Este trabalho de pesquisa, organizado sob a forma de uma Dissertação de Mestrado em Administração, estuda os fatores envolvidos na implementação de pacotes de software para gestão empresarial, ou sistemas ERP – Enterprise Resources Planning – no contexto de empresas usuárias desse tipo de sistema. Além de uma pesquisa, este trabalho também é composto por uma revisão bibliográfica sobre os principais assuntos abordados, tais como: pacotes de software para gestão empresarial; administração de projetos; fatores críticos de sucesso em projetos; redesenho de processos de negócios; e adoção de novas tecnologias. Para a execução da pesquisa, foi realizado um survey com uma amostra formada por 43 empresas, no Brasil, que já tivesse implementado ou estivesse em um projeto de implementação de algum pacote de software ERP. Os resultados obtidos com a análise dos dados buscam traçar um quadro sobre os projetos de implementação de pacotes de software para gestão empresarial no Brasil, além de estabelecer a existência ou não de relações entre alguns fatores, considerados críticos nesse tipo de projeto, e o sucesso dos projetos. / This research, organized under the form of a Mastership Dissertation in Business Administration, studies the factors involved in the implementation of ERP – Enterprise Resources Planning – systems, in the context of companies that use that sort of system. Besides a research, this essay is also composed by a bibliographical revision on the main approached subjects, such as: integrated software packages for business management; project management; critical success factors in projects; BPR – business process reengineering; and adoption of new technologies. For the execution of the research, a survey was accomplished with a sample formed by 43 companies in Brazil, that had already implemented or it was in an implementation project of some ERP software. The results obtained with the analysis of the data outline a chart on the projects of ERP software implementation in Brazil, besides establishing the existence or not of relationships among some factors, considered critical in that project, and the success of the projects.

A dissertação aborda o estudo sobre as principais características observadas sob a perspectiva da gestão de custos em indústrias de manufatura discreta, em especial considerando uma possível integração dos Sistemas Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) com os chamados Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). Este estudo procurar elucidar acerca das iniciativas orientadas à redução de custos, especialmente aquelas aplicas em manufaturas do tipo discreta. Por meio do método de estudo múltiplo de casos foram coletados dados a respeito da implementação do MES e seus impactos sobre a redução de custos em três organizações, para que fossem debatidas as visões de diversos gestores, verificando se as hipóteses levantadas ao longo do projeto são confirmadas. Por fim, os resultados observados foram analisados e discutidos, e as conclusões apontam que o uso do sistema MES pode contribuir ou possui potencial para reduzir os custos e também para aumentar o controle da gestão. No entanto, foi possível observar também que a implantação de sistemas deve ser acompanhada de mudanças de processos e de cultura, que propiciem de fato a redução de custos nas empresas. Foram propostas novas possibilidades para que seja possível a continuidade de outros estudos neste sentido, de forma que as organizações possam explorar novas possibilidades, aperfeiçoando os sistemas ou desenvolvendo mudanças em seus processos. / The dissertation describes the study on major features achieved from the perspective of cost management within discrete manufacturing industries, especially considering a possible integration between Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems with so-called Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). This study seeks to enlighten a few initiatives on the subject concerned to cost reduction management belonged to the company, especially those applied among manufacturers whose type is settled as discrete. By using the multiple case study method, several data regarding MES implementation and also its impacts on cost decrease were gathered within three enterprises, and therefore used for debating some standpoints from several managers and verifying whether the assumptions made throughout the article are confirmed. Finally, the results obtained along this study were analyzed and discussed, and such findings lead to idea that MES system use can concur or has the potential to decrease costs and also enhance the management control. However, it was also possible to behold that systems implementation should be followed by a culture and processes changes as well, that surely provide cost cutting among companies. It was proposed some other improvement possibilities in order to make possible the development of new efforts in this regard, in a way that enterprises are able to explore new paths, enhancing the systems or even developing changes in their processes.

L’objectif de cette thèse était d’explorer les bases cognitives et cérébrales des processus de compréhension du langage figuré via l’utilisation d’outils de neuroimagerie (EEG et IRMf). Nous nous sommes particulièrement intéressés aux processus inférentiels sémantiques et pragmatiques. Afin de mieux les cerner, nous avons étudié la compréhension de la métaphore verbale nouvelle (« catapulter ses paroles ») et de l’ironie verbale (« Il est détesté de tous. Cet homme est très populaire. »). Ce choix repose sur l’hypothèse selon laquelle chacune de ces figures sollicite spécifiquement un type de processus inférentiel ; de nature sémantique pour la métaphore et pragmatique pour l’ironie. Conformément à cette hypothèse, nos résultats indiquent que la compréhension des métaphores verbales nouvelles se fonde sur des processus de recherche et d’intégration d’informations sémantiques, supportant l’hypothèse d’un traitement séquentiel. L’examen des bases cérébrales du traitement de ces expressions précédées d’un contexte a mis en évidence des régions cérébrales postérieures, suggérant la mise en œuvre d’un processus de manipulation conceptuelle. Concernant le traitement de l’ironie, nous avons observé un processus tardif d’intégration d’informations plus important pour les énoncés ironiques comparés aux énoncés littéraux, suggérant un traitement pragmatique plus difficile. Enfin, nous avons mis en évidence un réseau fronto-temporal bilatéral lors du traitement de l’ironie, dont une part serait sensible au contraste entre le contexte et l’énoncé et à l’humour des énoncés. Nos résultats sont confrontés aux théories psycholinguistiques et cognitives du traitement du langage figuré. / Our main aim was to assess the cognitive and neural basis of the figurative language processing using neuroimaging tools (EEG and fMRI). We were especially interested in semantic and pragmatic inferential processes. In order to better grasp these processes, we have studies the comprehension of novel verbal metaphor (“to catapult his/her words”) and verbal irony (“Everybody thinks he is foul. He is a very popular man.”). This choice was based upon the hypothesis that each of these figurative expressions specifically engages one of the two inferential processes: semantic for metaphors and pragmatic for irony. Following this hypothesis, our results point out that the comprehension of novel metaphoric expression is built on the research and the integration of a semantic congruent information, supporting a sequential processing hypothesis. The assessment of the cerebral basis of the processing of such expressions embedded in a context has revealed regions in posterior areas, suggesting a conceptual manipulation process. Concerning the irony processing, we observed a greater late integration processing for ironic sentences than literal ones, suggestion a more effortful pragmatic processing. Finally, we observed a fronto-temporal network specific to irony processing. Some part of this network could be involved in both the contrast between the utterance and the context and the humor processing of the sentences. Our results are confronted with psycholinguistic and cognitive theories about figurative language processing.

Accounting is an old discipline inherent to any business. Accounting is divided into Financial Accounting (FA) and Management Accounting (MA). Financial Accounting focuses on the pure processing of the economic data. Management Accounting focuses on the decision-making aspects of the accounting. Accounting industry has been tremendously transformed in the past two decades due to the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. These systems integrate and unify an organisation’s business functions and processes into one complex computer system. Previous research suggests that the ERP systems’ main functionality primarily addresses the issues of Financial Accounting and much less the issues of Management Accounting. The purpose of this study is to explore the underlying factors behind the application of the Management Accounting Techniques through the ERP systems and to suggest a further development in the field. Five large Swedish companies were examined through the comparative case studies with semi-structured interviews. This study discovered that MATs were mostly implemented through spreadsheets, BI systems and custom-built software, i.e. outside of the ERP systems. The main reasons were inflexibility and standard design of the ERP systems, that did not fully suit the companies. Additionally, the customization of the ERP systems would be too costly when other tools, such as BI systems or spreadsheets, provided better functionality to a better price. The conclusion of this study is that it is impossible to build a universal ERP system that would suit all kind of companies, however, ERP systems can serve as a common base and a transaction engine for the MA. ERP systems can provide a data structure for the analysis parameters crucial to MA, such as profit centre, cost centre, unit, and other dimensionality aspects. Spreadsheets and BI systems win the MA battle by providing the flexibility, user-friendliness and the acceptable price, required by the users. Therefore, ERP systems must provide good integration possibilities with other software. One can further speculate if ERP system providers choose not to deliver flexible and visually appealing products, since they benefit from the income that the customer education and the customization of an ERP system implies.

Abstract In order to stay competitive in today’s changing business world, companies need to manage the increased complexity as they evolve. To be able to handle this complexity, many companies chose to implement an ERP system. Investing in an ERP system is not something that is made in a trice but is a large investment which together with today’s low-profit margins in companies makes it essential to keep the costs as low as possible. More than half of the total cost for an ERP investment is said to be related to costs for the system’s maintenance and support. Documentation is one of the factors which affect this cost, and if it is not made satisfactorily it is said to result in a considerable increase of the system’s total cost. This is why it is important not to overlook the documentation as a part of ERP system development project. The purpose with this thesis is to investigate the existing documentation routines in ERP system development projects at AB Volvo’s subsidiary Volvo IT, in order to find suggestions of improvement for future projects. In order to fulfill the purpose of the study, we formed a research question with three sub-questions and through a deep analysis of the empirical material we presented the answers to these questions as the conclusions of this thesis. Our study is based on an inductive research approach using a case study to gain deeper and more helpful qualitative knowledge and data. The empirical data was analyzed using the template analysis method where we divided the collected data into appropriate categories. The knowledge created through this study is of exploratory, normative, predictive and categorical nature. After having analyzed the results from our case study we found several suggestions of improvements for Volvo IT to use in future projects. For other companies involved in ERP system development projects of their own, the conclusions of this thesis will work as valuable issues to take into consideration for upcoming projects. We have concluded that the main reason behind lacking quality of documentation in the development projects is not the unawareness of its importance, but the absence of concrete evidence of high quality documentation’s positive effects on a system’s total cost. We believe that in order to achieve documentation of high quality, there needs to be a change of attitude to documentation as a work task and the task itself must be higher prioritized in the projects. Another important suggestion is that a control of the conducted documentation’s quality must be done, not only a control of the existence of the right kind of documents. We are of the opinion that a company should not allocate resources to create a method of documentation before the importance of high quality documentation is clarified. Ultimately, we believe that the system development process should be focused around the customer, because of the more frequent use of custom made solutions and to help the people in the project to set the right level of abstraction on the documentation. / Sammanfattning För att företag ska kunna behålla sin konkurrenskraft i näringslivet, behöver de hela tiden utvecklas. Men med utveckling kommer en ökad komplexitet som måste hanteras på något sätt. Många företag väljer då att investera i ett affärssystem (s.k. ERP-system), vilket inte är något som görs lättvindigt utan är en ansenlig investering. Detta faktum tillsammans med dagens låga vinstmarginaler i företag gör att det är väsentligt att hålla kostnaderna så låga som möjligt. Mer än hälften av kostnaderna för ett ERP-system sägs vara relaterat till underhålls- och supportverksamhet. En av de faktorer som påverkar denna stora kostnad är dokumentationsaktiviteter, vilken ifall de inte är utförd på rätt sätt kan leda till en ansenlig ökning av ett systems totala kostnad. Det är därför väldigt viktigt att inte förbise dokumentationen som en del av ett ERP-systemutvecklingsprojekt. Syftet med vår studie var att undersöka existerande dokumentationsrutiner i ERPsystemutvecklingsprojekt hos Volvo AB’s dotterbolag Volvo IT, för att sedan presentera förbättringsförslag för framtida projekt i företaget. För att kunna uppfylla syftet med uppsatsen, tog vi fram en forskningsfråga med tre följdfrågor och genom en grundlig analys av det empiriska materialet kommer vi att presentera svaren på dessa frågor som våra slutsatser. Vi har valt att genomföra en fallstudie med en induktiv ansats, för att införskaffa oss djupare kunskap och därmed kunna generera ny kunskap inom området. Det empiriska materialet analyserades utifrån en given modell där insamlad data delades in i lämpliga kategorier. Kunskapen genererad från vår studie är av följande kunskapsform; kategoriell, förklarande, förutsägande och normativ. Efter att ha analyserat resultatet av vår fallstudie kan vi presentera ett flertal förbättringsförslag för Volvo IT’s användning i framtida projekt. För andra företag, involverade i ERPsystemutvecklingsprojekt, kan dessa fungera som värdefulla förslag att ta i beaktande. Vi kom fram till att den främsta anledningen till bristande dokumentation inte är omedvetenheten om dess betydelse, utan avsaknaden av konkreta bevis på dess positiva effekter på ett systems totala kostnad. Vi anser att det krävs en attitydförändring kring dokumentation som arbetsuppgift för att uppnå dokumentation som är av hög kvalitet och att arbetsuppgiften som sådan behöver få högre prioritet i projekten. Ett annat viktigt förbättringsförslag vi fann var att en kontroll av den producerade dokumentationens kvalité måste utföras, och inte bara en kontroll av att den rätta sortens dokument finns. Vi anser att ett företag inte bör allokera resurser till att skapa en metod eller modell över hur man ska dokumentera förrän vikten och effekten av hög kvalitetsdokumentation är klargjord. Till sist anser vi att systemutvecklingsprocessen bör fokuseras kring den framtida användaren, dels på grund av dagens ökade användning av skräddarsydda system men också för att det minskar risken för en oönskad effekt på projektets omfattning samt att det ökar kvaliteten på den slutgiltiga dokumentationen.

Purpose and research questions The purpose of this thesis is to investigate influencing factors on the choice of tailoring of ERP systems during implementation. The research questions to answer are what types of adjustments can be made to the system to make it fit with the organisation, together with what factors influence the choice of these adjustments and how? Research methodology To fulfil the purpose and answer the research questions the study has been carried out in line with the hermeneutic circle. This has been done in three sequences. A pre-understanding of the phenomenon has been obtained by a literature study in the first sequence. In the second sequence interviews with IFS AB and Systeam AB have been carried out, analysed together with the pre-understanding and a model has been created. During the last sequence Sogeti Sverige AB has been interviewed to verify the model. Research findings The different ways of tailoring an ERP system are configuration, bolt-ons, extended report-ing, screen masks, workflow programming, user exits, ERP programming, interface development, new software package and package code modification. Tailoring types 1-8 and 10 were found in the literature while new software package was found in the empirical study. The factors influencing the choice of tailoring are coming from three domains: the customer, the consultant and the system. The factors from the customer are attitude towards customisation, costs, knowledge, process design, time and user needs. Attitude towards customisation, customisation possibility and knowledge are coming from the consultant domain. Complexity, external software, functionality and maintenance are finally coming from the system domain. All factors were derived from the literature except knowledge in the customer domain, which was found during the empirical study. Some factors influence the choice of specific tailoring types, while others influence the choice between light and heavy tailoring types. There are also factors that do not directly influence the choice of tailoring. Instead they act as prerequisites for the tailoring types. This leads to the conclusion that the influencing factors can not be seen in isolation; it is the combined influence from all of them that decides the choice of tailoring types. / Syfte och forskningsfrågor Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka influerande faktorer på valet av anpassning av ERP-system under implementering. Forskningsfrågorna att besvara är vilken typ av anpassningar som kan göras av systemet för att det ska passa med organisationen, tillsam-mans med vilka faktorer som influerar valet av dessa anpassningar och hur? Metod För att uppfylla syftet och besvara forskningsfrågorna har studien utförts i linje med den hermeneutiska cirkeln. Detta har gjorts i tre sekvenser. En förförståelse har erhållits genom en litteraturstudie i den första sekvensen. I den andra sekvensen har intervjuer med IFS AB och Systeam AB genomförts, analyserats tillsammans med förförståelsen och en modell har skapats. Under den sista sekvensen har Sogeti Sverige AB intervjuats för att verifiera modellen. Forskningsresultat De olika sätten att anpassa ett ERP-system är configuration, bolt-ons, extended reporting, screen masks, workflow programming, user exits, ERP programming, interface develop-ment, new software package och package code modification. Anpassningstyperna 1-8 och 10 påträffades i litteraturen medan new software package hittades i den empiriska studien. Faktorerna som influerar valet av anpassning kommer från tre domäner: kunden, konsulten och systemet. Faktorerna från kunden är attitude towards customisation, costs, knowledge, process design, time och user needs. Attitude towards customisation, customisation possi-bility och knowledge kommer från konsultdomänen. Complexity, external software, functionality och maintenance kommer slutligen från systemdomänen. Alla faktorer är härledda från litteraturen, förutom knowledge från kunskapsdomänen kund som påträffades under empiristudien. Några faktorer influerar valet av specifika anpassningstyper, medan andra influerar valet mellan lätta och tunga anpassningstyper. Det finns också faktorer som inte direkt influerar valet av anpassning. De är istället förutsättningar för anpassningstyperna. Detta leder till slutsatsen att anpassningstyperna inte kan ses isolerade; det är den kombinerade influensen från alla faktorer som bestämmer vilka anpassningstyper som kommer att väljas.

In modern society, organizations are fighting each other through various means and tools in an ever-changing market at an increasing pace. One such tool is the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System which aims to collect the necessary applications an organization need into one system. Although the ERP solution has become more mature over the years, researchers suggest that value gained from them have become progressively difficult to iso-late, difficult to measure and challenging to realize. It was therefore in the interest of the authors to investigate the domain of value realization in ERP projects. To complete such a study we selected an inductive approach, focusing on acquiring and us-ing qualitative data and through the practice of behavioral science and design science con-tribute to existing theories. By studying existing theories and models in topics such as change management, enterprise resource planning & critical success factors and benefit management, we supported our primary data gathering and finally our the creation of our artifact. The result from this study points to a number of important components that are needed to realize value in an ERP project. These identified components include a clear structure in the project, commitment from the clients, and communication to name a few. There were also challenges with realizing value, some of them dealing with change man-agement and the difficulty in finding appropriate measures. Even client commitment proved to be a challenge for realizing value.

Idag kan företag tvingas till stora och snabba förändringar för att behålla sin plats på marknaden. Ett bra beslutsunderlag underlättar för att besluten om dessa förändringar ska bli gynnsamma. Dagens BI-system ger företagen möjlighet att utifrån företagens olika datakällor ta ut rapporter som kan användas i arbetet med styrning och beslutsfattande. Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva och analysera hur BI-system kan användas i styrningen på flera nivåer i två stora svenska företag för att stödja beslutsfattande. För att få en djupare förståelse för ämnet valde vi att göra en kvalitativ undersökning med en deduktiv ansats. I den teoretiska referensramen tar vi upp och utvecklar de fem temana; ekonomistyrning, information, beslut, ERP - Affärssystem och BI – Beslutsstöd. Vi har intervjuat två företag och sammanlagt sju respondenter på flera nivåer i företagen, vilket gav oss olika perspektiv på användandet av BI vid styrning och beslutsfattande. Resultatet av studien visar bland annat att informationsbehovet på de olika nivåerna ser olika ut och därför har företagen i undersökningen valt att rollstyra sina BI-system för att användarna bara ska få tillgång till den information de har behov av. / Today, companies are forced to large and rapid changes in order to keep their place in the market. A good supporting data facilitates so that the decisions of these changes can be beneficial. Today's BI system allows companies to create reports, from different data sources, that can be used in the process of governance and decision making. The purpose of this study was to describe and analyse how BI systems can be used in governance at multiple levels in two large Swedish companies to support decision making. To gain a deeper understanding of the subject, we chose to do a qualitative study with a deductive approach. In the theoretical framework, we discuss and develop the five themes; financials, information, decisions, ERP and Business Intelligence. We interviewed two firms and seven respondents in several levels of the companies, giving us different perspectives on the use of BI in the governance and decision making. The results of the study show that information needs at the different levels are different and therefore, the companies in the survey chose to adapt their BI system so that users only have access to the information they need.

Cette thèse porte sur l'utilisation de la magnétoencéphalographie (MEG) comme outil d'étude de la dynamique des réponses corticales durant la production de mots. Les données empiriques accumulées dans la littérature sont évaluées au regard des modèles psycho- et neuro-linguistiques de la production des mots et du langage. Nous réalisons une exploration de l'évolution des modèles psycho-linguistiques et effectuons en ce sens une revue de la littérature MEG. Les forces et limites de la technique et des données empiriques existantes sont considérées et utilisées pour établir un protocole de dénomination d'images qui soit compatible avec la MEG. Nous développons ensuite une étude empirique réalisée en MEG, en utilisant une manipulation visuo-sémantique pour explorer la dynamique des réponses corticales. Cette étude démontre une large réponse bi-hémisphérique avec des différences inter-conditions précoces (~100ms) dans la BA8 et des différences dans le gyrus cingulaire antérieur, le cortex médial temporal antérieur droit à 207ms et dans la jonction temporo-pariétale à 233ms après apparition du stimulus. Des différences entre les conditions apparaissent tardivement dans le cuneus droit et suggèrent également un traitement visuel en cours. Nos résultats questionnent le timing estimé pour les traitements phonologiques et sémantiques suggérés par les modèles sériels actuels de production du langage. A la lumière de la revue de la littérature et de l'étude empirique conduite, nous évaluons les modèles existants et discutons des directions potentielles pour les recherches futures. / This thesis concerns the use of magnetoencephalography [MEG] as a tool for investigating the dynamics of the cortical response during word production. The evidence gathered is considered in the context of existing psycho- and neuro-linguistic models of word and speech production. An exploration of the evolution of psycholinguistic models is performed, motivating a review of the MEG literature. The strengths and limitations of the technique and existing evidence are considered, and used to guide the design of a picture naming protocol compatible with MEG. An empirical MEG study is then developed and implemented using a visuo-semantic manipulation to explore the dynamics of the cortical response. This study demonstrates a broad, bi-hemispheric response with early (~100ms) between-conditions differences in bilateral BA8 and anterior cingulate cortex, in right anterior medial temporal cortex at 207ms, and a difference in right temporo-parietal junction at 233ms post stimulus. Late between conditions differences in the right cuneus also suggest ongoing visual processing. Our findings question the timing estimated for semantic and phonological processing suggested by current serial models of speech processing. In the light of the review and empirical study, a contextual evaluation of existing models is performed and potential future avenues of investigation are discussed.

During the 90`s, the world watched an expressive growth of the ERP systems (Enterprise Resource Planning) on the information technology market. Among the explanations for issue are the pressure caused by the enterprises competition, which forces them to find alternative ways that leads to cost reduction and products and services differentiation and innovation. This will force them to review how they work and they processes. The purpose of this document is to analyze the impact that a chosen ERP system can cause on organizations. In its bibliographical research, this document presents concepts related to Technological Innovation, Information Technology, ERP and change management, always trying to connect all of these subjects together regarding an ERP system implementation, observing the impacts caused and the productivity factors. The empiricists data was achieved during a case study on an ERP system implementation on a local industrial company located at the Vale do Paraíba region. Among the results obtained by this case study, the facts that distinguishes the most are the analysis of the influence in the way the beginning of operation of the systems in the stages of implementation and stabilization and, mainly, the management of the changes and impacts caused for this implementation. / Os anos 90 assistiram ao surgimento e a um expressivo crescimento dos sistemas ERP (Enterprise Resources Planning ou Planejamento dos Recursos Empresariais) no mercado de soluções de informática. Entre as explicações para esse fenômeno estão as pressões competitivas sofridas pelas empresas, que as obrigam a buscar alternativas para redução de custos, inovação e diferenciação de produtos e serviços, forçando-as a reverem seus processos e suas maneiras de trabalhar. Esse estudo tem como objetivo analisar os impactos organizacionais ocasionados pela adoção de um sistema ERP. Em seu levantamento bibliográfico, este trabalho apresenta conceitos relacionados à Inovação Tecnológica, Tecnologia da Informação, ERP e Gestão da Mudança, buscando embasar a ligação existente entre todos esses assuntos quanto à implantação de um sistema ERP, observando os impactos ocasionados e o fator produtividade. Os dados empíricos foram levantados a partir de um estudo de caso de implantação de um sistema ERP por uma empresa do setor industrial localizada na região paulista do Vale do Paraíba. Entre os resultados obtidos por este estudo de caso, destacam-se a análise de influência do modo de início de operação dos sistemas nas etapas de implementação e estabilização e, principalmente, a gestão das mudanças e impactos causados por esta implementação.