The doctoral research project is titled ‘An Exploration of the Relationship of Organisational Culture and Enterprise System Success and sought to address the research gap identified in the literature between organisational culture literature and Information System success literature. This is a research project which is funded by the Australian Research Council in conjunction with industry. The industry sponsors for this research were SAP AG, SAP USA and SAP ANZ. The research project adopted a multi-method research design, grounded in practice, in order to surface any reported relationship between Enterprise Systems Success (ESS) and Organisational Culture (OC). A critical part of the study was to identify who could report on this relationship. Partners in implementation include internal change managers, internal consultants, vendor consultants and implementation partner consultants. Representatives from each of these constituents were interviewed, covering a range of industry sectors and Enterprise Systems vendor organisations. The first phase of the research was to qualitatively assess the perception of these participants on the role of culture to Enterprise Systems Success. This phase used open, axial and selective coding of the responses obtained in a semi-structured interview. The next phase of the research was to gather quantitative measures of Organisational Culture and Enterprise Systems Success. The Organisational Culture Assessment Inventory (OCAI) of Cameron and Quinn was selected to gather quantitative data on Organisational Culture. The Enterprise Systems Success instrument of Gable, Sedera and Chan was selected to measure the perception of ESS because of its proven reliability and validity. Each of these data sets were then analysed to determine if an association existed between the cultures of organisations that achieved most success with the Enterprise System as opposed to the culture types reported of organisations that achieved the least success with the ES. These findings then assisted in the development of a model of interaction between OC and ESS. Finally, the relationship of OC to ESS was explored in a rich case study of one large firm, to determine if the consultant’s reported relationships could be identified in the subcultures of the organisation. The key findings of this study were: 1. There was a relationship reported between culture type and success types. The findings a-e below represent findings using the culture definitions from Cameron & Quinn’s culture instrument: a. clan cultures which emphasised the behaviours of development of others were related to reports of ESS b. hierarchical cultures which emphasised the behaviours of control and coordination were related to reports of ESS c. hierarchical cultures which were poor in the execution of control and coordination were related to reports of the least success with ES d. market cultures which emphasised (internal) competitiveness were strongly related to reports of least success with ES e. literature attributes of continuous improvement (CI), flexibility (F) and innovation (I), which are often described as antecedents to innovation success and are found in the culture type of adhocracy, were reported as strongly related to success of ES, but the culture type of adhocracy was not reported as being present in the quantitative data describing consultant experiences with enterprises which had implemented ES. 2. that the literature supported theoretical reasons for the above findings 3. that these patterns of association were found in the case study. The research supports the proposition that there is a relationship between Organisational Culture type and ESS. Certain culture types practice behaviours that correspond to reported necessary behaviours for innovation success and ESS, whilst other culture types practice behaviours that correspond to behaviours for failure of innovation and of ES failure. A model of and explanation for this relationship was proposed as a result of the findings. Future research is now required to empirically test this model.

Servitization is a popular term referring to the innovation of an organization’s capabilities and processes to better create mutual value through a shift from selling products to selling Product-Service Systems. It is generally regarded as an innovative business model with great potential for smoother revenue streams, higher profit margins and longer, more closely-knit customer relationships. It is seldom easy to reengineer the business model of an entire organization and the servitization concept does not come without risks and uncertainties. One of the biggest changes when servitizing is the ownership of products; it is no longer necessarily the customer who owns the product, but the producer. This entails new uncertainties surrounding the use and care of the product, leaving the provider with a risk because of a lack of information about how the product is being used. The technology Internet of Things (IoT) can potentially solve this problem by enabling a constant remote data flow from the products in use back to the provider. IFS, the company at which the research of this study took place, develops and supplies enterprise systems (ES) such as enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) and can be described as forward-thinking and innovative. The ERP is a central point for any manufacturing firm, governing data and enabling an organization to automate and integrate a comprehensive part of their business processes, and to produce and access information in real time. In order to build functionality which can be referred to as the “best practice”, and to make a profit doing it, ES providers, such as IFS, need to stay in touch with the market and develop attractive applications in line with the general demand. One way to do this is to collaboratively develop functionality together with customers. In recent years, IFS has developed the product IFS IoT Business Connector in such a collaborative way with a number of pioneer customers. The product enables the collection and analysis of IoT data as well as seamless integration into IFS’ other products. This has opened up possibilities to utilize IoT functionality to support a more efficient provision of services, but the continued successful development of the Business Connector in this direction entails several more collaborative ventures into many different industries. To assist in this, we have concretized how IoT can be used to support a servitization process, as well as how the market has realized and adopted this. This has rendered a conceptual model for judging the suitability of a company, based on the readiness to utilize IoT and servitization respectively. We have then presented which types of customers an ES provider should aim to collaborate with for joint development of functionality in the enterprise system, to enable IoT solutions which can support servitization. This is followed by a presentation of a short market review, and the visualization of the market in the model. From this we draw conclusions about the fit and usefulness of the model, and the market maturity in general. Finally, we present a number of suggestions on how ES providers can work to develop such support in a more efficient manner.

The global business environment has changed dramatically in recent years, as competition in complex knowledge-based economies has increased. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have been viewed as a way to manage increased business complexity, leading to the rapid adoption and implementation of such systems, as ERP can support enterprises to improve their competitiveness. Knowledge management (KM) is crucial for ERP systems implementation, however a highly demanding task. Therefore, the primary concern of this research is to examine the effectiveness of knowledge management activities that would contribute to achieve ERP implementation success. This study adopted mixed methods approach by combining semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire to collect empirical data from ERP professionals in both manufacturing and service sector organisations. In the qualitative phase, it develops the “framework of integrative knowledge” based on empirical evidence, that can improve KM competence for ERP implementation success. Data analysis has been undertaken using a combination of thematic analysis and comparative analysis with respect to 14 ERP implementations in the UK. The framework integrates multiple perspectives in terms of knowledge components to enhance KM competence, including knowledge types, knowledge layers, KM lifecycle and knowledge determinants. It discovered 19 knowledge determinants to drive knowledge management activities during ERP projects, which is another vital contribution to the existing knowledge. Furthermore, the study develops the “knowledge network model” for ERP implementations in order to facilitate the knowledge flows between various stakeholders involved in ERP implementations, which can help to understand the interactions between the knowledge components. Moreover, sub-knowledge types (knowledge elements) under each knowledge type were discovered through empirical evidence. The quantitative phase was adopted to extend the findings of the qualitative phase. The knowledge types and knowledge elements were prioritised using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method through an online AHP based questionnaire with 77 responses from ERP professionals involved in UK ERP implementations. Furthermore, knowledge prioritisation demonstrates how effectively the framework of integrative knowledge can be used during ERP implementations with the help of prioritised knowledge. In total 4 knowledge types and 21 knowledge elements were ranked based on their contribution to achieve ERP success; four variables of information quality, systems quality, individual impact and organisational impact were used to measure ERP success. This study has number of theoretical contributions including framework of integrative knowledge, knowledge network model for ERP implementations and ERP knowledge prioritisation. Moreover, the framework of integrative knowledge can provide ERP practitioners with useful guidance on what the key knowledge determinants are and how the relationships between knowledge components should be best managed to achieve ERP implementation success in business reality.

This thesis deals with the subject of project management, primarily from the viewpoint of the development of a tool for project management support using the PRINCE2 methodology and the Unicorn Universe information system. The subject of the theoretical part is the definition of a project and project management and a description and a comparison of the most widely used project management standards, PRINCE2, PMI and IPMA. Subsequently, the emphasis is put on a detailed description of PRINCE2 with regard to its use in the next parts of the work. At the end of the theoretical part of the thesis the chapters are devoted to Unicorn Universe and to Unicorn Enterprise System Powered Company, which is a methodology used for company management. In the practical part, the author followed the recommended 4-phases process of the development of a new methodology set defined by the UESPC methodology; inception, elaboration, construction and transition. By means of the analysis in inception and elaboration stages and creation of A4 and High Level Concept documents, which describe specific ways how to implement various elements of PRINCE2into the Unicorn Universe, and the subsequent production of project management tool prototype, the author worked his way up to the construction stage, in which he designed and created definitions of meta artifacts and scripts for their later implementation in the final phase, called transition. In this phase metaartifacts were set up. They are templates for management and control artifacts and for other items necessary for the production of the methodological set, a final product of the thesis. At the end of thesis, the automation scripts, as proposed in the previous stage to verify the practical use of the thesis product, were assigned for implementation.

I takt med den digitaliserade utvecklingen har användning och anskaffning av affärssystem inom företag och organisationer blivit allt vanligare. Orsaken till att företag och organisationer använder affärssystem är för att effektivisera och automatisera sina affärsprocesser och informationsflöde inom företag och organisationer men också för att upprätthålla ett jämnt tempo med sina konkurrenter. Trots att det finns mycket kunskap och medvetenhet om kritiska faktorer för ett framgångsrikt införande av affärssystem, är det fortfarande nästan 50 procent av alla införandeprojekt som misslyckas första gången.  Kandidatuppsatsens syfte är att identifiera, beskriva och förklara kritiska framgångsfaktorer vid införandet av ett affärssystem, ur ett användar–projektgruppsperspektiv. Metoden för denna kandidatuppsats har varit genom en fallstudie som är baserad på intervjuer utifrån användarens och projektgruppens perspektiv.  De viktigaste slutsatserna från kandidatuppsatsensstudie är att: kommunikation, positiv attityd, korrekt data i affärssystemet och högsta ledningens stöd är kritiska för ett framgångsrikt införande av affärssystem. Kommunikation är en grundläggande faktor som ska komma som en självklarhet inom både projektgruppen och mellan projektgruppen och användarna. Utan kommunikation blir det svårt för projektgruppen att samla in de krav och förväntningar som användarna har. En positiv attityd från främst användarnas sida under införandeprocessen gör det enklare för projektgruppen att driva affärssystemprojektet framåt och motiverar projektgruppen. Korrekt data i affärssystemet är viktigt när användarna börjar använda affärssystemet, Det är viktigt att redan från början skaffa sig ett bra intryck av affärssystemet, vilket kräver att korrekt data ligger i affärssystemet. Stödet från högsta ledningen, som nästan alla forskare identifierar har även identifierats som kritisk i denna studie. Det är viktigt att om projektgruppen består av någon från högsta ledningen, är det viktigt att kunna urskilja sin roll under införandeprocessen, annars kan det ha stor påverkan på införandet av affärssystemet.

Industrial revolutions bring dynamic change to industry through major technological advances (Freeman & Louca, 2002). People and companies must take advantage of industrial revolutions in order to reap its benefits (Bruland & Smith, 2013). Currently, the 4th industrial revolution, industry is transforming advanced manufacturing and engineering capabilities through digital transformation. Company X’s production system was investigated in the research. Detailed evaluation the production process revealed bottlenecks and inefficiency (Melton, 2005). Using the Digital Twin and Discrete Event Factory Simulation, the researcher gathered factory and production input data to simulate the process and provide a system level, holistic view of Company X’s production system to show how factory simulation enables process improvement. The National Academy of Engineering supports Discrete Event Factory Simulation as advancing Personalized Learning through its ability to meet the unique problem solving needs of engineering and manufacturing process through advanced simulation technology (National Academy of Engineering, 2018). The directed project applied two process optimization experiments to the production system through the simulation tool, 3DExperience wiht the DELMIA application from Dassualt Systemes (Dassault, 2018). The experiment resulted in a 10% improvement in production time and a 10% reduction in labor costs due to the optimization