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An empirical study of IS architectures in French SMEs: integration approaches

  • Research Article
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European Journal of Information Systems

Abstract

This paper, based on a cross-sectional empirical study of information system (IS) architectures within 143 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in France, reports findings on how SMEs architect to achieve IS integration and interoperability. This research provides an empirically derived taxonomy of enterprise architectural variants of the types often described in the literature for large firms. This study finds indications that for SMEs the immediate goal of interoperability prevailed over fuller and more formal system integration. The most common means for approaching enterprise architecture and any form of integration is via the construction of software bridges and interfaces. Partially standardized architectures based on Enterprise Systems (ERP) are the next most common type. Hybrid architectures – mixed Enterprise Applications Integration and ERP – are the third most common. The contribution of this paper lies not in the identification of the three types but resides (1) in the description of their distribution in SMEs; (2) in the absence of other integration/interoperability types in this population; and (3) most importantly in the interpretation of the organizational and historical rationale explaining the emergence of these types in this organizational context.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LEMNA, Université de Nantes, France

    Marc Bidan & Frantz Rowe

  2. SKEMA Business School, France

    Frantz Rowe

  3. CIS Department, Georgia State University, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.

    Duane Truex

  4. Mittuniversitetet (Mid Sweden University) Department of Information Technology and Media Sundsvall, Sweden

    Duane Truex

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  1. Marc Bidan
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  2. Frantz Rowe
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  3. Duane Truex
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Correspondence to Duane Truex.

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Correction

Correction A number of proofing corrections were not included in the HTML version of this article, originally published 27 March 2012. These corrections have been made in this final version.

The accepting editors for this manuscript were Ray Paul and Mark Lycett.

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Table A1

Table A1 Research instrument: constructs, possible item values and core notions
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Bidan, M., Rowe, F. & Truex, D. An empirical study of IS architectures in French SMEs: integration approaches. Eur J Inf Syst 21, 287–302 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2012.12

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