Improving
productivity and efficiency along with reducing operational costs were the second highest
cited reasons for system implementation. Finally, for the participants in this survey, the clear
drivers for changing to ERP systems were top management. The need for top management
support for purchasing and implementing ERP systems is well documented (Snider et al.,
2009; Sharma and Yetton, 2009; Muscatello and Chen, 2008; Nah and Delgado, 2006), but at
least for these cases, it appears management also played an important role in getting the
conversation started about moving to ERP.