The rapid growth of the internet and e-commerce provide new opportunities for China’s retailers, and a new battle for China’s retail industry has begun. The purpose of this research is to explore the barriers and factors for achieving successful e-tailing in China’s retail industry. Some past studies have investigated the success of e-commerce in the western context. This study aims to partially fill the gap created by the lack of research into e-commerce in the Asian context, by investigating successful e-tailing in China’s retail industry, and is based on a case study of the Shanghai Brilliance Group. Therefore, the research question is ‘How can successful e-tailing in China’s retail industry be achieved?’ Accordingly, three research issues are addressed:Research issue 1: How is e-tailing being used in the Shanghai Brilliance Group?Research issue 2: What are the barriers to the implementation of e-tailing in theShanghai Brilliance Group?Research issue 3: What are the factors for achieving successful e-tailing in theShanghai Brilliance Group?To investigate the research question and the three research issues, the following approaches were applied. Firstly, three parent disciplines were reviewed, namely, ecommerce, retail in China, and e-tailing success factors, in order to generate the research gap and a theoretical model. A theoretical model was developed, which included six factors and their variables. These six factors are: senior management factors, organisational factors, e-commerce strategies, external factors, consumer factors, and ecommerce system measurements. Secondly, the primary data for this research were collected from interviews (16 in-depth interviews and 3 focus group interviews) and a survey questionnaire (200 valid questionnaires).The findings for the first research issue showed that e-commerce is poorly implemented in the Shanghai Brilliance Group and its subsidiaries, but that e-commerce in the supermarket subsidiaries is more advanced than in the department stores. Only one department store is offering online shopping to their customers, while both supermarket subsidiaries offer online shopping. The rest of the department stores only use websites for advertising and promotion, or for limited customer service, such as award point checking. Moreover, only the Oriental Shopping Centre and Lian Hua Supermarket have specific teams or an out-sourced company controlling their e-commerce project. This shows that e-commerce is not being taken seriously in the Shanghai Brilliance Group to date.In relation to the second research issue, a total of nineteen barriers were identified from the interview data. Those barriers can be divided into two categories, namely, external barriers and internal barriers. Most of those barriers are consistent with those mentioned in the literature. However, some new barriers emerged from the data analysis process, including the mission of the organisation, and high profit objectives.The findings in relation to research issue 3 identified other important factors of e-tailing, besides those barriers answered in research issue 2. Most of the success factors reviewed in the literature were confirmed by the collected data and in addition, some new variables were explored. Overall, six groups of factors and 64 variables were addressed in this research as success factors for e-tailing. This included 57 out of the 59 variables which were previously mentioned in the literature and seven emergent variables.This research has made a contribution to both the theory and practice of e-tailing.Through qualitative analysis, this research not only identifies the important factors of e-tailing, but also generates a comprehensive model to guide the implementation of e-tailing by China’s retailers, especially the Shanghai Brilliance Group. Furthermore, this is the first study to investigate successful e-tailing in China’s retail industry. Accordingly, the proposed framework of this study provides a foundation for future research.

The rapid growth of the internet and e-commerce provide new opportunities for China’s retailers, and a new battle for China’s retail industry has begun. The purpose of this research is to explore the barriers and factors for achieving successful e-tailing in China’s retail industry. Some past studies have investigated the success of e-commerce in the western context. This study aims to partially fill the gap created by the lack of research into e-commerce in the Asian context, by investigating successful e-tailing in China’s retail industry, and is based on a case study of the Shanghai Brilliance Group. Therefore, the research question is ‘How can successful e-tailing in China’s retail industry be achieved?’ Accordingly, three research issues are addressed:Research issue 1: How is e-tailing being used in the Shanghai Brilliance Group?Research issue 2: What are the barriers to the implementation of e-tailing in theShanghai Brilliance Group?Research issue 3: What are the factors for achieving successful e-tailing in theShanghai Brilliance Group?To investigate the research question and the three research issues, the following approaches were applied. Firstly, three parent disciplines were reviewed, namely, ecommerce, retail in China, and e-tailing success factors, in order to generate the research gap and a theoretical model. A theoretical model was developed, which included six factors and their variables. These six factors are: senior management factors, organisational factors, e-commerce strategies, external factors, consumer factors, and ecommerce system measurements. Secondly, the primary data for this research were collected from interviews (16 in-depth interviews and 3 focus group interviews) and a survey questionnaire (200 valid questionnaires).The findings for the first research issue showed that e-commerce is poorly implemented in the Shanghai Brilliance Group and its subsidiaries, but that e-commerce in the supermarket subsidiaries is more advanced than in the department stores. Only one department store is offering online shopping to their customers, while both supermarket subsidiaries offer online shopping. The rest of the department stores only use websites for advertising and promotion, or for limited customer service, such as award point checking. Moreover, only the Oriental Shopping Centre and Lian Hua Supermarket have specific teams or an out-sourced company controlling their e-commerce project. This shows that e-commerce is not being taken seriously in the Shanghai Brilliance Group to date.In relation to the second research issue, a total of nineteen barriers were identified from the interview data. Those barriers can be divided into two categories, namely, external barriers and internal barriers. Most of those barriers are consistent with those mentioned in the literature. However, some new barriers emerged from the data analysis process, including the mission of the organisation, and high profit objectives.The findings in relation to research issue 3 identified other important factors of e-tailing, besides those barriers answered in research issue 2. Most of the success factors reviewed in the literature were confirmed by the collected data and in addition, some new variables were explored. Overall, six groups of factors and 64 variables were addressed in this research as success factors for e-tailing. This included 57 out of the 59 variables which were previously mentioned in the literature and seven emergent variables.This research has made a contribution to both the theory and practice of e-tailing.Through qualitative analysis, this research not only identifies the important factors of e-tailing, but also generates a comprehensive model to guide the implementation of e-tailing by China’s retailers, especially the Shanghai Brilliance Group. Furthermore, this is the first study to investigate successful e-tailing in China’s retail industry. Accordingly, the proposed framework of this study provides a foundation for future research.

Engineering asset management (EAM) organisations are increasingly motivated to implement business intelligence (BI) systems in response to dispersed information environments and regulatory requirements. However, the implementation of a BI system is a complex undertaking requiring considerable resources. To date, there has been only a limited authoritative set of critical success factors (CSFs) for management reference because the BI market is a relatively new area that has been driven mainly by IT industry and vendors. There is an imperative to explicitly focus on, and rigorously specify, the CSFs that impact on the implementation of BI systems. Consequently, this research seeks to bridge the gap that exists between academia and practitioners. It addresses the challenging problems in implementing BI systems by investigating the CSFs and their associated contextual issues with EAM organisations.

<p>IT outsourcing is a hot topic in today’s demanding environment. Many organizations start to outsource information technology in order to achieve benefits such as cost reduction, improve quality of service, and focus on the core competence. However, IT outsourcing projects are not an easy task to manage and many projects fail even though there exists a lot of research within the area. In order to increase the possibility to achieve project success, today’s literature indicates that trust is an important factor to achieve. This thesis aim is to identify and describe the process of how to achieve trust in IT outsourcing relationships. The methodology is a literature study as its purpose is to cover the aspects of trust and how the literature proposes how to achieve trust in IT outsourcing relationships.</p><p>Relevant literature has been identified, analyzed, and categorized in order to define the thesis concepts and to create a framework based on critical success factors of how to achieve trust in IT outsourcing relationships. The framework can be used as a guiding principle of how organizations can achieve trust in IT outsourcing relationships to increases the possibility to achieve project success. The framework can also raise the awareness that makes it possible to deal with different IT outsourcing situations.</p>

Background: Due to the rapid development of globalization, increased competition has led to significant market changes. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) has been a crucial part of gaining competitive advantage, but implementing an ERP system have shown to be complicated and expensive. Hence, understanding the critical success factors (CSF) when implementing an ERP system is vital as it can provide a successful implementation. Previous research has mainly focused on the general perspective, whereas the user perspective towards the CSFs has been lacking. This thesis complements the research by concentrating on the operational user and their perception towards the importance of each CSF as well as in which implementation phase each CSF is essential.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the CSFs of an ERP implementation from a user perspective and why these are important in different implementation phases.  Method: As this study adopted a qualitative approach, a multiple case study of three case companies was conducted with an inductive research approach. The empirical data have been gathered through semi-structured interviews. A theoretical framework has been used for the literature in this study. The empirical data was then analyzed and compared to the literature. By analyzing the data in a within-case analysis before combining the findings in a cross-case analysis, it enabled the possibility to compare and derive a conclusion covering all case companies.  Conclusion: The results of this thesis shows that users from the case companies believed that more users should be involved in the ERP implementation. Furthermore, two case companies believed each 13 CSFs to be critical in an ERP implementation, whereas one case company believed 12 CSFs to be important. Where the CSFs ‘minimum customization', ‘education and training,' ‘technical possibilities' and ‘performance measurement' were perceived to be essential in this study compared to previous research when users did not perceive these CSFs as important. Lastly, a first attempt at grouping the CSF with the phases of an ERP implementation was made. The findings from the cross-case analysis revealed that there is a shared perception across some of the companies of why the CSFs are essential concerning the specific phases.

A escolha da Tecnologia da Informação (TI) certa, e a cuidadosa implementação dos projetos de TI, podem significar o sucesso ou fracasso das organizações, no ambiente conturbado em que as mesmas estão inseridas atualmente. Este trabalho, de caráter exploratório, objetivou identificar os Fatores Críticos de Sucesso para a implementação de uma metodologia formal de projetos de sistemas, na Dimed S/A. Além disso, procurou identificar se os respondentes identificam valor estratégico nesta implementação – considerando as dificuldades existentes em obter retornos satisfatórios com a TI – e também os motivos que levaram a organização a adotar esta metodologia. A análise realizada teve uma parte quantitativa – através de pesquisa survey – e outra parte qualitativa – identificação de categorias através de Análise de Conteúdo. Os Fatores Críticos de Sucesso identificados, em ordem de importância foram o apoio da alta administração (que considera em função de prazos, recursos e urgência se a utilização do método formal está adequado e também tem papel fundamental nas mudanças organizacionais), possibilitar mudanças nos processos de negócio (já que as mesmas são constantes e muito rápidas), gerente de projeto com habilidades necessárias (deve aliar conhecimento a capacidades como liderança, boa comunicação e bom relacionamento), usuários capazes e envolvidos (pois os mesmos conhecem o negócio, e são os principais afetados pelas mudanças nos processos). Além destes fatores destacados, são importantes o planejamento detalhado do projeto e ter missões claras e definidas. O valor estratégico da implementação da metodologia está ligado principalmente ao prazo dos projetos e qualidade dos produtos, à economia direta e à estratégia de negócio, devido à possibilidade de filtrar projetos com pobre relação de custo-benefício, prever melhor os prazos, e diminuir o retrabalho. Os motivos que levaram à adoção da metodologia foram a necessidade de reduzir a ineficiência da área de TI e os altos custos relacionados ao desenvolvimento de software. Finalmente, alguns destes elementos foram ilustrados na análise de um caso prático. / The choice of the right Information Technology (IT), and the careful implementation of IT projects, might lead to the success or failure of organizations, taking in account the instability that surrounds the organizational environment. This work, of exploratory nature, aims to identify Critical Success Factors for the implementation of a formal methodology for system projects, in Dimed S/A. It aims also at identifying if respondents at Dimed find strategic value in this implementation – considering the difficulties of obtaining return in IT investments – and the motives that led to the adoption of the methodology. The analisys carried out had a quantitative approach – a survey research – and a qualitative approach – categorization and Content Analisys. The Critical Success Factors identified, in order of importance, where high administration support (which considers if resources and urgency are adequate to the use of the formal method and has a fundamental role in organizational change), enabling changes in business processes (these changes seem to be constant and fast), properly skilled project manager (besides knowledge, this person must have adequate communication, leadership and relational skills), capable and involved users (users know the business rules, and the changes affect them). In addition to these factors, the detailed project planning and clearly defined missions are also important. The strategic value of the implementation is mainly related to the schedule and quality of projects, cost reduction and business strategy, through filtering projects with poor cost-benefit relation, better prediction of project schedules and decrease of rework. The motives that led to the adoption of the methodology where the need to reduce IT inefficiency and the high costs related to the processes of systems development. Finally, some of these elements were illustrated in the analisys of a practical case.

The medical technology sector in Germany is considered an innovative, fast-growing and promising industry, being third behind the USA and Japan as the biggest market in the world, worth 17.1 billion euros. Consequently, supply chain success is of high importance. This research identified the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for Original Equipment Manufacturers that are involved within medical technology supply chains in Germany. This thesis begins with a full literature review on Supply Chain Management (SCM) in the medical technology sector and presents the current state of academic discussion on CSFs in this context. The literary analysis identified that most academic research focuses on developing theory based on supply chains of the manufacturing sector with the consumer market as their primary concern, with limited insights into Medical Technology Supply Chains (MTSCs). This was a main driver for the exploration of the drivers and barriers extant in this sector. Two studies were designed to address the identified research gaps. The first study was a qualitative research using multiple case studies and was divided in two phases. Phase A involved 15 German manufacturers of medical technology products and focused on identifying the CSFs in this sector. Phase B involved 14 German manufacturers and uncovered issues and weaknesses of their current SCM strategies by means of an assessment tool developed specially for this study. The second study consisted of an action research project, using interviews and participative workshops to develop an understanding on how organisations in this sector can improve operations using the CSFs concept while offering insights into the actual implementation of SCM strategies and the behavioural aspects of change management in this context. The findings extend theory and provide insights into real-world practitioner challenges and priorities. The outcomes of this study propose that the prioritised combination of the identified CSFs leads to better performance of OEMs in the German MTSC sector, which shifts our understanding of how practitioners prioritise CSFs. Furthermore, this thesis addresses the qualitative knowledge gap around the relational aspects of implementing SCM practices within this sector, while exploring relationships between stakeholders during the process of introducing these changes. These findings challenge existing generic assumptions about supply chain CSFs, as well as adding to SCM, CSF, and medical technology research and knowledge.

Abstract Swedish start-ups seem to efficiently develop new products and services but less successful when it comes to taking them to the market and launching them globally. This research aims to address this gap through investigating Swedish start-ups. In light of this problem, the author argues that there is a need for increasing knowledge regarding the financial success factors and challenges facing Swedish start-ups in the go-to-market phase. The research question is thus: What are the significant challenges and success factors affecting the financing of Swedish start-ups during the go-to-market phase? Four major challenges facing start-ups during the go-to-market phase are identified. These are lack ofsufficient capital,lack of support from the banking sector, lack of support from the regional public leveland, finally, regulations and legal issues. On the other hand, four success factors have been identified, which are support from private investors, shared financial private/public risk, efficient internal operationsand non-traditional financing methods. In order to facilitate the go-to-market financing, it is recommended that start-ups be established in a business incubator environment in order to have access to investor networks and other financial support. Besides, having investors with financial experience in the start-up boards increases the chances of success in the go-to-market phase. The banking sector in Sweden should also play a bigger role in the strategic issues in order to accelerate the start-up’s growth. For further studies, more knowledge regarding the underlying motivations of private capitalists, public funders and loan lenders is desirable. Furthermore, the business incubator’s role in facilitating the financing of start-ups and understanding how start-ups in different sectors should act to increase the rate of success are two important areas for future studies.  Keywords: start-ups, go-to-market, financing, growth, early growth, success factors

Background: Higher global competition and more demanding customers force manufacturing companies to develop and adopt new collaborative strategies; the collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment concept allows stronger supply chain cooperation, cost saving, improved efficiency and performance. Purpose: Exploratory, to study the criticality of factors that can affect the feasibility of a potential a CPFR implementation in Sweden, from the perspective of a manufacturer in a pre-CPFR implementation stage.Method: Qualitative research, using a multiple case method of two manufacturing firms operating in Sweden. Using content analysis, it revolves around studying factor criticality, all the while showing differences and commonalities in terms capabilities, and future feasibility of CPFR between the two case studies. Findings: High degree of interconnectivity between the factors; the critical success factors for Sweden are relationship and trust, goal alignment, KPI’s and costs, with very important factors such as cross-functional communication, top management support, and lower impacting factors such as IT infrastructure and change management. Relationship and trust, cross-functional communication and change management are developed factors that the Swedish manufacturing firms possess. Implications: The study’s contributions are related to the criticality of factors that can affect CPFR implementations in Sweden’s manufacturing sector, showing the importance of each, contributing academically in attempting to fill in the gap related to CPFR in Sweden, and practically by allowing better strategic decision-making in relation to future implementations. This is even more relevant due to a thorough lack of research in this area.

The entrepreneur as an economic agent is highlighted as being important by several researchers, mainly through their contribution to innovation and economic development. Yet there is no universal definition of what is characterized as being an entrepreneur. The elements affecting success of entrepreneurs has previously not been outlined extensively, the aim of this study is therefore to determine the factors of entrepreneurial success in Sweden. This is made possible by adopting a statistical prosopography and reproducing the method used by Nuvolari, Toninelli &amp; Vasta (2015). The method involves collecting qualitative information found in the Dictionary of Swedish National Biography and from a list of the most prominent entrepreneurs in Sweden, published by the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. The qualitative information is then rewritten into quantitative data, which enables the use of factor analysis along with ordinary least square regressions. The standardized research allows for comparison of other studies involving entrepreneurs active in different countries. In addition, the model is expanded using a cluster analysis, allowing for identifying structures and patterns within the sample of entrepreneurs. The study concludes that entrepreneurial success appears to be a multi-dimensional phenomenon, also shown in other case studies adopting similar method. The level of innovation intensity proves to enhance success of all dimensions. While an entrepreneur’s educational level is shown to have a positive relationship with the economic success, it appeared to be negatively related to the aspect of social mobility. Moreover, involvement in politics is also shown to have a negative impact on economic success. Finally, the cluster analysis proved the existence of six different types of entrepreneurs within the sample.