Abstract
The open source ERP systems are beginning to take a significant market share of ERP in SMEs. They aresupported and developed by several actors: open source editors and communities. The purpose of this study is toexamine the risk factors in the relationship of open source ERP editors and their partners (i.e., the informationtechnology (IT) services companies). Three exploratory case studies on partnership relations between ERP editorsand IT services companies are carried out by relying on a qualitative method of collecting and analyzing data. Theresults show the existence of several of risks in such a relationship: the risk of fork, the risk of opportunisticbehavior, the risk of conflict, the risk of absorption, the risk of non-appropriation, and finally the risk differences ofobjectives. These results confirm the risk factors already found in the literature in strategic alliances. This researchis based on a qualitative approach, therefore reducing its generalization. In terms of managerial implications, thisresearch creates awareness among leaders of IT services companies, who wish to become a partner of ERP opensource editor, to the risks involved in such collaboration. Open source Software and particularly open sourceERP systems are a modern phenomenon. This paper examines the relationship between open source ERP editorsand their partners in terms of risk, whereas the literature on risk factors focuses only in the world of proprietarysoftware (or commercial).
Highlights
The industry of enterprise systems (e.g., ERP, CRM, SCM, etc.) was until the early 2000s, dominated by proprietary enterprise systems
Opportunistic behavior reduces the confidence of partners and may increase the risk of conflict, as noted by Zaheer et al (1998) In short, these results converge with literature in respect of risks that could impede on a partnership relation: the risk of non-appropriation (Kale et al, 2000), the risk of absorption (Clarkson & Sadowski, 1999), the risk of conflict (Zaheer et al, 1998), the risk of misunderstanding (Doz, 1996), the risk associated with issues of contribution and retribution (Brockhoff, 1992), the risk associated with the problems of costs (Brockhoff, 1992), the risk of defection (Nooteboom et al, 1997), the risk of opportunistic behavior (Parkhe, 1993), the risk of absorption (Clarkson & Sadowski, 1999), the risk of divergent objectives (Clarkson & Sadowski, 1999), etc
Open source software have upset all the IT industry to the point that the majority of companies in the computer industry were obligated to follow by adapting their business models to the ERP Open Source systems
Summary
The industry of enterprise systems (e.g., ERP, CRM, SCM, etc.) was until the early 2000s, dominated by proprietary enterprise systems. The supremacy of proprietary enterprise systems developed by private firms is threatened as never before This threat is much more pronounced in the market for ERP systems. The diffusion of open source ERP systems (e.g., OpenERP, OpenBravo, Compiere, Adempiere, ERP5, etc.) to SMEs has done in an exponential way and several reasons can explain it. Considering this new market niche (i.e., the growing number of SMEs adopting open source ERP systems), many software companies have changed their business model to include specialized services for the implementation of these. Frustrations of the partners (i.e., the IT services companies) associated with open source editors begin to echo some slippage committed by some open source ERP editors
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