the same stage and prefer to organize the IT department because the complex nature of the problem increased along with the scale of enterprises, enterprise must expend much more cost of time and human beings. The ownership of enterprises have influence on the growth path, the time span of stage experience and the organization form of IT department. The ratio of the joint ventures enterprise which IS grows up by the way of stride growth path was more than the ratio of other enterprises because the joint ventures enterprise had rich experience on IS implementations. The joint ventures enterprise and the privately owned enterprises experienced much shorter time than the state ownership enterprises at the same stage because the former had enterprising spirit and sense of competition. The ratio of the state ownership enterprise which organized IT department was more than the ratio of other enterprises because the former's corporate cultures pay attention to the completeness of organization. It proved that the stage of introducing IS had influence on the growth path and the time span of stage experience. The ratio of the successor enterprises which IS grows up by the way of stride growth path was more than the ratio of the pioneer enterprises. The successor enterprises experienced much shorter time than the pioneer enterprises at the same stage. That was because the successor enterprises had an advantage in IS implementation's knowledge and experience which accumulated from the practice of IS implementation by the pioneer enterprises. So the successor enterprises should study from the pioneer enterprises well experienced.The paper developed an model of driving force for IS, and studied the changes of driving force factors by the way of positivism. The growth of IS was the result of the competition and synergetic effect among the driving force factors. According to the theory of synergetic, it studied the evolution mechanism of enterprise information systems. The direction of IS evolution was the order of the right owned information resources and information flows. The order parameters were the IS demand and the corporate IS culture. It analysis the formation process and slaving principle of the IS demand and the corporate IS culture. It advanced the sequence IS demand theory and developed the sequence IS demand model. Above-mentioned research explained the IS evolution mechanism and made a contribution to the field of IS subjects.It studied the changes of influencing factors for IS by the way of positivism. The influencing factors for IS included the ensuring factors and the blocking factors. The paper studied the law of the changes of the ensuring factors and the blocking factors. The lack of investment and the lack of IS human beings were the blocking factors during the IS growth process. Since the stage of local department IS implementation, the critical blocking factors included the IS technical problems, the management reform, the lack of implementation tactics. That was because the implementation of IS integrated itself with the management reform and business reengineering. Before the stage of the integration with enterprise systems, the lack of IS knowledge and experience was the critical blocking factor, and when the stage of the integration of SCM business came, the factor no longer had effect. The support of the senior leadership and middle-level and the ensuring investment was the critical ensuring factors for IS implementation during the IS growth process. Since the stage of local department IS implementation, working out a reasonable implementation plan and devising reform tactics was the critical ensuring factor for the IS implementation. And since the stage of the integration with enterprise systems, enterprise must take all kinds of standards and specification of management seriously.