Title: ERP implementation in public healthcare, achievable benefits and encountered criticalities - an investigation from Italy

Authors: Andrea Chiarini; Emidia Vagnoni; Luca Chiarini

Addresses: Department of Economics and Management, University of Ferrara, Via Voltapaletto, 11, 44121, Ferrara, Italy ' Department of Economics and Management, University of Ferrara, Via Voltapaletto, 11, 44121, Ferrara, Italy ' ICT Department, Ferrara University Hospital, Via Aldo Moro, 8, 44124 Cona, Ferrara, Italy

Abstract: Enterprise resource planning has been mainly implemented in private industries and there are few inquiries of implementation in public healthcare, particularly in Europe. Hence, this paper aims to enrich the debate concerning public healthcare by investigating one of the first applications in Italy. The research aims at highlighting the benefits brought by the implementation as well as the criticalities encountered. We found that benefits can be classified into four theoretical categories: patients' satisfaction, stakeholders' satisfaction, operations efficiency, and strategic and performance management. Whereas criticalities such as complexity of the project, process reengineering and staff's involvement can impede the implementation. The novelty and value of the paper lie in a new classification of benefits and criticalities concerning enterprise resource planning implementation in public healthcare. The classification is particularly useful for practitioners and managers who want to implement structured enterprise resource planning in complex organisations such as large public hospitals. We concluded with the limitations of this research and the new avenues of research opened.

Keywords: enterprise resource planning; public healthcare services; service operations efficiency; it implementation; Italy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2018.088460

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2018 Vol.29 No.1, pp.1 - 17

Received: 01 Jun 2015
Accepted: 13 Mar 2016

Published online: 11 Dec 2017 *

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