Why a Company Chooses the Snowball ERP Implementation Strategy: a Case Study Approach

The growing cost of ERP systems and their importance to organizations have made the implementation strategy increasingly critical. In this study, we discuss in detail an implementation strategy, the snowball ERP implementation strategy, based on an exploratory case study. Interviews with managers at all levels in a company in China revealed that motivations for the company to adopt the snowball strategy include financial pressure, assimilation pressure, technical readiness, and fear of failure. Further, we discuss three essential facilitating factors associated with the snowball strategy that impact the ERP implementation and assimilation successes, including long-term partnership with ERP vendor, strong IT champion, and the steady implementation team. Based on these findings, we propose a theoretical model on the snowball implementation strategy. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.