Chapter 1

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background for Zimbabwe Revenue Authority.

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority came into existence in June 2001. The authority came
from the merger of the Department of Taxes and Department of Customs and Excise. The
main reason for the merger was to improve on collection efficiency of government
revenues. The authority is empowered to conduct its duties in terms of Section 4 of the
Revenue Authority Act (Chapter 23:11).

The Authority is therefore a quasi- government institution commonly known as a

parastatal. The authority was given autonomy by government in its operations so as to
attract and retain skilled workforce from the private sector. Its workforce is therefore a
blend between those that were formerly civil servants and some from the private sector.
The thrust of this initiation was to promote a culture of hard work which is mostly
attributed to the private sector.

The authority is virtually a monopoly which is solely into collection of revenues. It is

therefore a non profit making organisation but is mandated to collect revenues at the
lowest possible costs. It is tasked to minimize revenue leakages by promoting a culture of
voluntary compliance to its customers. Its other roles include activities such as
facilitating movement of traffic at border posts, travelling public and transit consignments
among others. This is a free service delivery. No charges are levied to the public directly
for the services rendered. The organisation is therefore into services provision to the
public. The government is the principal shareholder with main objectives of getting as
much revenue from Zimbabwe Revenue Authority collections at a lowest possible cost.
The public are also critical stakeholders as they are the tax payers and expect excellent
service delivery from Zimbabwe Revenue Authority staff.

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The Authority is mandated with collection of all forms of inland taxes. It also facilitates
travel of goods and people through ports of entry and exit. To that end, it facilitates trade
as most goods pass through Zimbabwe Revenue Authority scrutiny. The organization is
also required to formulate policies on taxation, regional trade agreements such as
Southern Development Community (SADC) and Common Market for East and Southern
Africa (COMESA) among others.

Revenues is collected in two ways, namely directly and indirectly. Direct collection arises
when taxpayers come on their own volition and make payments of their dues to
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority. Indirect collection occurs when Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority officials do audit a firm and finds it owing taxes. This function is mostly done
by the technical staff in the audit, investigations and loss control sections. The ports of
entry and exit do clear passengers and goods (exports and imports). Revenue collection at
such points is not significant but most of the work is provision of services to the
travelling public.

Since the inception of Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, the organization has tried in many
instances to improve efficiency on its operations. The authority has installed
companywide communication system namely Systems Applications Programme (SAP) in
January 2004. Most ports were also installed with Automated System for Customs Data
(Asycuda) which is supported by a wide area network system. The organisation did invest
also in information technology by computerising most of the processes in operations.
Training on staff in various issues of operations has been done. The thrust of the
organisation is to move more into auditing and investigations on taxation issues.
Currently 30 percent of the workforce is doing this role, but the organisation is moving to
an ideal proportion of 75 percent of its technical staff carrying this function. These roles
require a flow of information from within and outside of ZIMRA to yield efficacy results.

The organisation has not lived to the expectation of its principal shareholders. Firstly the
operations have been characterised by long queues at ports of entry and exit and during
peak hours in cash offices. This is a symptom of inefficiency. Processing of taxpayers

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assessments and value added tax refunds are taking longer to the detriment of the clients.
The audit sections, investigations sections have been receiving complaints from the
corporate world for duplicating roles to the inconvenience of the clients. Issue of high
staff turnover has also affected the quality of service delivery by members of staff.

The vision of the organisation is to provide a first class service and be a leader in
facilitation of trade, economic development and revenue generation in the region and
beyond , through the efforts of professional and dedicated staff. There is therefore a gap
between what is on the ground and where the organisation intends to be.

1.2 Problem Statement

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority operations are characterised by inefficiency which is

evidenced by poor service delivery. Service delivery has been characterized by long
queues at service points to customers, provision of insufficient critical information to key
customers and poor flow of information within the organisation. This is irregardless of
the fact that the authority has invested heavily in information systems by introducing
System Application Programme (SAP) software to change the operations drastically.

1.3 The major objectives of the research are:

 To investigate ways in which an Enterprise Application System can be used to

dramatically improve operations.
 To determine how a service organisation can attain competitive advantage by use of
the Enterprise Application system.
 To investigate ways in which continuous improvement in service delivery can be
achieved by use of information systems.

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 To ascertain how the environment which promotes Business Process Reengineering
can be created.

1.4 Research Proposition

An introduction of an Enterprise Application System will effect Business Process

Reengineering within an organisation.

1.5 Research Justification (Rationale)

The Zimbabwean parastatals have been marred by underperformance and low utility
of resources. In some cases, these quasi government institutions have had resources
but failing to gain competitive advantage and where they are monopoly the firms
have offered a sluggish performance.

Zimbabwe has been of late characterised by massive foreign currency shortages

which has resulted in capitulating efforts to use modern enterprise systems. It is
against this background that Zimbabwe Revenue Authority intensively mobilised dear
resources to employ an enterprise application system to drastically improve its
operations. The thrust was to improve internal operations and this would result in
excellent service delivery to both external and internal clients.

Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, a service organisation has ventured in to use of

modern trends in information systems so as to improve on its service delivery. The
research therefore seeks to establish whether the introduction of an enterprise
application system will result in business process reengineering. No research has been
carried out in Zimbabwe to find the link between the two. The research will therefore
narrow the knowledge gap. It would be helpful to organisations especially those that

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 are in the service industry that may want to use enterprise systems in their operations.
The research is therefore not confined to government institutions but is applicable to
any service firm that may want to utilise an enterprise system in its operations.

1.6 Research Questions.

1. How relevant is an enterprise application system to a service organisation?

2. What are the critical success factors that are required for an enterprise
application system to achieve dramatic results?
3. How efficient are the service operations being done by Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority.?
4. How adequate are the resources in Zimbabwe Revenue Authority for use of
enterprise application system?
5. What is the extent of usage of the existing enterprise application system?
6. How can the enterprise application system be used to gain competitive
Advantage?
7. What is the role of personnel in effecting business process reengineering?
8. What is the role of information technology in effecting business process
reengineering?

1.7 Scope of Research

The research seeks to analyse whether links between an Enterprise Application System
with Business Process Reengineering do exist. The research will evaluate the service
provision performance of Zimbabwe Revenue Authority with main aim of finding out
how its enterprise application system can be used to effect business process reengineering
to attain competitive advantage. The thrust would be how the different activities

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dispersed across the country in Zimbabwe Revenue Authority can be done with view of
increasing value addition at each level of operation.

2.0 Literature Review

2.1 An Introduction to Literature Review

Enterprise Application System (EAS) software is defined by (Laudon and Laudon

2003:55) as a firm wide information system that integrates key business processes
so that information can flow freely between different parts of the firm. It is also
known as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and is used to provide firm
wide integration. According to (O’Brian, 2002), an enterprise system involves use
of groupware tools to support communication, coordination and collaboration
among the members of networked teams and workgroups.

Enterprise Application Systems do offer a variety of application services such as,

filling an order scheduling a shipment, with the goal of eliminating complex and
expensive links between computer systems in many areas of businesses. This will
in turn produce a seamless flow of information which can be shared in a business
process. It cuts across processes such as in manufacturing, accounting, human
resources and other areas of the firm ( Laudon and Laudon , 2003). EAS software
is an intergrated package composed of standard functional modules
( production ,sales ,human resources , manufacturing etc) , developed by the
vendor , that can be adapted to the specific needs of each customer ( Sousa and
Pastor-Collado ,2000). They are computer based systems designed to process an
organisation’s transactions and facilitate integrated and real time planning ,
production , and customer response ( Lian ,2001).

Furthermore, O’Brien (2002) asserts that companies are installing EAS as a vital
conceptual foundation for reengineering their business processes as the software

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coordinate business cross-functional processes. This results in two major benefits
which are
1. EAS software creates vital cross-functional information quickly on
business performance to managers to significantly improve their ability to
make timely business decisions across the enterprise.
2. EAS gives a framework for integrating and improving a company’s back-
office systems that results in dramatic improvements in customer service,
production, and distribution efficiency.

According to Gartner (2000), SAP, a German company has been a leading player
in provision of EAS software for 25 years. It has been successfully been adopted
by firms such as Colgate Palmolive and Nortel. Other leading players in provision
of EAS are Oracle Corporation. It produces software that is mostly inclined to
manufacturing, production and human resources. General Electric, one of the
leading firms in the US adopted this system.

Other vendors such as PeopleSoft have software that offers human resources and
payroll application for client and server technologies. Its main thrust is focusing on
people. Its products are renowned among the easiest to use. The US treasury for
instance does use PeopleSoft software (Gartner, 2000). Baan Corporation
specialises in EAS software that has main thrust in supporting multi-national
manufacturing operations.

Gartner (2000) , notes that in most cases , the best EAS to use is influenced by the
nature of the business of the organisation .If an organisation’s main thrust is
financial , Oracle would be best , if it manufacturing , SAP or Baan would be ideal
and for people oriented organisations, PeopleSoft would be best.

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2.1.1 What is a system?

(Shapiro, Carl and Hal Varian, 1999) defines an information system as a group of
interrelated or interacting elements forming a unified whole. It is a group of
interrelated components working together toward a common goal by accepting
inputs and producing outputs in an organised transformation process. A set of
processes forms a business system.

2.1.2 What is Information Systems?

Information systems are “systems that use information technology to capture,

transmit, store, retrieve, manipulate, or display information used in one or more
business processes (Alter, 1996:2)”. . According to (O’Brian 2002:7) , “an
information system can be any organized combination of people, hardware ,
software , communications networks , and data resources that collects ,
transforms , and disseminates information in an organisation ”, however (Laudon
and Laudon ,2003 ) summarises an information systems as a set of interrelated
components that collect information and disseminate it for support in decision
making , coordination and control in an organisation.

An EAS forms part of information systems. Information systems supports different

levels of information needs as summarised in Figure 2.1 below

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Figure 2.1 Adopted from O’Brian 2003:20.

2.3.0 Benefits of Enterprise Systems.

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An enterprise system collects data from various key business processes and stores
the data in a single comprehensive data repository where they can be used by other
business parts ( Palaniswamy and Tyler, 2000) . Managers emerge with more
precise and timely information for coordinating the daily operations of the
business and a firm wide view of business process and information flows.

Business Processes Supported by Enterprise Systems

Manufacturing processes
Financial accounting
processes
Sales and marketing
processes
Human Resources Processes
Inventory management, purchasing, shipping,
production planning, material requirements planning
and plant equipment maintenance
Accounts payable, accounts receivable, cash
management, and forecasting, product cost
accounting, cost centre accounting, asset accounting,
general ledger and financial reporting.
Order processing, pricing, shipping, billing, sales
management and sales planning.
Personnel administration, time accounting, payroll,
personnel planning and development, benefits
accounting, applicant tracking and travel expense.

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Table 2.2 Adopted from ( Laudon and Laudon , 2003)

Enterprise Systems affect greatly four dimensions of business namely, firm

structure, management process, technology platform and business capability
(Stein, 1999). He goes on to explain the dimensions in detail as follows:

1. Firm Structure and organization: Enterprise systems can be used to

support organizational structures that were not previously possible, such as
integrating the corporation across geographic or business unit boundaries so as to
create an organizational culture in which everyone uses similar processes and
information. This enables an enterprise – enabled organisation to do business in
the same way world wide with functional boundaries deemphasised in favour of
cross- functional coordination and information flowing freely across business
functions.
2. Management: Firm wide Knowledge-based Management Processes. It
improves management reporting and decision making. Information supplied by an
enterprise system is structured around cross- functional business process and can
be obtained rapidly. An example is when an enterprise helps management to
easily determine which products are more or least profitable. It thus supplies
management with better data about business processes and overall organisational
performance ( Finchman and Scott ,1999).

3. Technology: Unified Platform: It provides firms with a single, unified,

and all-encompassing information system technology platform and environment.
Enterprise systems can create a single, integrated repository that gathers data on
all key business processes. The data have common, standardised definitions and
formats that are accepted by the entire organisation (Roche, 1992).

4. Businesses: More Efficient Operations and Customer-driven Businesses

Processes. Enterprise Systems can integrate key discrete business processes such

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 as sales, production, finance and logistics such that the entire organization can
efficiently respond to customer requests or information. Manufacturing can use
the data to produce only what the customers have ordered, to procure exactly the
amount of components to fill orders, stage production and to minimise the time
finished products are in inventory (Stein, 1999).

2.3.1 Challenges of Enterprise Systems

Enterprise systems can help improve organisational coordination, efficiency

and decision making, but they have proven difficulty to build. They do not
only require large technological investments but also fundamental changes in
the way business operates (O’Brian, 2003). Employees need take on new job
functions and responsibilities. Enterprise systems require complex piece of
software and large investments of time, money, and expertise. Enterprise
systems raise serious challenges for firms: a daunting implementation process,
surviving a cost/ benefit analysis, inflexibility and realising strategic value.

1. Daunting Implementation. Enterprise systems bring dramatic changes to

business, technological changes and fundamental changes in the way a business
operates. This means that firms implementing enterprise systems have to come
up with definitions for data, retrain employees, and redesign their fundamental
business processes. Failure to understand such challenges will result in
organisations having problems in implementing enterprise systems or they may
not achieve a higher level of functional and business process integration. For
large companies, it may take three to five years to fully implement all of the
organisational and technology changes required by an enterprise system (Earl et
al, 1995).

2. High up –Front Costs and future benefits: The costs of enterprise systems
are large, upfront highly visible. Though costs are obvious, the benefits often

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 can not be precisely quantified at the beginning of the enterprise project.
Benefits often accrue to employees using the system after it is completed and
gaining the knowledge of business operations heretofore impossible to learn
(Davenport, 2000).

3. Inflexibility: The software for enterprise application system tends to be

difficult and complex to master. They are a worldwide shortage in people with
expertise to install and maintain it. If companies need to make major changes
the software, the entire system will have to be changed. Since enterprise
systems are integrated, it is difficult to make a change in one section without
affecting the other. Over time, it is possible to bind firms to outdated business
process and systems (Laudon and Laudon 2003).
4. Realising Strategic Value. Companies may fail to achieve strategic benefits
from enterprise systems if integrating business processes by the enterprise
software prevents the firm from using unique business processes that have been
sources of advantage of competitors. This applies if the enterprise is not
compatible with the way the company does business, the company may lose a
better way of performing a key business process that may be related to its
competitive advantage. Enterprise systems promote centralised organisational
coordination and decision making, which may not be the best way for firms to
operate (Davenport, 2000).

2.3.2 Business Process Reengineering.

(O’Brian 2002:59) defines BPR as a “fundamental rethinking and radical redesign

of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in cost, quality, speed,
and service”. The definition concurs with (Groover et al, 1995) who affirm that
BPR is the critical analysis and radical redesign of existing business processes to

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achieve breakthrough improvements in performance measures. Such performance
improvements are frequently achieved through an adoption of downsized,
client/server computing infrastructures running groupware applications
(Barnatt, 1996).

BPR is often used by companies on the brink of disaster to cut costs and return to
profitability (Fryer, 1994). He adds on to say the danger is that during this process
the company may slash its capacity for future growth. Its potential payback is
high, so is its risk of failure and level of disruption to the organisational
environment.

2.3.3 What is a Business Process?

Davenport & Short (1990) define business process as a set of logically related
tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome. A process is a structured,
measured set of activities designed to produce a specified output for a particular
customer or market. It implies a strong emphasis on how work is done within an
organization (Davenport 1993). Business processes have two important
characteristics: (i) They have customers (internal or external), (ii) They cross
organizational boundaries, that is., they occur across or between organizational
subunits.

2.3.4 The Reengineering Concept.

The concept of reengineering traces its origins back to management theories

developed as early as the nineteenth century. The purpose of reengineering is to
"make all your processes the best-in-class." Frederick Taylor suggested in the
1880's that managers could discover the best processes for performing work and
reengineer them to optimize productivity. BPR echoes the classical belief that
there is one best way to conduct tasks. In Taylor's time, technology did not allow

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large companies to design processes in a cross- functional or cross-departmental
manner. Specialization was the state-of-the-art method to improve efficiency given
the technology of the time (Lloyd et al, 1994).

In the early 1900's, Henri Fayol originated the concept of reengineering: "To
conduct the undertaking toward its objectives by seeking to derive optimum
advantage from all available resources (Lloyd et al, 1994)." Although the
technological resources of our era have changed, the concept still holds. Other
views by other business engineers’ states that, it is not enough to hold people
accountable for certain activities, it is also essential to delegate to them the
necessary authority to discharge that responsibility (Lloyd et al, 1994). This
admonition foreshadows the idea of worker empowerment which is central to
reengineering.

According to (Davenport, 1995),"classical reengineering" repeats the same

mistakes as the classical approach to management by separating the design of
work from its execution. Typically, a small reengineering team, often from outside
the company, designs work for the many. The team is fuelled by assumptions such
as there is one best way to organize work; I can easily understand how you do
your work today; I can design your work better than you can; There is little about
your work now that is worth saving; You will do your work the way I specify
(Chew ,1994). Davenport suggests that the engineering model and analogy that
BPR is based upon is flawed, both in terms of process design and information
technology. He proposes an "ethnographic" approach to process design and an
"ecological" approach to information systems.

To reap lasting benefits, companies must be willing to examine how strategy and
reengineering complement each other -- by learning to quantify strategy (in terms
of cost, milestones, timetables); by accepting ownership of the strategy throughout
the organization; by assessing the organizations current capabilities and processes
realistically; and by linking strategy to the budgeting process. Otherwise BPR is
only a short term efficiency exercise (Berman, 1994).

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Many articles point out that BPR must have the full support of top management to
succeed. If resistance is encountered, the leader must be willing to "drive" change,
even to the point of ruthlessness. A leader of BPR ought to have following
qualities; Relentless adherence to what is right; Courage -- moral as well as
physical; Recognition that surface appearance is often an illusion; A dogged
determination to get at the deeper truth (Furey et al, 1993). Managers in a
company undergoing reorganization must work to quell the fears of employees and
resistance to change (despite the fact that they may have their own apprehensions).

Reengineering advocates urge management to pull out all the stops and implement
change on a grand scale. Managers in the organizations after reengineering are
compared to coaches. They do not order; they guide. They do not direct the work
of others; they coordinate, facilitate and empower (Cone, 1994).

For information and responsibility to move down to the local level, then the key
question is how can you be sure that people will behave appropriately? You need
to make sure that everyone is playing by the same rule book (Brown, 1994).
Although companies which are seeking to reengineer may work on revamping the
performance appraisal system to support new values, this can be problematic.
When bonuses are linked to profits or even the performance of a team, this may
lead to a situation where the individual is judged on factors beyond his or her
control.

2.3.5 What is the Relation between BPR and Information

Technology?

Hammer (1990) considers information technology (IT) as the key enabler of BPR,
which he considers as "radical change." He prescribes the use of IT to challenge
the assumptions inherent in the work processes that have existed since long before
the advent of modern computer and communications technology. He argues that at
the heart of reengineering is the notion of "discontinuous thinking -- or
recognizing and breaking away from the outdated rules and fundamental

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assumptions underlying operations... These rules of work design are based on
assumptions about technology, people, and organizational goals that no longer
hold." He suggests the following "principles of reengineering": (a) Organise
around outcomes, not tasks; (b) Have those who use the output of the process
perform the process; (c) Subsume information processing work into the real work
that produces the information; (d) Treat geographically dispersed resources as
though they were centralised; (e) Link parallel activities instead of integrating their
results; (f) Put the decision point where the work is performed, and build control
into the process; and (g) Capture information once and at the source. It should be
noted that simply computerising existing processes does not constitute
reengineering; it is the process itself - that needs to be rethought from the ground
up, to be supported by a novel IT application (Hammer and Champy, 1993).

Davenport and Short (1990) argue that BPR requires taking a broader view of both
IT and business activity, and of the relationships between them. IT should be
viewed as more than an automating or mechanizing force: to fundamentally
reshape the way business is done.

Business activities should be viewed as more than a collection of individual or

even functional tasks: in a process view for maximizing effectiveness. IT and BPR
have recursive relationship. IT capabilities should support business processes, and
business processes should be in terms of the capabilities IT can provide.
Davenport and Short (1990) refer to this broadened, recursive view of IT and BPR
as the new industrial engineering.

2.3.6 Why BPR Projects Fail? What can be done about it?

Challenges of innovation and implementation often result in high failure rate

among enterprise system and business process reengineering (BPR) projects. The
cause may be a requirement for extensive organisational change and may require
replacing old technologies and legacy systems that are deeply rooted in many
interrelated business processes (Lloyd, Dewar and Pooley, 1999). Studies have

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shown that 70% of the BPR projects fail to deliver promised benefits. A high
percentage of enterprise resource planning projects fail to be fully implemented or
meet the goals of their users even after three years of work (Gillooly, 1998).

Many enterprise system and reengineering projects have been undermined by poor
implementation and change management practices that failed to address
employees concerns about change. Dealing with fear and anxiety throughout the
organization, overcoming resistance by key managers , changing job functions ,
career paths , and recruitment practices and training have posed greater threats to
reengineering than the difficulties companies faced visualizing and designing
breakthrough changes to business processes ( Laudon and Laudon,2003). It is also
cited that an enterprise system creates a number of synergies to eliminate
redundant activities and to make better management decisions. Employees are
often unprepared for new procedures and roles (Davenport, 1998, 2000).

Biggest obstacles that reengineering faces are: (i) Lack of sustained management
commitment and leadership; (ii) Unrealistic scope and expectations; and (iii)
Resistance to Change.

Based on the BPR consultants' interviews, ( Bashein et al,1994) outline the

positive preconditions for BPR success as: Senior Management Commitment and
Sponsorship; Realistic Expectations; Empowered and Collaborative Workers;
Strategic Context of Growth and Expansion; Shared Vision; Sound Management
Practices; Appropriate People Participating Full-Time and Sufficient Budget. They
also identify negative preconditions related to BPR as: The Wrong Sponsor; a "Do
It to Me" Attitude; Cost-Cutting Focus; and, Narrow Technical Focus. The
negative preconditions relating to the Organization include: Unsound Financial
Condition; Too Many Projects Under Way; Fear and Lack of Optimism among
other reasons.

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King (1994) views the primary reason of BPR failure as overemphasis on the
tactical aspects and the strategic dimensions being compromised. He notes that
most failures of reengineering are attributable to the process being viewed and
applied at tactical, rather than strategic, levels. He discusses that there are
important strategic dimensions to BPR, notably, Developing and Prioritising
Objectives; Defining the Process Structure and Assumptions; Identifying Trade-
Offs Between Processes; Identifying New Product and Market Opportunities;
Coordinating the Reengineering Effort; and, Developing a Human Resources
Strategy. He concludes that the ultimate success of BPR depends on the people
who do it and on how well they can be motivated to be creative and to apply their
detailed knowledge to the redesign of business processes (Davenport and Stoddard
1994, Markus et al. 1994).

2.3.7 Reengineering Recommendations

 BPR must be accompanied by strategic planning, which addresses
leveraging IT as a competitive tool.
 Place the customer at the centre of the reengineering effort -- concentrate
on reengineering fragmented processes that lead to delays or other negative
impacts on customer service.
 BPR must be "owned" throughout the organization, not driven by a group
of outside consultants.
 Case teams must be comprised of both managers as well as those will
actually do the work.

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  The IT group should be an integral part of the reengineering team from the
start.
 Top executives, who are not about to leave or retire, must sponsor BPR.
 BPR projects must have a timetable, ideally between three to six months,
so that the organization is not in a state of "limbo" (King, 1994).

2.4.0 Value Chain Analysis - Role of an Enterprise system

The value chain describes the full range of activities which are required to bring a
product or service from conception, through the different phases of production (involving
a combination of physical transformation and the input of various producer services),
delivery to final customers, and final disposal after use (Kaplinsky and Morris, 2000). It
is also defined as a systematic approach to examining the development of competitive
advantage (Porter, 1985). The value chain analysis describes the activities the
organization performs and links them to the organizations competitive position.

Value chain analysis describes the activities within and around an organization, and
relates them to an analysis of the competitive strength of the organization. Therefore, it
evaluates which value each particular activity adds to the organizations products or
services. This idea was built upon the insight that an organization is more than a random
compilation of machinery, equipment, people and money. Only if these things are
arranged into systems and systematic activates it will become possible to produce
something for which customers are willing to pay a price (Porter and Millar,1985). Porter
argues that the ability to perform particular activities and to manage the linkages between
these activities is a source of competitive advantage. (Alter, 1996) affirms this view by
asserting that the value chain should be related to the way the firm provides value for its
customers.

Porter distinguishes between primary activities and support activities. Primary activities
are directly concerned with the creation or delivery of a product or service. They can be

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grouped into five main areas: inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing
and sales, and service. Each of these primary activities is linked to support activities,
which help to improve their effectiveness or efficiency. There are four main areas of
support activities: procurement, technology development, human resource management,
and infrastructure (systems for planning, finance, quality, information management etc.).

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Figure 2.2 Adopted from Porter 1985 ‘Creating Competitive Advantage”

The term ‚Margin’ implies that organizations realize a profit margin that depends on their
ability to manage the linkages between all activities in the value chain. In other words,
the organization is able to deliver a product or service for which the customer is willing
to pay more than the sum of the costs of all activities in the value chain.

Information technology need be employed in a strategic capacity to create competitive

advantage (Barnatt, 1996). The more a firm adds value at each stage the more
competitive a firm’s resultant products and services are likely to be (Porter, 1985).
Furthermore if a firm can add value at any stage that cannot be added by its competitors,
then it is likely to attain significant competitive advantage. Using the value chain

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analysis, significance of particular technologies (including enterprise systems software)
in attainment of competitive advantage may be highlighted, as Porter noted:
A firm, as a collection of activities, is a collection of technologies. Technology is
embodied in every activity in a firm, and technological change can affect competition
through its impact on virtually any activity……… [as]…… every value activity uses some
technology to combine purchased inputs and human resources to produce some output
(Porter, 1985:166).The firm is therefore able to derive a profit from the way it links its
activities. The margin of profit would be determined by all links within the value chain
(Porter and Millar, 1985).

2.4.1 Technology and Competitive Strategy.

Porter’s generic strategies are used to classifying competitive strategies, which are:
industry wide differentiation, focused differentiation; industry wide cost leadership and
focused cost leadership (Burgleman et al, 2004). Companies pursuing industry wide
differentiation seek sustainable competitive advantage in a broad range of industry
segments through offering products or services that are better in terms of quality,
performance, features, delivery, and support and so on. Firms pursuing focused
differentiation, attempt to achieve similar sustainable advantage in a narrow set of
industry segments. Customers will be willing to pay a premium for such services.
Companies seeking to be cost leaders, seek to achieve this by offering lower priced prices
for products and services. Focused cost leadership is attained in a narrow industry
segments to be viable, a company’s cost leadership strategy must be based on possessing
a lower delivered cost infrastructure (Porter, 1983).

Nortel Networks Corporation introduced the SAP software to achieve lower prices so as
to become a cost leader in its industry. It managed to increase sales by making 10 000
new deliveries per day to customers (O’Brien, 2002). Delivery costs were greatly reduced
as the system was linked to its key distribution channels.

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2.5.0 Understanding Role of Enterprise Systems using, The Mckinsey -7 S
Framework.

Figure 2.3 Adopted from www.bptrends

McKinsey & Co's 7S framework provides a useful framework for analysing the strategic
attributes of an organisation. The McKinsey Consulting Firm identified strategy as only
one of seven elements exhibited by the best-managed companies.

Strategy, structure and systems can be considered the "hardware" of success whilst style,
staff, skills and shared values can be seen as the "software”. Companies, in which these
soft elements are present, are usually more successful at the implementation of strategy.

24
The seven critical aspects of an organization are as follows:

• Strategy: The central integrated concept of how to achieve the firm’s objectives. The
essence of strategy is choosing a set of core business activities to create value for the
customers, and performing those business activities in the most optimal manner.
• Structure: The ways in which people are organized, tasks are coordinated, and
authority is distributed within the organisation structures.
• Systems: This includes (a) IT systems to support internal business processes (b)
Performance measurement and reward systems to manage human capital (c) Knowledge
management systems to disseminate best practices (d) Other planning, budgeting and
resource allocation systems. The decision-making systems within the organisation can
range from management intuition, to structured computer systems to complex expert
systems and artificial intelligence. This is an enterprise system supported by computer
systems with functions in operations, and human resources among other functions.
• Style: The leadership approach of top management and the organization's overall
operating approach; also, the way in which the organization's employees present
themselves to the outside world, to suppliers and customers.
• Skills: What an agency does best, its distinctive capabilities and competencies that
reside in the firms’ staff.
• Staff: The organisation's human resources; refers to how people are developed, trained,
socialized, integrated, motivated, and how their careers are managed.
• Shared values: The guiding concepts and principles of the organization - values and
aspirations, often unwritten - that go beyond the conventional statements of corporate
objectives (Kotler, 2002).

25
2.5.1 Enterprise Systems Fit within 7-S Model

Figure 2.4 adopted from www.bptrends

Strategic Management of Human Capital addresses deficiencies in “Staff” and

“Structure.” While Budget and Performance Integration addresses key deficiencies in
the performance dimension, ‘Improved Financial Performance’ addresses deficiencies in
the conformance dimension of overall “Strategy.” “E-Gov” is intended to address
deficiencies in the “Systems” aspect (i.e., business processes, supporting IT applications,
and misalignment between the business processes and IT). Competitive Sourcing
addresses deficiencies in “Skills” dimension. It is important to observe the lack of
specific initiatives within to address deficiencies within “Style” and “Shared Values”
dimensions. Every process is interconnected directly or indirectly to systems to achieve a
common strategy. To this end enterprise systems do have a wider application since they
are part of the system that affect all the dimensions of the 7-S model directly or indirectly
(www.bptrends.com).

2.6.0 Resource Based View- An Enterprise System as a resource

26
The resource-based approach focuses on the characteristics of resources and the strategic
factor markets from which they are obtained to explain firm heterogeneity and
sustainable advantage. Firm decisions about selecting and accumulating resources are
characterized as economically rational within the constraints of limited information,
cognitive biases and causal ambiguity (Amit and Schoemaker, 1993; Ginsberg, 1994;
Lippman and Rumelt, 1982; Peteraf, 1993; Reed and DeFillippi, 1990). According to this
view, it is the rational identification and use of resources that are valuable, rare, difficult
to copy, and non substitutable which lead to enduring firm variation and supernormal
profits (Barney, 1991, 1992).

A resource-based view proposes that resource selection and accumulation are a function
of both within-firm decision-making and external strategic factors. Within-firm
managerial choices are guided by an economic rationality and by motives of efficiency,
effectiveness and profitability (Conner, 1991). External influences are strategic industry
factors that impact the firm, including buyer and supplier power, intensity of competition,
and industry and product market structure. These factors influence what resources are
selected, as well as how they are selected and deployed.

Managing an organization's strategy constitutes an attempt to find the best fit between
internal resources and the external environment to seize the best opportunities as they
become available (Shanklin and Ryans, 1985). Resources required to fuel strategic
initiatives are of many types, classified into slightly different categories by a variety of
authors ( Libert et al., 2000; Brooking, 1998; Edvinsson and Malone, 1997; Roos et al.,
1997). Typically, resources appear on the organization's balance sheet as assets of a
physical or financial nature. Admittedly, some intangible assets also appear on the
balance sheet, such as patents or trademarks. However, for many organizations working
within knowledge-intensive industries, perhaps the most critical asset they possess never
appears on the balance sheet, namely intellectual capital. This intangible asset represents
organizational processes, human know-how, and relationships that support or create
wealth for the company.

27
The RBV, garnering attention in the 1990s (Wernerfelt, 1995), advocates that developing
competitive advantage requires placing equal or more importance on the internal
environment in relation to its external counterpart. This view suggests that an
organization finds its strength in looking internally to define and develop core
competencies and seek profitable opportunities consistent with these competencies. As
such, the RBV constitutes an inside-outside model (Roos et al., 2001; Barney, 1991)
where strategic planning begins through the identification of internal resources that fit a
matching external environment (Wernerfelt, 1984, 1995; Penrose, 1980).

A capable organization employs resources in a manner that permits successful

competition (Chatzkel, 2002; Barney, 1991), implying possession of knowledge,
processes, and relationships necessary to combine resources in a manner that creates
wealth by providing customer value (Roos et al., 2001; Grant, 1991). While resources
constitute assets possessed or controlled by the organization, capabilities determine
whether these resources are productive or not in the generation of revenues appearing on
the income statement. Competencies represent measures of the degree to which an
organization combines resources in efficient and effective ways (Hamel and Prahalad,
1994; Prahalad and Hamel, 1990), with core competencies signifying the integration of
competencies across a wide variety of functional areas and the reason for organisational
existence (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990).

Grant's steps for implementing an RBV approach are presented in general terms below
(Grant, 1991):

1. Identify and classify the firm's resources in terms of strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, and threats (SWOT) relative to the competition.

2. Identify the firm's capabilities, their complexities, and their related resource inputs.

3. Appraise the profitability of organizational resources when put to use through their
related capabilities.

28
4. Select an appropriate strategy.

5. Identify resource gaps and invest where needed.

Placing the emphasis on what the organization can do automatically creates a list of
capabilities that can generate revenues in line with strategic capabilities (Chatzkel, 2002).

2.7.0 Knowledge Management using Enterprise Systems

Knowledge management refers to “the set of processes developed in an organisation to

create, gather, store, maintain and disseminate the firm’s knowledge (Laudon and
Laudon, 2002:373)”. With knowledge, firms become more efficient and effective in the
use of scarce resources however if it lacks, firms becomes less effective and less efficient
in the use of scarce resources and they ultimately fail (Burgleman et al, 2004).
Caroselli (2002) asserts to this view by suggesting that knowledge can empower others if
a knowledge network is created.

Companies cannot take advantage of their knowledge resources if they have inefficient
processes for capturing and distributing knowledge or if they fail to appreciate the value
of the knowledge they already possess (Earl and Scott, 1999). Knowledge management
requires an information technology (IT) infrastructure that facilitates collection and
sharing of knowledge as well as software for distributing information and making it more
meaningful.

Enterprise Systems have features for group collaboration and support systems that
support the creation and sharing of knowledge among people working in groups (Alavi,
1999). Applications for Team ware which consists of intranet-based applications for
building a team, sharing documents, brainstorming, scheduling, tracking the status of
tasks and projects, and archiving decisions made or rejected by team members for future
use are some knowledge management tools of enterprise systems (O’Brian ,2002). Alavi
(1999) goes on to say that group collaboration technologies alone cannot promote
information sharing if team members do not believe it is their interest to share, especially

29
in organisations that encourage competition among competition among workers. These
applications enhance group work if the systems are properly designed to fit the
organisational needs and work practices and if management promotes a collaborative
atmosphere.

2.8.0 Concept of Change Management in Enterprise Systems.

Change management is defined by www.bitpipe.com as “a systematic approach to dealing

with change, both from the perspective of an organization and on the individual level”.
Change management has at least three different aspects, including: adapting to change,
controlling change, and effecting change. A proactive approach to dealing with change is
at the core of all three aspects. For an organisation change management means defining
and implementing procedures and or technologies to deal with changes in the business
environment and to profit from changing opportunities.

Successful adaptation to change is as crucial within an organization as it is in the natural

world. Just like plants and animals, organizations and the individuals in them inevitably
encounter changing conditions that they are powerless to control. The more effectively
you deal with change, the more likely you are to thrive. Adaptation might involve
establishing a structured methodology for responding to changes in the business (Markus
and Benjamin, 1997).

To effectively manage change surrounding the introduction of a new information system,

one must examine the process of implementation (Swanson, 1988). Implementation refers
to all organisational activities working toward adaptation, and reutilisation of an
innovation such as a new information system. In the implementation process, the systems
analyst is a change agent.

2.8.1 Causes of Implementation Success and Failure.

30
1. User Involvement and influence. Involvement of users in the design of information
systems has several positive results. Involving users in the systems design creates
opportunities to mould the system according to their priorities and business requirements
and more opportunities to control the outcome. They react positively to the completed
system since they are active participants in the change process itself. Even when such
involvement is limited, hands-on experience with the system helps users to appreciate its
benefits and encourages useful suggestions for improvements (De and Ferrat, 1998). It
should be noted however that users often take a very narrow and limited view of the
problem to be solved and may overlook important opportunities. This makes use of
experts’ knowledge critical in this process (Markus and Keil, 1994).

Systems development projects run a high risk of failure when there is a pronounced gap
between users and technicians. When users cannot comprehend what information
experts are saying, users conclude that the entire project is best left in the hands of those
experts. This may result in the system failing to serve the organisational goals ( Laudon
and Laudon ,2003).

2. Management Support and Commitment. Commitment of management at various

levels of the systems project is likely to be perceived positively by both users and
technical informational staff. If a manager considers a new system to be a priority, the
system will more likely be treated that way by his or her subordinates (Doll, 1985; Ein-
Dor and Segev, 1978).However, management support can backfire sometimes.
Sometimes management becomes overcommitted to a project, pouring excessive
resources into systems development effort that is failing or should never have been
undertaken in the first place (Newman and Sabherwal, 1996).

3. Level of Complexity and Risk. Systems differ dramatically in their size, scope,
complexity and technical components (McFarlan, 1981). Researchers have identified
three key dimensions that influence the level of project risk namely project size, project
structure and experience with technology. The larger the project as indicated by dollars

31
spent, size of implementation staff, time allocated to implementation and organisational
units affected, the greater the risk smaller projects have lower risks. Projects structure
where users know exactly what the system should do and no possibility of them changing
their minds, then such projects runs a lower risk than where requirements are undefined,
fluid and constantly changing. The project risk will rise if the project team and
information staff lacks the required technical expertise.

4. Management of the Implementation Process. The development of a new system

must be carefully managed and orchestrated. Training to ensure that end users are
comfortable with the new system and that they fully understand its potential uses are
forgotten in systems development projects. If the budget is constrained from the
beginning, toward the end of a project there will likely be insufficient funds for training
(Bikson et al., 1985).It is estimated that between 30% and 40% of all software projects
are run away projects that far exceed original schedule and budget projections and fail to
perform as originally specified (Keil, Mann, and Rai ,2000) . Some possibilities of why
some projects are poorly managed are, Ignorance and optimisms where estimating length
of time required analysing and design the systems are poorly developed. In some
instances there is no prior experience in the application area. Among projects in all fields,
slippage in projects, failure and doubts are often not reported to senior management until
it is too late ( Keil and Robey ,2001).

Implementers should adopt a contingency approach to project management with

appropriate tools and linking the organisation to its level of risk (McFarlan, 1981).
Success of projects with high levels of technology benefit depends with how technical
complexities are managed. Project management can help managers identify bottlenecks
and determine the impact that problems will have on completion times. They can also
help system developers’ partition implementation into smaller, more manageable
segments with defined, measurable results (Fichman and Moses, 1999). Implementation
process demands organisational change. Such change may be resisted, because different
users may be affected by the system in different ways. Some users may welcome a new
system because it brings changes they perceive as beneficial to them, other may resist

32
these changes because they believe the shifts are detrimental to their interests (Josh,
1991). If use of the system is voluntary, users may choose to avoid it, if use is mandatory,
resistance will take form of increased error rates, disruptions, turnover and even sabotage.
Therefore, the implementation strategy must not only encourage user participation and
involvement, it must also address the issue of counter implementation (Keen, 1981).

Strategies to overcome user resistance include participation (to elicit commitment as well
as to improve design), user education and training, management edicts and policies
(Laudon and Laudon, 2003). Hence, quality of enterprise systems should be evaluated in
terms of user criteria rather criteria of developer’s staff. In a research that was done it was
found that restructuring of work – involving tasks, quality of working life, and
performance – had a more profound impact than the nature of the technology itself
(Turner, 1984).

2.9.0 Conclusion from literature

Installing an enterprise system will achieve dramatic results. The dramatic results
materialise only managed well. Nicholas (1996) notes that, know the business before you
try to change anything and finish what you start. Empirical studies notes that Business
Process Reengineering is characterised by seventy percent failure even after three years
of using enterprise application system (Gillooly, 1998). This puts more need for a careful
study to be carried out before an enterprise system is implemented. Dobriansky (2004)
asserts that implementing an enterprise system is not a science but an art. It requires
planning, solid evaluation, commitment, resources and discipline. It is noted that
businesses ought to measure the business value of their information to ensure that these
systems actually deliver the benefits they promise ( Laudon and Laudon ,2003). High

33
failure rate of Enterprise systems to effect Business Process Reengineering is due to
failure by firms to manage the organisational change process surrounding the
introduction of new technology.

3.0 Methodology

3.1 Introduction

This chapter will discuss research philosophy, sampling methods applied and research
instruments used and data analysis approach.

3.2 Research Philosophy

34
In research, two approaches for research methodologies namely scientific empirical
tradition and the naturalistic phenomenological (Cooper and Schindler 2003) are
normally used. These approaches are also known as quantitative and qualitative research
approaches respectively. The two approaches are that quality is the essential character or
nature of something, quantity is the amount. Quality is the what, quantity the how much.
Qualitative refers to meaning, the definition or analogy or model or metaphor
characterizing something, while quantitative assumes the meaning and refers to the
measure of it (Maanen et al, 1982: 37).

Qualitative (positivist approach) research is defined as “ any kind of research that

produces findings not arrived at by means of statistical procedures or other means of
qualification ( Strauss and Corbin ,1990:17).” This contrasts quantitative researchers who
seek causal determination, prediction and generalisation of findings. Qualitative
researchers seek illumination, understanding and extrapolation to similar situations.

Qualitative (phenomenological approach) research usally uses less structured research

instruments. The research is more flexible and allows the researcher to probe for more
details. Phenomenological studies generally attempt to understand the phenomenon
through meaning that people assign to them and interpretive methods of the research.
Kaplan and Maxwell (1994) highlighted that interpretive research does not predefine
dependent and independent variables , but instead focuses on how the situation emerges.

Positivism as a research process assumes the role of an objective analyst (Saunders et al,
2000). They also notes that a highly structures methodology that facilitates replication
and quantifiable observation that can be analysed by statistical analysis.

This research has been greatly influenced by a blend of these two approaches especially
as some views from respondents could not be quantified as they were their own opinions.
However phenomenological approach has been greatly used in the questionnaires where
respondents did assign meaning to their views. The research is establishing what is taking
place in the organisation and why this is so thus both approaches becomes relevant as
research philosophies.

35
3.3 Deductive Reasoning

Deductive reasoning works from the more general to the more specific. The conclusion
must necessarily follow from reasons given (Cooper and Schindler, 2003). This type of
reasoning is necessary in the research as it allows for conclusion to be made from
findings. This allows the research to be compared from other similar studies. Sometimes
this is informally called a "top-down" approach. The researcher begins with thinking up a
theory about a topic of interest. The researcher then narrows that down into more specific
hypotheses that can be tested. This is then narrowed down even further when we collect
observations to address the hypotheses. This ultimately leads researcher to be able to test
the hypotheses with specific data -- a confirmation (or not) of our original theories.

Figure 3.1 Source Trochim (2006)

The reasons given for the conclusion must agree with the real world and the conclusion
must necessarily follow from the valid reasons (Cooper and Schindler, 2003). The
research will use statistical analysis tools to validate findings into a conclusion from
findings. Some meanings in the research will be deduced from the information obtained
in the research.

36
3.4 Inductive Reasoning

Inductive reasoning works the other way, moving from specific observations to broader
generalizations and theories. Informally, we sometimes call this a "bottom up" approach.
In inductive reasoning, a researcher begin with specific observations and measures, begin
to detect patterns and regularities, formulate some tentative hypotheses that we can
explore, and finally end up developing some general conclusions or theories.

Inductive Reasoning

Figure 3.2 Source (Trochim , 2006)

Inductive reasoning may involve generalisation. Conclusion is drawn from one or more
particular facts or pieces of evidence. The conclusion explains the facts and the facts
support the conclusion. This kind of reasoning, a general statement is made based on
observation with specific members of a particular group. The problem of using
generalisation for inductive reasoning is the source for such generalisation. This normally
occurs when a conclusion is made with inadequate information. Another error occurs
when one has excluded some important facts in the inductive reasoning process.
Inductive reasoning can also be based on analogy, which is coming to a conclusion based
on similarities to other things or events. A false analogy can result in events of hasty
generalisations. Another type of inductive reasoning makes use of statistical inferences in
these instances; conclusions are made about a population on the basis of findings on a
sample. Problems arise out of unrepresentative sample used to draw such a conclusion.

37
In practice, inductive reasoning is better than deductive as it allows for exploratory
thinking while deductive reasoning is more about confirming a hypothesis. In practice,
researchers often use the techniques of combination. This type of reasoning is known as
abdicative reasoning ( Trochin ,2006). The research has adopted this approach so as this
approach is best suited for problem solving analysis, it assesses validity of conclusion
about observable events (Dewey, 1964).

3.5 Data Collection Methods.

Data Collection is an important aspect of any type of research study. Inaccurate data
collection can impact the results of a study and ultimately lead to invalid results.

Data collection methods for impact evaluation vary along a continuum. At the one end of
this continuum are quantitative methods and at the other end of the continuum are
Qualitative methods for data collection.

3.5.1 Quantitative and Qualitative Data collection methods

The Quantitative data collection methods rely on random sampling and structured data
collection instruments that fit diverse experiences into predetermined response categories.
They produce results that are easy to summarize, compare, and generalize.

Quantitative research is concerned with testing hypotheses derived from theory and/or
being able to estimate the size of a phenomenon of interest. Depending on the research
question, participants may be randomly assigned to different treatments. If this is not
feasible, the researcher may collect data on participant and situational characteristics in
order to statistically control for their influence on the dependent, or outcome, variable. If
the intent is to generalize from the research participants to a larger population, the
researcher will employ probability sampling to select participants.

Typical quantitative data gathering strategies include:

 Experiments/clinical trials.

38
  Observing and recording well-defined events (e.g., counting the number of
patients waiting in emergency at specified times of the day).
 Obtaining relevant data from management information systems.

3.5.2 Qualitative Research

The research is mostly exploratory; therefore it will use mostly qualitative data. This will
in turn give more room for probing the contributions from participants in the research.

Gay (1996:208) defines qualitative research as “the collection and analysis of extensive
narrative data in order to gain insights into a situation of interest not possible using other
types of research.” According to Marshall and Rossman (1989), qualitative research does
offer several approaches which are adoptable for exploratory investigations of
management questions namely:

 In – depth interviewing (usually conversational rather than structured).

 Participant observation (to perceive first hand what participants in the setting
experience.).

 Films, photographs, and videotape (to capture the life of the group under study).

 Projective techniques and psychological testing (such as projective measures,

games, or role-playing).

 Case studies (for an in – depth contextual analysis of a few events or conditions).

 Elite or expert interviewing (for information from influential or well informed

people in an organisation or community).

 Document analysis (to evaluate historical or contemporary confidential or public

records, reports, government records and opinions).

 Proxemics and kinesics (to study the use of space and body motion, respectively).

39
 These approaches can be summarised into four exploratory techniques emerge
namely (Cooper and Schindler, 2003)

1. Secondary data analysis.

2. Experience surveys.

3. Focus groups.

4. Two-stage designs.

Furthermore qualitative methods can be used to improve the quality of survey-based

quantitative evaluations by helping generate evaluation hypothesis; strengthening the
design of survey questionnaires and expanding or clarifying quantitative evaluation
findings. These methods are characterized by the following attributes:

 they tend to be open-ended and have less structured protocols (i.e., researchers
may change the data collection strategy by adding, refining, or dropping
techniques or informants)
 they rely more heavily on interactive interviews; respondents may be interviewed
several times to follow up on a particular issue, clarify concepts or check the
reliability of data
 they use triangulation to increase the credibility of their findings (i.e., researchers
rely on multiple data collection methods to check the authenticity of their results)
 generally their findings can not be generalised to any specific population, rather
each case study produces a single piece of evidence that can be used to seek
general patterns among different studies of the same issue

Regardless of the kinds of data involved, data collection in a qualitative study takes a
great deal of time. The researcher needs to record any potentially useful data thoroughly,
accurately, and systematically, using field notes, sketches, audiotapes, photographs and
other suitable means. The data collection methods must observe the ethical principles of
research.

40
The qualitative methods most commonly used in evaluation can be classified in three
broad categories:

 in-depth interview
 observation methods
 document review

3.5.3 In-Depth Interviews

In-depth interviewing entails asking questions, listening to and recording the answers,
and then posing additional questions to clarify or expand on a particular issue. Questions
are open-ended and respondents are encouraged to express their own perceptions in their
own words. In-depth interviewing aims at understanding the beneficiaries' view of a
program, their terminology and judgments. The researcher has used this approach to
obtain information informally from employees of ZIMRA. Also questions have been
asked to expert workers such as IT manager to get clarifications on some findings.

3.5.4 Observational Methods

Firsthand observation of a program is another important source of qualitative data for

evaluation. The main purpose of observational evaluation is to obtain a thorough
description of the program including program activities, participants and the meaning
they attach to the program. It involves careful identification and accurate description of
relevant human interactions and processes. The researcher who is also a user of SAP
system made some observations in the way users interact with the system , he also used
the participatory observation approach by interacting with users of SAP from different
sections.

There are several advantages to observational fieldwork for evaluation purposes:

41
  it provides a better understanding of the context in which program activities
occur;
 it allows to be aware of important things program participants may ignore or omit
willingly or unwillingly in an interview;
 it permits the evaluator to present a more comprehensive view of the program by
combining his own as well as others perceptions;
 It helps understand and interpret the program by providing personal knowledge
and direct experience.

3.5.5 Document Review

Evaluators may supplement observational fieldwork and interviewing with gathering and
analyzing documentary material generated by a program such as laws, regulations,
contracts, correspondence, memoranda and routine records on services and clients. These
kinds of documents are a useful source of information on program activities and
processes, and they can generate ideas for questions that can be pursued through
observation and interviewing. In addition, program documents can provide valuable
information that may not be accessible by other means. For example, they can provide
information about things that the evaluator cannot observe because they took place before
the evaluation began, they were part of private interchanges in which the evaluator did
not participate or they reflect plans that have not been realized in actual program
performance. Internal documents such staff magazines and minutes were perused and
analysed to obtain information useful to the research.

A major advantage of this method is the documents were generated contemporaneously

with the events they refer to. Hence, they are less likely to be subject to memory decay or
memory distortion compared with data obtains from an interview. However, an important
disadvantage is that they may be subject to selective-deposit or selective-survival bias.

3.5.6 Integrated approach.

42
There is a growing acceptance of the need for integrating the different approaches to
evaluation. Impact evaluations using survey data from statistically representative samples
may be better suited to assessing causality by using econometric methods or reaching
general conclusions. However, qualitative and participatory methods allow the in-depth
study of selected issues, cases, or events and can provide critical insights into
beneficiaries’ perspectives, the dynamics of a particular reform, or the reasons behind
certain results observed in a quantitative analysis.

Integrating quantitative, qualitative and participatory methods can often be the best
vehicle for meeting the program’s information needs. For example, qualitative methods
can be used to inform the evaluation questions and the questionnaire design, as well as to
analyse the social, economic, and political context within which a policy takes place.
Similarly, quantitative methods can be used to inform qualitative data collection
strategies, including sample design, and, apply statistical analysis to control for sample
characteristics and the socio-economic conditions of different study areas, thereby
eliminating alternative explanations of the observed outcomes. An integrated approach
has been adopted to obtain best assessments of these approaches in reaching to a general
conclusion.

3.6 Research Instruments

The techniques used in gathering the data were the questionnaire and the researcher’s
experiences with the enterprise application software being used in ZIMRA (see appendix
1).

3.6.1 Questionnaire

Structured questionnaires were used to obtain primary data from various sections
(divisions) of ZIMRA. The questionnaire had both open ended and closed questions. The
open ended questions were mostly for clarification and to probe for possible causes or
solutions to observed events. The closed questions were for absolute answers in which
observed phenomenon can be expressed by use of statistical tools. A likert scale was

43
used. It had measures of up to seven from one. The scale was such that it would capture
correctly views of respondents especially those views which will not be in the extremes.
The score of four was used to capture moderate views per given question (see appendix
1) .Questionnaires were designed for the IT staff, HR staff and general staff. The general
staff comprises of mostly technical personnel in divisions such as auditing,
investigations, administration and loss control among others. Questionnaires for IT and
HR did incorporate some technical views hence the questionnaires were secluded from
that of general staff.

The researcher has developed the questionnaire to capture the critical success factors for
Enterprise Application. Open ended questions were used to probe views and suggestions
from the respondents.

The questionnaire was developed to probe for input from SAP users. The general
questionnaire was developed for mostly the laymen and general users of SAP system. In
order to capture views from experts on SAP, a questionnaire was developed to address
their input .The questionnaires were directed to Human Resources and Information
Technology personnel. They are critical sections for the establishment of an EAS, so their
input would be especially valuable so their views were captured separately with some
questions addressing issues specific to their fields (see appendix 2).

The use of questionnaire offers the following advantages:

 It can be self-administered therefore this gives room for clarity

 It takes less time and is easy to answer

 It is easy to administrate and allows respondents to answer in their spare time.

 It allows wide coverage at minimal cost.

 It maintains anonymity of respondents thus reducing bias.

The main disadvantages of questionnaires are:

44
  Respondents may complete the questionnaire for the sake of just completing
it; this may lead to irrelevant data being collected.
 Response rate is usually very low

 Lengthy questionnaires may discourage respondents.

3.6.2 Pre-testing of the questionnaire

A questionnaire was sent to a person from each of the category of respondents to pre-
test the questionnaire. Modifications were made to the questionnaires based on their
recommendations. Questionnaires were then sent to sample populations.

3.6.3 Administration of the questionnaires

The questionnaires were delivered to respondents by ZIMRA internal mail system and
some were hand delivered. The expectation was the questionnaires were to be completed
in two weeks and sent to the researcher by the ZIMRA internal mail system. Follow up
was done on respondents who had not completed questionnaires by the due dates. A
response rate of 70 % was expected.

3.7 Data analysis and findings

The appropriate analytical tools were used to come up with meaningful findings.
Research findings were presented in tables and pie charts and average likert ratings.
Qualitative data was used to support the findings.

3.8 Summary

This chapter presented the theoretical background of the research under study and the
sampling methods that can be used in the research. The research instrument used in the
research is primarily the questionnaire, although secondary data was obtained from
ZIMRA internal magazines (Revenews) and also from researcher’s experiences. Informal

45
discussions were done with few key personnel in IT and senior managers to enhance
research findings. Data was presented in tables, pie charts and average measures so as to
allow for inferences to be made.

46
CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 Results and Discussion.

4.1 Introduction.

This chapter will present and discuss findings of this research. Results on user’s
awareness and knowledge of SAP will be discussed. Findings on the extent to which the
SAP has impacted on ZIMRA will be presented. Analysis of findings will be made to see
if BPR did take place or not in ZIMRA because of SAP software usage. Then various
factors will be discussed culminating in testing of the proposition.

4.2 Response Rate

A total of eighty questionnaires were circulated to ZIMRA employees and forty –four
were returned. The breakdown of the questionnaires and response rate is summarized in
the table below.

Summary of Questionnaires sent and received.

Name of Section Questionnaires Sent Questionnaires Received Percentage Response.

IT 10 4 40%
HR 10 6 60%
General Staff. 60 34 56.67%
Total 80 44 55%

Table 4.1

Responses from IT personnel were critical in order to determine whether other aspects
from literature review were considered in ZIMRA. HR input was also essential as their

47
contribution would help in understanding the role of personnel of ZIMRA . ZIMRA has
a total of 1764 employees. Kotler (2003) notes that where the population is large, a
sample of not less than 1% is adequate and representative of the entire population. The
sample size is 4.55% of the entire population which is higher than the recommended 1 %.
The general staff included members of staff from different departments, such as
investigations, auditing, finance and administration, loss control among other
departments. General represents mostly the technical staff that is pivotal to the core-
business of ZIMRA of collecting revenue. Wegner (1993) notes that, it is not always
practical to gather data from every member of the population. Babbie ( 1986) states that a
sample must be representative of the respective population. The sample used for this
research is a true representative of the ZIMRA population.

48
4.3 General Findings

4.3.1 Preparations for use of SAP in ZIMRA

ZIMRA operations have been disjointed prior to introduction of SAP, they was no
enterprise wide application system software in place. The findings indicate that no
selection of SAP over other EAS software was ever made. Of all respondents no one ever
cited having opportunity to select SAP over other system such as Oracle, PeopleSoft,
Bean e.t.c. This suggests that the software was adopted without participation of users in
the selection process. This view is anchored by the fact that no person from IT could
name alternative EAS software other than the SAP. This development is contrary to
suggestion by O’brian (2002), who noted that before an application systems software is
implemented, there is need for companies to require several suppliers to present bids
based on specific firm needs. These bids would then form a basis for request for proposal
(RFP) or request for quotation (FRQ). These needs would then form a basis for licensed
modules a firm would need to buy from a vendor. Factors such as performance, cost,
reliability, compatibility, modularity, ergonomics, and support were not analysed before
the SAP software was adopted.

49
 Years when respondents started using SAP.
35

30

25

20

15

10

0
2004 2005 2006

Figure 4.1

Contrary to the observation above, when ZIMRA introduced SAP in 2004, most users
began to use the modules which were applicable to their sections. It is worth noting that
the HR modules were only put to use in 2005. Respondents who are not from HR
divisions who started using SAP after 2004 are mostly new members of staff who joined
the organisation after 2004. This observation is contrary to studies made by Gillooly
(1998), where he noted that some BPR projects fail to be fully implemented or meet goals
of their users even after three years of work. However, it should be noted that
respondents from the Training Division noted that the Training and Events Module in
SAP has not been finalised for implementation. This delay asserts view of Gillooly
(1998).

50
4.3.2 Training on SAP usage.

Davenport (1998), noted that enterprise systems and business process reengineering fail
because employees are often unprepared for new procedures and roles. 66 % 0f the
general staff indicated that their performance on SAP knowledge is low due to the fact
that the training was lacking and they do not have practical exposure in using the system.
However this finding is contrary to the IT section where 100% of respondents cited that
they have had excellent training. In the HR division, 67% of the respondent asserted that
they have had adequate training on SAP. This anomaly indicates that training resources
are not evenly distributed within the ZIMRA organization. The general staff (technical
staff) is not adequately trained to use SAP in their operations. This observation is further
anchored by the fact that the general staff had an average score of 3.325 on a likert scale
of up to a possible score of 7(on how their SAP training needs are being met). This score
is lower than the minimum acceptable score of 4. The IT and HR had a score of 5.25 and
5, 33 which shows that their training needs are being catered for. This explains why the
average for SAP knowledge in relation to employees work is averagely 4, 75 which is
slightly above average score of 4. Markus et al (1994), notes that success of BPR is
determined by how well people are motivated to be creative by being adequately trained
so as to apply their knowledge to the redesign of business processes.

Though the level of training for IT is satisfactory, findings indicated that the IT staff is
still heavily depended on external consultants. The score was 5.25 for depending with
external consultant, which is very high considering that ZIMRA has more than three
years using SAP. This score is affirmed by the fact that consultants have established a
office in the SAP project division in ZIMRA.

A-DEC Corporation failed to meet processing orders, building products and shipping the
products to their dealers in time after they adopted the Baan Company enterprise
application software. The reason for the failure was the employees did not understand
how the system worked. As a result they began to work manually and working outside

51
the system. End users training fell short at first and the IT department underestimated the
processing power that the Baan’s software required (Garner, 1999).

4.3.3 IT Resources for Adoption of SAP

Personal Assessment on SAP usage by ZIMRA employees

4%

29%

36%

31%

Good training lack of training unavailabilty of computers other reasons

Figure 4.2

ZIMRA is marred by massive shortage of adequate computer resources for staff.36% of

the respondents noted that their work was being affected by shortage of computer
resources. In some instance, the computer resources were outdated with few capabilities

52
of effecting SAP modules. Lloyd, Dewar and Pooley (1999), noted that for success to be
achieved, they is need to replace old technologies and legacy systems that are deeply
rooted in many interrelated business processes. Also Hammer (1990), asserts to this view
that IT is a key enabler of BPR. The EAS software, affects all facets of the organisation,
as noted by Porter in his value chain analysis, IT is critical as it is part of the support
activities that affect the entire organisation. Unavailability of computers is also affecting
the training process which had a score of 31%.It is worth noting that IT personnel noted
that usage of SAP by other members of staff is merely average of their potential.

4.3.4 Knowledge Management being fostered by use of SAP.

The SAP software has vast applications transcending into all divisions of the corporation.
This gives ability of all divisions to share information on a real time basis. The average
likert score for the general staff was 6 and for IT and HR it was 5.5 and 5.66 respectively.
Respondents are of the view that SAP is facilitating flow of information within divisions.
O’Brian (2002) notes that knowledge sharing facilitates a learning culture within the
organisation and gives rapid feedback to employees. HR personnel noted that they can
easily manage performance by using electronic appraisal systems. SAP has an intranet
facility which has made communication possible within ZIMRA’s scattered division. The
average score for the entire staff that believed that SAP improved internal communication
was 5.5 on the likert scale. Respondents are of the view that SAP has improved greatly
internal communication. Many SAP operations uses workflows, this allows any SAP user
to trace origins and flow of events in the system.

Greatest impediment of the ZIMRA’s SAP system is that at present, no extranets links
are being made with external clients. All respondents noted that they have never
communicated directly with external clients. This is contrary to suggestions by Finance
minister in the 2007 budget where he proposed that ZIMRA should have a system which
should link its operations to that of it customers. Ford and General Motors integrated
their enterprise application systems to link with their suppliers and their customers thus

53
creating membership of over 90000 companies world wide with a purchasing power
parity of US $240 billion (O’Brian, 2002).

4.3.5 Impact of SAP on the Value Chain Analysis for ZIMRA.

ZIMRA employees have a strong view that SAP is enhancing efficiency in the
operations. The average likert score was 4.8 on respondents who viewed that SAP was
reducing operation costs. Issues such as filling and paper management have greatly been
eliminated as SAP is keeping such information on-line. Respondents further affirmed that
the use of SAP would add value to ZIMRA operations in the future. The likert score was
6.4 which indicate that such benefit is visible to all respondents.

Shortage of IT resources and a limited number of licensed users, 1000 from a possible
pool of 1764 employees means that other employees are being redundant and failing to
contribute positively to the organisation through SAP usage.

4.3.6 SAP and Decision Making.

SAP is supporting all levels of employees within ZIMRA, which is low level, middle
level and high level management. This is consistent with literature which affirms that an
enterprise application system supports all sections of the organisation. ZIMRA is utilising
SAP mostly for decision making and routine procedures

54
 Usage of SAP in ZIMRA
25

20

15

10

0
Decision Making Routine Both routine and decision making do not know

Figure 4.3

55
This observation is consistent with literature which asserts that an EAS supports all facets
of the organization. It is also worth noting that most of the SAP users use it for both
routine work and decision making. This observation is consistent with earlier observation
which indicates that internal communication has increased greatly as SAP users are in a
position to make decision in a short space of time.

4.3.7 Licensed modules and users of SAP.

Only 56.7% of ZIMRA’s staff is licensed SAP users. This is contrary to the HR policy
which has advocated that all HR functions be supported by SAP. ZIMRA is
underutilising its personnel in usage of SAP software. Since the SAP has application for
all levels of staff, it is prudent that all employees be licensed users.

4.3.8 Licensed Modules

The table below shows a summary of licensed SAP module and those which are being
used by ZIMRA.

Name of SAP licensed Module Whether it is being used or not

1. Sales and Distribution Yes since 2004
2. Materials Management Yes since 2004
3. Financials and Controls Yes since 2004
4. Fleet Management Yes since 2004
5. Human Resources Management Yes since 2005
6. Business event Management Yes since 2007
7. Enterprise Portals Not yet live
8. Strategic Enterprise Management Not yet live
9. Customer Relations Management Not yet live

56
10. Business Information Warehouse Not yet live
11. Planning Systems Not yet live

Table 4.2

ZIMRA is using 55% of the SAP licensed modules. Other modules are not yet live with
Planning System module being at final stages testing for adaptation.

4.3.9 BPR as a result of SAP.

As has been earlier observed, SAP adoption in ZIMRA did not involve the participation
of users in the selection process. This observation is contrary to view by Knorr ,(1999)
who noted that choice of an ERP should be based on software that best meets the way of
doing business. Choice of SAP software was on the premises that it would suit the way
ZIMRA does its business processes. This results in other modules being dismissed for
adoption (Askenas and Westeius, 2000).

57
 SAP improved ZIMRA Operations dramatically.

Not Sure
9%
No
9%

Yes
82%

Figure 4.4

82 % of the respondents were of the view that SAP has revamped the ZIMRA operations
dramatically. 9% of the respondents did not agree to this view and the other 9% was
undecided.

4.3.10 Efficiency coming as a result of SAP.

Respondents had a mean rating of 5 who had a view that service delivery to external
clients improved because of introduction of SAP. The HR personnel had a strong view
that SAP resulted in better management of staff at a lower cost than before with an
average score of 6.1. ZIMRA staff is of a strong view that use of SAP has resulted in
faster decision making with an average score of 5.5. HR staff further affirmed that they
are now serving staff in a shorter period and that the staff is satisfied with their service
delivery. The score from HR was a mean of 6.3. Use of workflows in leave processing,

58
loan application has made it possible to automate most of HR applications in SAP
system.

4.3.11 Was ZIMRA prepared for change?

Findings from this research, indicates that input was made mostly by middle level and
senior managers during the implementation stage of SAP. This made the implementation
stage have management support and commitment. This effect will flow down to
managers subordinates as they tend to treat the system in the same manner in which their
managers do.

For efficient change to take place, end users should be comfortable with the new system
and they should understand its potential uses (Bikson et al ,1985). In ZIMRA the findings
indicates that the general staff was not well trained with an average score of 3.325 on
training as opposed to 5.25 and 5.33 for IT and HR respectively. Since the bulk of
technical staff is under the general staff, ZIMRA did manage effectively the
implementation of SAP. Literature indicates that poor training of staff at implementation
is a major cause of project failures.

59
 Employees who were consulted during and after SAP implementation.

50

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
Respondents

Yes No

Figure 4.5

Poor participation by non managerial staff during and after implementation is a cause for
concern as this creates resistance to utilising the new system as users will not be owning
up to the new system. 66% of the respondents were not involved during and after the
implementation stage. It is worth noting that the general staff had the least number of
participants who were consulted. 76 % of the general staff was not consulted whereas in
reality they form bulky of the users. A number of participants commented that the
greatest impediment in the use of SAP in their operations is poor or lack of training.
Other respondents noted that where the training was conducted it did not meet specific
user needs but tended to be general. As a result they ended up making their own initiative
to acquaint themselves with modules that affect their day to day operations. In ZIMRA’S
case, training was essential so as to enable users to grasp the change that the SAP was
bringing to users who were mostly used to manual procedures. Thus they was poor
change management and Wanberg and Bans (2000) contend that the reason why many
projects fail is due to failure to manage change.

60
4.3.12 Resource Based View.

The research indicates that for ZIMRA to attain sustainable advantage, ZIMRA needs to
develop personnel which are well trained with support of infrastructure. There is need for
a best fit between the internal resources and the external environment. The improvement
of the intellect capital is attained through continuous learning of the capabilities of SAP
and upgrading of infrastructure. The human capital forms a critical part of the process ,
though of course , such improvements may appear as part of intangible assets of the
balance sheet which may be difficult to ascertain in monetary value.
.
4.3.13 Role of Enterprise Application software in effecting BPR.

The research proposition indicated that an introduction of Enterprise Application System

software will effect business process reengineering.

The finding indicates that 82% of the respondents are of the view that enterprise
application system software (SAP) did effect Business Process Reengineering in ZIMRA
operations. 9% of the respondents were of a contrary view and the other 9% was
indifferent. Therefore we conclude that EAS software did indeed effect BPR within
ZIMRA’s operations. See table below.

61
 SAP effected BPR in ZIMRA's operations.

100%

80%
Percentage response

60%

40%

20%

0%
1
Total Respondents

YES NO Did not know

Figure 4.6

4.4 Limitations

The questionnaires were administered during a hectic period towards year end. At this
time most of the staff members were occupied with issues that pertain to their
performance appraisal score card. Consequently a number of respondents failed to submit
their questionnaires in time. During this time, a number of employees were also taking
long year end vacations. However the questionnaires that were returned were adequate to
make the research to progress smoothly.

Some respondents left some questions unanswered in the questionnaire however were
this occurred it was not significant to the research as the researcher based findings on
actual feedback from members of staff.

62
The research concentrated on internal findings from ZIMRA’s operations, it did not
evaluate views of external clients solely because of a short period in which the research
has to be conducted and also to minimize financial costs.

4.5 Summary.

This chapter discussed research findings of this study. The research analysed the
participation of SAP users in the implementation process. Analysis was made on the
preparedness of users in the use of SAP. The researcher went on to analyse the internal
operations to assess whether BPR did took place.
The research noted that users were not involved in the selection process of the SAP
software. The system was introduced by the ZIMRA’s senior management. Through data
analysis, it was found that ZIMRA was not prepared for the introduction of SAP in its
operations. The training of SAP users was inadequate and the technological infrastructure
was woefully inadequate.

Efficiency in terms of communication internally and faster decision making were fostered
by SAP. Knowledge sharing between divisions is now taking place at a greater
dimension. Contrary to literature, BPR was effected in ZIMRA by introduction of SAP
though the methodology of the introduction would have resulted in project failure as
literature asserts.

The research proposition that EAS software effect BPR was affirmed with 82 % of the
respondents being in favour. This is therefore a firm affirmation that SAP has had
dramatic impact on ZIMRA’s operations.

63
CHAPTER 5

5.0 Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1 Introduction

This chapter will draw conclusions drawn from this study. It will then put forward
recommendation on how firms can attain BPR from introduction of EAS.

5.2 Conclusions
The following conclusions were drawn from the research study:
1. The implementation of SAP was not well done; there was low participation of
users in the selection of ERP system and low participation after the
implementation stage.
2. The SAP is being partially being used, with some licensed modules not yet being
functional even though it is three after the initial launch of SAP in ZIMRA.
3. The number of licensed users is much lower than the entire workforce
population. 40% of staff is not yet licensed for SAP.
4. SAP users did not get adequate training prior to launch of SAP. Training that
was done was not comprehensive and did not meet particular needs of some of
the SAP users.
5. SAP has greatly increased efficiency in ZIMRA’s operations by improving on
flow of internal information , faster decision making and efficient servicing of
clients
6. Introduction of SAP has effected BPR in ZIMRA. This phenomenon is contrary
to literature findings which suggest that the way ZIMRA implemented its ERP
system would have resulted in project failure. This observation indicates that it is
not always necessary to involve users in the selection and implementation of
EAS software. ZIMRA adopted the system based on successes SAP had
achieved when it was adopted in some government of Zimbabwe departments,

64
 other parastatals such as Grain Marketing Board and the Cape Town
Municipality among other service providers.
7. SAP is facilitating knowledge management within ZIMRA. Knowledge sharing
is taking place virtually on the system.
8. The HR module has had greatest adaptation within ZIMRA‘s SAP system with
most of HR functions being adopted on the system.
9. ZIMRA’s has low IT infrastructure which is affecting employees on utilizing
the benefits of SAP system
10. Operations costs have been reduced by use of SAP in that SAP is assisting in
storage and archiving of information. Costs associated with travelling to collect
information from scattered offices countrywide have been eliminated as the
information pertaining to ZIMRA’s operations is accessible on SAP (on real
time basis).
11. SAP has not been explored to make links with external clients. Applications
such Customer Relations Management can be explored to tap on to extranet
facilities of SAP.
12. ZIMRA IT staff is heavily depended on external consultant even though it is
now over three years after the SAP has been implemented.

5.3 Recommendations
The following recommendation are being made specifically to ZIMRA
1. There is need to have a comprehensive training programme for SAP users, the
training should incorporate new members of staff before they are assigned to
their new roles. The Training school should spear head such training.
2. There is need to revamp the IT infrastructure otherwise gain being realized now
by use of SAP may be hampered in the near future. Resources should be availed
which allows for users to freely access SAP in their normal operations.
3. The number of ZIMRA’s licensed SAP users should be increased so that all
members of Staff are users. This is crucial especially as the thrust of the
organization is to reach 75% of workforce being auditors with bulk of the
remainder being support staff.

65
4. Management goals should be to ensure that their sub- ordinates are adequately
utilizing SAP. This function can be adopted as the key result area for managers
and can be used as a basis for appraising performance of management.
5. There is need to link SAP to external clients by applications such as CRM. This
will even increase efficiency as clients will be served from the comfort of their
homes, offices e.t.c. this will further lower congestion at ZIMRA’s offices. This
will create a basis for e-commerce and e-taxation.
6. All modules which are licensed for need be utilized. If such modules are not
beneficial to the organization, they need not be paid for.
7. They should be transfer of skills from external consultant to internal IT staff.
This will reduce on SAP running costs and increase on internal expertise.
8. In the future , if an EAS software is to be adopted in ZIMRA , I recommend that
it be implemented properly and correctly , I suggest the following guidelines be
followed:
 A careful study of Enterprise Application Systems software need be done
in the market before implementation is made. This process should involve
all levels of users including managers and non managers.
 Modules which are beneficial to the organization needs be purchased.
Non beneficial modules may be considered when real need arise in the
future.
 Vendor’s consultants need to transfer skills to IT staff so that they can
then pass such knowledge to the users of the system.
 Users need to receive adequate and relevant training on the use of the
EAS software.
 A clear plan to make users adopt to change should be in place before
implementation of EAS takes place.
 BPR outlook should be in place prior to the implementation of an EAS.
The EAS software to be used should be such that it will effect desired
BPR outcome.

66
5.4 Areas of Future Research

 Role of EAS in e-commerce in facilitating BPR.

 Cost – Benefit analysis of organisation that have implemented EAS
software’s and those that have not in a service industry.

67
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