Failed return on investment with ERP in small businesses: A Delphi study

Implementation of an integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is extremely difficult and 56% of U.S.-based small businesses (SMBs) often fail to achieve desired operational and financial benefits. Participants from both SMBs, and the vendors and consultants who support them participated in a qualitative Delphi study to assist in understanding why SMBs often do not achieve these benefits. A combination of systems and management theories assisted in analyzing various issues SMBs perceive against the model derived from the Delphi panelists. Throughout the study, panelists attempted to converge on what factors cause such high failure rates in the SMB market and suggested ways to address the identified issues. Data gathered revealed that many of the issues preventing organizations from achieving successful ERP implementation stemmed a from lack of organizational commitment and leadership support in addition to a lack of staffing and change management initiatives. The results suggested that many of the organizations that fail to achieve success with their ERP implementations might have been successful if the executive leadership within the organization provided superior support and commitment throughout the implementation project. Regardless of internal issues, the results of this study also indicated that vendors and consultants must provide more understanding around the implications and constraints of implementing such broadspectrum enterprise computing systems in the SMB environment.