The Influence of Organisational Size, Internal IT Capabilities, and Competitive and Vendor Pressures on ERP Adoption in SMEs

Introduction

Over the last decade, research on enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems has mainly focused on ERP implementation and post-implementation issues. Recent research has been carried out in an attempt to better understand the ERP selection and adoption process (Esteves & Pastor, 2001; Verville, 2000; Al-Mashari & Al-Mudimigh, 2003; Gable & Stewart, 1999; Nah et al., 2001; Okrent & Vokurka, 2004; Woo, 2007). These studies have, however, been focused primarily on larger enterprises with the exception of some case studies comparing large organisations and SMEs. These studies have demonstrated the rapid increase in ERP adoption within small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) (Table 1), but have failed to identify which factors specifically affect ERP adoption within the SME market. Most studies conclude that SMEs exhibit significant different characteristics compared to larger enterprises and cannot be accurately evaluated in regards to ERP adoption.