IT and business value - a missing gap: A SME case study

There have been conflicting views on how IT system can deliver sustainable business value. IT in this context refers to structured information management and workflow management. IT has been considered as main tools to improve operational efficiencies in term of cost savings and improved productivity. With the advent of the strategic use of IT in business where IT is expected to contribute to sustainable strategic business value, several approaches can be employed by organisations to realize the business value. Resource Based View (RBV) has been widely used as a framework to guide businesses in their quest for achieving business competitive business value from IT system. Melville et al developed a framework based on RBV theory to identify factors influencing the generation of strategic value from IT system which comprised of three domains: focal firm, competitive environment and macro environment. Focal firms should have IT resources, complementary organizational resources with improved business processes to achieve organizational performance. Two external factors including competitive environment composed of industry characteristics and trading partner resources that firms were operating in and macro factor of country characteristics would shape the IT application and IT business value generation. This study aims to explore the impact of factors identified in Melville's framework during the implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) - a textile manufacturing firm in Vietnam.