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It was found that successfully adopting the ERP system brings enormous benefits to retail SFBs. As ERP is broad and benefits businesses in varying ways, it was suggested that individual businesses be studied to understand their characteristics and the possible benefits that ERP could bring to these businesses. This suggestion was made especially because of the heterogeneous nature of FBs and the uniqueness of individual businesses.

A range of possible benefits of ERP for retail SFBs were, however, identified as improvements to communication management, document management, financial management, decision-making, operations and growth. These benefits are categorised as managerial, operational and strategic benefits.

If we expand it to ERP then we will be talking about better management of communication, i.e. who had spoken to whom about what, when and what emails came in and out. That is a CRM application which forms a part of a company-wide ERP. We could then have document

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management which tends to turn a core financial system to more of an ERP system for each unit of the company - sometimes it could be contact management, communication management or document management, it depends entirely on the company. - C1

Clearly, the ERP system can contribute to management, but the managerial needs of businesses could vary, depending on their management style or other things. Some businesses would want a general better management of business while some may just be interested in decision-making. Most businesses are often interested in financial management. Of course, ERP can benefit the business in many different ways but, again, it depends largely on how ERP is viewed by the different businesses and the kind of support they get. - C2

Ironically having/not having an ERP system is a Catch 22 type of situation. Having the ERP system will allow the business to grow in size and profit more quickly. - C3

ERP = infrastructure = analytics = better informed (connected) decisions in all aspects of the operational process (operational efficiency and effectiveness), marketing & sales (customer acquisition and retention) and better management of financial resources. - C3 It is clear there are different modules of ERP to serve different purposes depending on the business needs. - C3

The expert findings agree with the literature, which suggests that competitive pressure is a determinant of ERP adoption in SMEs. It was established that while the benefits of a successful early adoption are clear, the cost of not using ERP could be detrimental to business. These findings were echoed in the literature by Pantano’s (2014) suggestion that technology could be a double-edged sword for retail businesses. The findings also affirmed that the ERP system benefits all businesses including retail small family businesses but the benefits depend on business needs (Esteves, 2009; Teittennen et al., 2013). Although one respondent suggested the ERP page on their website may be a starting point to sensitising retail small family businesses on ERP benefits, other respondents argued that understanding specific business requirements is a better way to establish specific ERP benefits as generic benefits are usually not adequate. The findings also support suggestions from the literature that understanding business needs help businesses understand the perceived ERP benefit to them and such knowledge aids adoption decisions (Almahamid and Awsi, 2015).

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While many possible benefits of ERP adoption were identified by experts, the need to understand individual businesses was further emphasized. Some of the benefits are generic but agree with the benefits identified by Lasisi et al. (2017). Those generic benefits are said to do little in helping the perception of ERP within retail SFBs with the findings further buttressing the need for this study to further focus on specific retail SFB cases. Studies (Almahamid and Awsi, 2015) have also identified the need to understand business characteristics to establish the perceived benefits of ERP to business. Also, despite the vast experience of the experts interviewed, a further investigation of individual SFBs within the context will allow more understanding of the heterogeneity of such business (De Massis and kotlar, 2014). Smith (2016) also echoed that individual businesses should be studied to understand how family involvement affects ERP in family businesses.

While the findings, so far, have given clear insights into ERP adoption in UK retail SFBs, they have repeatedly emphasized the need to study individual UK retail SFBs for further clarity. While, the findings buttress the unique nature of individual SFBs, they suggest a way to handle the limitations of Smith’s (2016) study of the ERP system in FBs. Taking a cue from the findings in this chapter, the next chapter examines individual cases of UK retail SFBs to offer clarity on ERP adoption and how such adoption might impact business.

5.5. SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER

This chapter discussed the findings from seeking expert opinion on ERP adoption in UK retail SFBs. It established how the respondents that fit the research purposes were selected and discussed how consent was sought and explained the pilot interview procedure. The changes that were made to the interview protocol were also discussed as were the interview questions themselves; analysis of the interview findings was undertaken and the findings’ implications on existing knowledge, the methodology and achieving the research aim were explained.

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ERP ADOPTION

IN SFBs

C1 C2 C3

The decision Older generation family manager

Older generation family manager

Older generation family manager Rate of adoption Low due to an

unfavourable perception

Low due to favouring the legacy system

Low as SFBs do not see a need for ERP

Level of awareness Low but generic where available

Low but generic Low but needs to be specific

Why ERP adoption? It may have enormous benefits for SFBs

The business may struggle in the future

The business needs it

The benefits of ERP adoption

Better studied on a specific case basis due to business heterogeneity Enormous but depends on the specific case Openness to ERP knowledge

Not open to experts with affiliation to ERP

Not open to ERP knowledge from ERP experts

Willing to engage with experts with FB focus

How to increase ERP awareness Efforts from an independent body Independent experts’ engagement with SFBs SFBs need to engage more with FB affiliation or interests

Table 9: Summary of expert interviews

The table above lists the opinions of the three experts C1, C2, and C3 on the different aspects of ERP adoption in UK retail SFBs as explained below.

It was established that ERP adoption is of enormous importance to UK retail SFBs and its non-adoption could have detrimental consequences for business. Despite establishing some benefits of ERP adoption, they come across as being generic to SMEs and not specific to SFB. However, the experts also established that while ERP adoption patterns above may be similar to other one-man owned small businesses, family considerations such as the impact of a divided family interest could change those patterns in SFBs. They also established that to have a clearer understanding of ERP adoption in SFBs in the retail industry, individual SFBs

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need to be better investigated to understand their unique characteristics. The table below shows a matrix of the implication of findings in this chapter on the theoretical framework. Theoretical

themes/Experts

C1 C2 C3

Managerial benefits of ERP adoption Performance management Better communication

management,

General better management of business

X

Decision-making X Faster decision- making

Better informed decision-making Information & Resource

management Document management, financial management, Financial management, Better managed finances and infrastructure Operational Benefits of ERP adoption

Better operational structure Better client/customer relationship through CRM Better client management Operational efficiency and effectiveness, customer acquisition and retention Strategic benefits of ERP adoption

Support for sustenance & growth Better management of growth in capabilities Better management of market growth and resources Supports growth in size and profitability Organisational benefits of ERP adoption

Succession support X X X

The power filter Family’s perception There appears to be a

lack of investment from the original owners due to them being comfortable with business performance

The original owners are often not interested but then the younger generation comes into the business and decides the company needs an ERP system.

ERP adoption is generally different in Family Businesses as the business money is the family’s money.

The business wants to be convinced the technology is what they need

Adoption decision and commitment (Output) ERP adoption

decision/commitment

The original owners frustrate ERP adoption efforts because they are not convinced about the technology partly due to their limited knowledge

The next generation can make the move but the original owners resist through no commitment of funds and other resources

The business rarely adopt the technology but they are usually the best clients due to their commitment if they decide to adopt it.

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Despite the enormous significance of ERP adoption identified by experts, the decision to adopt the technology appear to depend mainly on the family manager/decision-maker who is usually part of the older generation of the owning family. Their reluctance to adopt ERP could be an explaination to why there are few instances of UK retail SFBs using the ERP system. The insistence on non-adoption was attributed to the perception that the legacy system works better for business and the family manager/decision-maker’s relative satisfaction with the business’ position. The experts, however, noted the need for UK retail SFBs to understand the need for ERP adoption as failure to do so could leave the business disadvantaged in such a competitive industry.

While the experts buttressed the need for specific studies on SFBs to establish the need for ERP adoption, it was established that it is not uncommon that succession as well as business performance could move retail SFBs to adopt ERP.

The next chapter of this thesis discusses the case studies to further understand ERP adoption within UK retail SFBs.

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CHAPTER SIX: THE CASE STUDIES

6.0. INTRODUCTION

Recall that the expert interview findings were discussed in chapter 5, this chapter presents the UK’s retail SFB case study findings which is the 2nd _{stage of fieldwork done for this study.}

This research has found that although the impact of family involvement or familiness is an important factor in ERP adoption in the UK’s retail SFBs (Sections 3.3 and 5.6), ERP adoption has also been found to contribute enormous benefits to businesses including retail SFBs (Laforet et al., 2013; Smith, 2016; Lasisi et al., 2017). It was, however, suggested that the adoption and how SFBs may benefit from ERP depend on the individual businesses due to their heterogeneity (Lasisi et al., 2017; Smith, 2016). For example, it was found in Sections 5.5.1 and 5.5.3 that while there are common trends observed in the adoption of ERP by SFBs, individual SFBs are unique and this uniqueness may affect decisions regarding the need for the adoption of an ERP system. It was also found in Section 5.5.3 that the benefits of ERP adoption to SFBs depend on the capabilities and needs of the business. This chapter discusses the findings from individual case studies of UK retail SFBs to establish their characteristics and understand how these businesses may adopt the ERP system. This is important as it establishes clarity on ERP adoption from the perspective of the SFB perspective and also offers further clarity on the methodological limitation of Smith’s (2016) findings on the effect of family involvement on ERP in SFBs. Furthermore, it establishes from an individual case study perspective how ERP might benefit SFBs as the literature suggests.

The cases were each studied for a month to understand the business enough to establish its organisational characteristics. Yin (2011) suggests that it is important to study cases over a period of time to find out common patterns, stand-alone events of interest and the meaning of such partterns. The pilot study done in each case showed that the four-week period was adequate to investigate repetitive events such as business management, processes/operations and also understand the strategic position or actions within the businesses. Over this period, the research studied business characteristics, such as the managerial structure, operational and business performance, and the competitive strategy. These aspects of the businesses were focused on, as the literature established that they are vital to ERP adoption by SFBs (Lasisi et al., 2017). Also, interviews were conducted with the family managers to corroborate

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observational findings on business processes. The need to corroborate observational findings with interviews was to ensure there was no possibility of observing an artificial environment as discussed in Section 4.7.2.3 (Yin, 2011). While, interviewing one manager may seem to be a limitation to the evidence gathered in each case, it was necessary as permission was given to speak only with one designated member within the business. However, as the findings from the interview do not significantly differ from the observational findings, there may be little need to worry about the inability to conduct more than one interview within each case study. The findings of the observations and interview for each case study are analysed and discussed later in this chapter. It should be noted that as some SFBs had no ERP in place and the family managers did not have an ERP knowledge, findings from these cases were compared to findings from expert interviews, archival findings and the literature to establish possible ERP benefits and the influence of family involvement on adoption.

The next sections explain the data collection including the sampling, selection of participants and analysis of findings.