Title: Exploring how open source ERP systems development impact ERP systems diffusion

Authors: Björn Johansson

Addresses: Department of Informatics, School of Economics and Management, Lund University, Ole Römers väg 6, SE-223 63 Lund, Sweden

Abstract: A high interest in enterprise resource planning (ERPs) systems exists among small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This interest has created new ways of development of ERPs, such as open source ERP development. However, it is unclear what impact this has on diffusion of ERPs. To explore if open source ERP development impact diffusion of ERPs among SMEs, a comparative investigation on proprietary ERP development and open source ERP development are reported. Based on identified differences and a study on challenges in proprietary ERP development, conclusions on how open source ERP systems development impact diffusion among SMEs is presented. The major conclusion, suggest that for the actual diffusion of ERPs among SMEs, it does not matter whether the ERP is open source or proprietary, however it can be assumed that for SMEs open source ERPs could probably increase the interest in ERPs and SMEs possibility to implement ERPs.

Keywords: ERP development; ERP diffusion; enterprise resource planning; software as a service; open source ERP; small and medium sized enterprises; SMEs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2012.049468

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2012 Vol.6 No.4, pp.361 - 378

Published online: 14 Nov 2014 *

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