Supply Chain Influences on SME ERP Selection

Speaking of external influences exercised on the SMEs especially through their supply chains.....Being part of a wider value chain did leave its mark of influence as these SMEs form part of a bigger picture and do not operate in complete autonomy. As confirmed in literature by Liet al. (2006), in today’s competitive landscape, for organisations to stay competitive, they need to recognise the importance of supply chain practices, in pursuit of not only improving their own performance, but coordinate with their supply chain partners towards improving the mutual performance of their respective organisations.

The supply chain dictates a strict level of compliance and quality assurance that at most of times imply external audits by these companies to ensure all is strictly adhered to. Compliance, quality assurance, and external audits are all elements also identified as influential factors as a result of this study. Interesting to make remark to the recent study published by Hwang and Min (2015), whilst different from this research as it does not exclusively focus on SMEs, suggests that the company’s ERP adoption and subsequent implementation is primarily influenced by the internal factors, although the findings pursue to suggest that yes, the external environment still…