This paper reports on a comparative case study of 13 industrial firms that had implemented an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Firms were compared based on their dialectical learning process. All firms had to overcome knowledge barriers of two types: those associated with the configuration of the ERP package, and those associated with the assimilation of new work processes. We examined the mechanisms through which firms attempted to overcome each type of knowledge barrier. We also observed different ERP implementation approaches: piecemeal and concerted. In the former approach, firms concentrated on the technology first and on process changes second. In the latter approach, both the technology and the process changes were tackled together. The learning challenges associated with each of these approaches were found to be different. Keywords: Enterprise Resource Planning, Process Theory, IT implementation, Dialectics of Change, Organizational Learning. ii 3 1. INTRODUCTION ...

The challenge of defining the domain and core concepts of the IS field is a perennial topic at major IS conferences. This paper describes the architecture of Sysperanto, a model-based ontology of the IS field. Sysperanto is being developed as part of an ongoing effort to create methods that typical business professionals can use to analyze systems and system-related projects for themselves at whatever level of depth is appropriate. The name Sysperanto is meant as a metaphor combining generality (covering the IS field), vocabulary (identification of terms), and structure (internally consistent organization) to create an ontology more powerful and useful than a list of keywords or propositions. Sysperanto’s architecture provides an organizing framework for codifying the disparate and inconsistent propositions, methods, and findings that constitute the current state of IS knowledge and, in combination, form a major obstacle to knowledge accumulation and use in the IS field. Instead of yet another discussion of whether the IS field lacks a conceptual core and what might be the consequences of such a shortcoming, this paper proposes an architecture and preliminary details of a plausible set of core concepts for the IS field. It starts by summarizing Sysperanto’s

Sociotechnical systems theory (STS), a theory that originated in studies of mechanization in British coal mines, holds that work processes consist of two separate dimensions, one social, the other technical. The main tenant of STS is the principle of joint optimization – that is, the dimensions are reciprocally interdependent and must be designed conjointly. Although it has been intuitively appealing to conceptualize work processes along two dimensions, equivocal outcomes in STS research suggests there may be additional dimensions. In the context of IT-intensive reengineering projects, we examine the extent to which the technical dimension, the social dimension, and their reciprocal interdependence explain variance in project performance. Project performance is captured with an objective measure of IT-related project delay (IT-delay) and a subjective measure of client satisfaction. We find that neither the main effects nor the interaction effect significantly explains IT-delay or client satisfaction. Allowing for additional dimensions in our empirical analysis, however, we find that elements of functional-knowledge that were embedded in the initial technical dimension emerge as a separate dimension. Although the main effects of the technical, social and functional-knowledge dimensions do not

Treatment of the inner membrane matrix fraction of rat liver mitochondria with the nonionic detergent Lubrol WX solubilized about 70 % of the total protein and 90 % or more of the following matrix activities: malate dehydrogenase, glutamate dehydrogenase, and isocitrate dehydrogenase (NADP). The Lubrol-insoluble fraction was enriched in cytochromes, phospholipids, and a Mg++-stimulated ATPase activity. Less than 2 % of the total mitochondrial activity of monoamine oxidase, an outer membrane marker, or adenylate kinase, an intracristal space marker could be detected in this inner membrane fraction. Electron micrographs of negatively stained preparations showed vesicles (<0.4 µ diameter) literally saturated on the periphery with the 90 A ATPase particles. These inner membrane vesicles, which appeared for the most part to be inverted with respect to the normal inner membrane configuration in intact mitochondria, retained the succinicoxidase portion of the electron-transport chain, an intact phosphorylation site II with a high affinity for ADP, and the capacity to accumulate Ca++. A number of biochemical properties characteristic of intact mitochondria and the inner membrane matrix fraction, however, were either absent or markedly deficient in the inner membrane vesicles. These included stimulation of respiration by either ADP or 2,4-dinitrophenol, oligomycinsensitive ADP-ATP exchange activity, atractyloside sensitivity of adenine nucleotide requiring reactions, and a stimulation of the Mg++-ATPase by 2,4-dinitrophenol.

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