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ity of an industry focused solution and enabling
technology for CRM, SCM, etc.).
These dependent variables were measured on
five point Likert scale, where 1 is of very little
importance and 5 is of very high importance.
Compared to (Sudzina, 2007), besides com-
pany size, representation of the IT department on
the board level (CIO) and information strategy,
also turnover growth was used as independent
variables. Companies with 10 to 49 employees are
considered to be small, with 50 to 249 employees
are considered to be medium sized, and with 250+
employees are considered to be large companies.
This definition is consistent with European Com-
mission's definitions (European Commission
2003) and National Statistical Bureau.
Although SMEs are generally considered to
be flexible, adaptive and innovative (Rao, et al.,
2003), and thus have more ability to respond to
the new opportunities and innovations than larger
enterprises (Lomerson et al., 2004), various studies
have reported that SMEs are generally lagging be-
hind large organizations with regards to the adop-
tion and usage of new ICT (Eleftheriadou, 2008;
Kartiwi & MacGregor, 2007; Levy et. al., 2005;
Levenburg, 2005; Chitura, 2008; Riquelme, 2002).
Considering this situation, one of the purposes of
this study was also to investigate, if there are any
significant differences between opinion of small,
medium-sized and large companies regarding the
importance of ERP selection criteria.
“Information strategy” refers to the formal
information strategy adopted on the company
level. Possible impact of alignment of business
and information strategy was identified by Oh
and Pinsonneault (2007). “Presentation of the IT
department on the board level” means that there is a
CIO (Chief information officer) or similar director-
level position for IT in the company. Companies
with adopted information strategy and with a for-
mal position of IT or CIO director were expected
to be more advanced in their understanding of the
impact of ICT on business performance. Thus,
the purpose of the study was to discover if there
are some significant differences in ERP selection
criteria importance between those companies and
companies without an implemented information
strategy and represented CIO on the board level.
Growth of the company was measured with
achieved turnover in the previous year (2006)
and was divided into (1) reduction in turnover,
(2) stable turnover, (3) growth of turnover from
0-5%, (4) growth of turnover from 5-10% and (5)
growth of turnover higher than 10%. The purpose
of the study was to identify if there are some
significant differences in ERP selection criteria
importance between companies with different
levels of turnover.
Number of respondents rating a particular
criterion, alongside the mean and the standard
deviation, are provided in tables 1, 3, 5, and 7.
Correlation matrices for the groups of criteria
are provided in tables 2, 4, 6, and 8. Pearson
product-moment correlation coefficient was used.
Pair-wise deletion was used to deal with missing
data in the correlation calculation.
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to
analyze impact of independent variables on ERP
system selection criteria. A multivariate approach
is used and results are commented on the confi-
dence level α = 0.05. Tukey-Kramer multiple-
comparison test was used to identify between
what instances of an independent variable there
are significant differences. Presented are only
ANOVA tables, in which significant impact was
identified. Internal consistency of criteria groups
was tested using Cronbach's alpha (Nunnally,
1967). Usually the value of 0.7 and above is ac-
ceptable (Nunnally, 1978). This cut-off is used in
this topic chapter as well.
reseArch findings
companies profile data
Altogether 68 (22.6%) large companies, 36 (12%)
medium-sized companies and 27 (4.5%) small
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