A research framework for the adoption of Business Intelligence by Small and Medium-sized enterprises

Due to the complexities of making effective and timely business decisions in highly competitive markets, Data-driven decision-making using Business Intelligence (BI) applications has attracted many organisations worldwide. However, despite these applications being suited for use in most organisations regardless of size, only the larger enterprises have reached a stage of maturity in BI use while small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) still lag behind. Whilst many academic researchers have conducted BI research focused on large organisations, literature relating to BI adoption within SMEs has remained limited. To fill this research gap and support the adoption rate of BI in SMEs, this paper proposes a research framework for identifying the current state of BI adoption by SMEs and the enabling factors that impact BI adoption in SMEs. Future research directions for using this framework are also discussed.

[1]  George Lawton.  Making Business Intelligence More Useful , 2006, Computer.

[2]  Mike Chiasson,et al.  Factors influencing the formation of a user's perceptions and use of a DSS software innovation , 2001, DATB.

[3]  Zahir Irani,et al.  Organisational, technical and data quality factors in CRM adoption — SMEs perspective , 2011 .

[4]  Lisa M. Sciulli.  How organizational structure influences success in various types of innovation , 1998 .

[5]  John M. Ward,et al.  The adoption of consortium B2B e-marketplaces: An exploratory study , 2007, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[6]  Alan Serrano,et al.  Factors affecting IT and business alignment: a comparative study in SMEs and large organisations , 2009, J. Enterp. Inf. Manag..

[7]  Nerys Fuller-Love,et al.  Management Development in Small Firms , 2006 .

[8]  James Y. L. Thong,et al.  An Integrated Model of Information Systems Adoption in Small Businesses , 1999, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[9]  Ilona Jagielska,et al.  Business intelligence systems for decision support: concepts, processes and practice , 2003 .

[10]  Ping-Yu Hsu,et al.  Application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process on Data Warehouse System Selection Decisions for Small and Large Enterprises in Taiwan , 2007 .

[11]  John S. Fryer.  The Production and Application of New Industrial Technology , 1977 .

[12]  Olivera Marjanovic.  The Next Stage of Operational Business Intelligence: Creating New Challenges for Business Process Management , 2007, 2007 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS'07).

[13]  Antonia Madrid‐Guijarro,et al.  Barriers to Innovation among Spanish Manufacturing SMEs , 2009 .

[14]  Graham Pervan,et al.  A critical analysis of decision support systems research , 2005, J. Inf. Technol..

[15]  Aruna Chandra,et al.  Impact of owner's knowledge of information technology (IT) on strategic alignment and IT adoption in US small firms , 2012 .

[16]  Jose Benitez-Amado,et al.  Adoption of E-Commerce Applications in SMEs , 2011, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[17]  Agha Muhhamad Ali Khan,et al.  Drivers and barriers to business intelligence adoption: a case of Pakistan , 2010 .

[18]  B. Lucey,et al.  Determinants of capital structure in Irish SMEs , 2010 .

[19]  E. Waarts,et al.  The dynamics of factors affecting the adoption of innovations , 2002 .

[20]  Barbara Wixom,et al.  The Current State of Business Intelligence , 2007, Computer.

[21]  K. Ramamurthy,et al.  Determinants of EDI adoption in the transportation industry , 1997 .

[22]  Vasilica Voicu,et al.  Business intelligence effective sollutions of management , 2009 .

[23]  Markus Grünwald,et al.  Business Intelligence , 2009, Informatik-Spektrum.

[24]  Atish P. Sinha,et al.  An empirical investigation of the key determinants of data warehouse adoption , 2008, Decis. Support Syst..

[25]  Robert Winter,et al.  Business Intelligence Maturity Models: An Overview , 2010 .

[26]  Afzaal H. Seyal,et al.  Determinants of Electronic Commerce in Pakistan: Preliminary Evidence from Small and Medium Enterprises , 2004, Electron. Mark..

[27]  D. Arnott,et al.  Evaluating the intangible benefits of Business Intelligence: review and research agenda , 2004 .

[28]  Blake Ives,et al.  Executive Involvement and Participation in the Management of Information Technology , 1991, MIS Q..

[29]  Donatella Sciuto,et al.  Factors affecting ERP system adoption: A comparative analysis between SMEs and large companies , 2005, J. Enterp. Inf. Manag..

[30]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Electronic Data Interchange and Small Organizations: Adoption and Impact of Technology , 1995, MIS Q..

[31]  M. Atkins,et al.  Sizing up the Small Firm: UK and Australian Experience , 1997 .

[32]  Alain Yee-Loong Chong,et al.  Factors affecting the Adoption Level of C-Commerce: An Empirical Study , 2009, J. Comput. Inf. Syst..

[33]  Kai Lung Hui,et al.  Determinants of Small Business EDI Adoption: An Empirical Investigation , 2001, J. Organ. Comput. Electron. Commer..

[34]  Patrick Scholz,et al.  Benefits and Challenges of Business Intelligence Adoption in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises , 2010, ECIS.

[35]  J. A. Kok,et al.  Business intelligence and the telecommunications industry: can business intelligence lead to higher profits? , 2006 .

[36]  Jim Davis,et al.  Information Revolution: Using the Information Evolution Model to Grow Your Business , 2006 .

[37]  S. Bruque,et al.  Organisational determinants of information technology adoption and implementation in SMEs: The case of family and cooperative firms , 2007 .

[38]  Jayanthi Ranjan,et al.  BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE: CONCEPTS, COMPONENTS, TECHNIQUES AND BENEFITS , 2009 .

[39]  Hugh J. Watson,et al.  Tutorial: Business Intelligence - Past, Present, and Future , 2009, Communications of the Association for Information Systems.

[40]  In Lih Ong,et al.  An Empirical Analysis on Business Intelligence Maturity in Malaysian Organizations , 2013 .

[41]  Barbara Wixom,et al.  Continental Airlines Flies High with Real-Time Business Intelligence , 2004, MIS Q. Executive.

[42]  J. Pries-Heje,et al.  Diffusion and Adoption of Information Technology , 1996, IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing.

[43]  Marianne Bradford,et al.  Examining the role of innovation diffusion factors on the implementation success of enterprise resource planning systems , 2003, Int. J. Account. Inf. Syst..

[44]  Viswanath Venkatesh,et al.  Why Don't Men Ever Stop to Ask for Directions? Gender, Social Influence, and Their Role in Technology Acceptance and Usage Behavior , 2000, MIS Q..

[45]  Jia Chen.  Development of Chinese small and medium‐sized enterprises , 2006 .

[46]  Andi Smart,et al.  Theory and practice in SME performance measurement systems , 2001 .

[47]  Ralph Kimball,et al.  The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit , 2009 .

[48]  K. Ramamurthy,et al.  The Role of Interorganizational and Organizational Factors on the Decision Mode for Adoption of Interorganizational Systems , 1995 .

[49]  Roy Thurik,et al.  Entrepreneurship, small business and economic growth , 2004 .

[50]  David Arnott,et al.  Business Intelligence for Small Business: Assessment, Framework & Agenda , 2003, PACIS.

[51]  Philip Powell,et al.  Exploring SME Internet Adoption: Towards a Contingent Model , 2003, Electron. Mark..

[52]  Minder Chen,et al.  Factors affecting the adoption and diffusion of XML and Web services standards for E-business systems , 2003, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[53]  Mathias Kirchmer.  Small and Medium Enterprises Also Benefit from MPE , 2011 .

[54]  Paul Hawking,et al.  Business Intelligence (BI) Critical Success Factors , 2010 .

[55]  Kaushalesh Lal,et al.  Globalisation and the Adoption of ICTs in Nigerian SMEs , 2007 .

[56]  D. Fink,et al.  Guidelines for the Successful Adoption of Information Technology in Small and Medium Enterprises , 1998 .

[57]  Matteo Golfarelli,et al.  Beyond data warehousing: what's next in business intelligence? , 2004, DOLAP '04.

[58]  M. Bendel.  The Business Value of Business inTelligence , 2004 .

[59]  A. Scupola,et al.  The Adoption of Internet Commerce by SMEs in the South of Italy: An Environmental, Technological and Organizational Perspective , 2003 .

[60]  R. N. Yeaple.  Why are small R&D organizations more productive? , 1992 .

[61]  Sandra Moffett,et al.  Contributing and enabling technologies for knowledge management , 2003, Int. J. Inf. Technol. Manag..

[62]  Seyyed Hadi Hashemi,et al.  The evaluation of Business Intelligence maturity level in Iranian banking industry , 2010, 2010 IEEE 17Th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management.

[63]  V. Grover.  An Empirically Derived Model for the Adoption of Customer‐based Interorganizational Systems* , 1993 .

[64]  Tage Koed Madsen,et al.  An inquiry into born‐global firms in Europe and the USA , 2004 .

[65]  John E. Sawyer,et al.  Virtualness and Knowledge in Teams: Managing the Love Triangle of Organizations, Individuals, and Information Technology , 2003, MIS Q..

[66]  Aleš Popovič,et al.  Conceptual Model of Business Value of Business Intelligence Systems , 2010 .

[67]  Marco R. Spruit,et al.  BIDM - The Business Intelligence Development Model , 2010, ICEIS.

[68]  Ada Scupola Hugger.  The adoption of internet commerce by SMEs in the south of Italy: an environmental, technological and organizational perspective , 2003 .

[69]  Il Seok Ko,et al.  A Study on the Aspects of Successful Business Intelligence System Development , 2007, International Conference on Computational Science.

[70]  ThuyUyen H. Nguyen.  Information technology adoption in SMEs: an integrated framework , 2009 .

[71]  Mike Simpson,et al.  Small Business Success Factors: The Role of Education and Training , 2004 .

[72]  E. Rogers,et al.  Diffusion of innovations , 1964, Encyclopedia of Sport Management.

[73]  Y L ThongJames.  An integrated model of information systems adoption in small businesses , 1999 .

[74]  Azizah Ahmad.  Business intelligence for sustainable competitive advantage: the case of telecommunications companies in Malaysia , 2011 .

[75]  David W. Bates,et al.  Paperless healthcare: Progress and challenges of an IT-enabled healthcare system , 2010 .

[76]  Woan-Yuh Jang,et al.  Business strategies and the adoption of ERP , 2009 .

[77]  Jennifer P. Lundblad,et al.  A Review and Critique of Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation Theory as It Applies to Organizations , 2003 .

[78]  M. Spruit,et al.  The Business Intelligence Development Model , 2010 .

[79]  M. Festing.  Globalisation of SMEs and implications for international human resource management research and practice , 2007 .

[80]  Michael J. Davern,et al.  Measuring the effects of business intelligence systems: The relationship between business process and organizational performance , 2008, Int. J. Account. Inf. Syst..

[81]  Earl L. Taylor,et al.  The Diffusion of Innovation , 2013 .

[82]  Mohd. Ismail Ahmad,et al.  Factors affecting e-commerce adoption in the electronic manufacturing companies in Malaysia , 2008 .

[83]  S. Drew.  Strategic Uses of E-Commerce by SMEs in the East of England , 2003 .

[84]  António Soares Aguiar,et al.  Why Do Firms Adopt E-Procurement Systems? Using Logistic Regression to Empirically Test a Conceptual Model , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[85]  Weidong Xia,et al.  Organizational size and IT innovation adoption: A meta-analysis , 2006, Inf. Manag..

[86]  Andreja Habjan,et al.  Achieving business process change with improved business intelligence systems: a case of Slovenian company , 2007 .

[87]  Zetian Fu,et al.  E-learning adoption intention and its key influence factors based on innovation adoption theory , 2010, Math. Comput. Model..

[88]  Marinos Themistocleous,et al.  Extending the information system lifecycle through enterprise application integration: a case study experience , 2004, 37th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2004. Proceedings of the.

[89]  Andrew J. Flanagin.  Social pressures on organizational website adoption , 2000 .

[90]  She-I Chang,et al.  Critical Factors of ERP Adoption for Small- and Medium- Sized Enterprises: An Empirical Study , 2010, J. Glob. Inf. Manag..

[91]  G. Klimkó.  MANAGEMENT AND MATURITY MODELS: BUILDING COMMON UNDERSTANDING , 2001 .

[92]  Daniel L. Sherrell,et al.  Communications of the Association for Information Systems , 1999 .

[93]  Edward J. Waller.  Beyond Engineering: How Society Shapes Technology , 2004 .

[94]  Marguerite Schneider,et al.  Phases of the Adoption of Innovation in Organizations: Effects of Environment, Organization and Top Managers , 2006 .

[95]  Peter Kawalek,et al.  Predicting SMEs' adoption of enterprise systems , 2009, J. Enterp. Inf. Manag..

[96]  Tiago Oliveira,et al.  Understanding e-business adoption across industries in European countries , 2010, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[97]  J. Thong,et al.  Information technology adoption by small business: An empirical study , 1996 .

[98]  Azhari,et al.  A benchmarking implementation framework for automotive manufacturing SMEs , 2006 .

[99]  Kenneth L. Kraemer,et al.  Electronic business adoption by European firms: a cross-country assessment of the facilitators and inhibitors , 2003, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[100]  Jie Lu,et al.  Cognition-Driven Decision Support for Business Intelligence: Models, Techniques, Systems and Applications , 2009, Studies in Computational Intelligence.

[101]  C. Stork,et al.  ICT usage and its impact on profitability of SMEs in 13 African Countries , 2006 .

[102]  Celina Olszak.  Assessment of business intelligence maturity in the selected organizations , 2013, 2013 Federated Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems.

[103]  J. Thong,et al.  CEO characteristics, organizational characteristics and information technology adoption in small businesses , 1995 .

[104]  Efraim Turban,et al.  Business Intelligence: Second European Summer School, eBISS 2012, Brussels, Belgium, July 15-21, 2012, Tutorial Lectures , 2013 .

[105]  Stacia Misner,et al.  Business intelligence : making better decisions faster , 2002 .

[106]  Valeri Mladenov,et al.  Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS international conference on Mathematics and computers in business and economics , 2008 .

[107]  T. Lau,et al.  The competitiveness of small and medium enterprises - A conceptualization with focus on entrepreneurial competencies , 2002 .

[108]  Jens Strüker,et al.  The SME Way of Adopting RFID Technology: Empirical Findings from a German Cross-Sectoral Study , 2008, ECIS.

[109]  David C. Yen,et al.  Critical factors influencing the adoption of data warehouse technology: a study of the banking industry in Taiwan , 2004, Decis. Support Syst..

[110]  Jayanthi Ranjan,et al.  Real time business intelligence in supply chain analytics , 2008, Inf. Manag. Comput. Secur..

[111]  Terri Scott,et al.  A consideration of the roles of business intelligence and e-business in management and marketing decision making in knowledge-based and high-tech start-ups , 2004 .