Failure Rates in Global IS Projects and the Leadership Challenge
Abstract
Editor's Desk Failure Rates in Global IS Projects and the Leadership Challenge Barry Shore, Associate Editor, bshore@hypatia.unh.edu Information Systems (IS) projects often lead to disappointing results: costs exceed budgets; technical problems delay implementation; business process reengineering is resisted; customer service goals prove elusive; and projects fail altogether [Scott and Vessey, 20021. In Hammer and Champy's 1993 classic "Re-engineering the Corporation" they estimate that between 50 to 70 percent of all reengineering projects fall short of objectives. Later, a 1998 Fortune article, suggests that 90 percent of ERP projects are over budget and late, and that two-thirds fail. The problem is widespread. In China, for example, ERP failure rates are estimated as high as 90 percent [Zhang et al, 20021. Not that researchers and practitioners have ignored these problems, but there is, however, no evidence to suggest that success rates have improved. Are we looking in the wrong place? Is there something we have missed? IS PROJECT SUCCESS Tomatzky and Fleischer [I9901 suggest that the success of IS applications are related to three factors: the external environment, the organizational context, and the Within the external environment, failure can be linked to technological context. competitors, suppliers, customers, vendors, government and education.