Many international Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems were developed based on the best practices of organizations in which they were developed. These organizations are usually large, and in developed countries. However, small organizations in other parts of the world are also implementing ERP. Implementing a system based on different practices that differ from yours is certainly bound to come with issues. The objective of the study is to identify challenges experienced by SMEs when implementing ERP systems, and to suggest requirements of achieving successful implementations in SMEs in Southern Africa. A thematic analysis methodology was used to explore identified challenges from fourteen SMEs and to identify themes within the data. The study suggested that a successful ERP implementation requires sufficient and appropriate training, reliable internet connection, involvement of end-users, change management, as well as sufficient demonstration of the prospective ERP system.

Small software companies face numerous challenges of complexity, unstructured software development processes and scarce resources. This notwithstanding, the companies have dominated the software market by 80 percent. The practice and products of these companies are still persistently marred by quality issues arising from the processes, with evidence indicating that process tools do not fit the unique contexts in which they operate. Significant strides have been made in transforming software development practice; however, the challenges are still evidently apparent. Hence the need to establish how knowledge areas are applied in process practice, understand the context of software development and its implication in practice, how process tools are utilised in practice and evaluate quality of research in software literature The researchers undertook a systematic mapping study to determine the state of practice in empirical literature on software engineering of SSCs by examining and classifying 1096 publications. Other than the finding that research quality was low and affecting generalisation and transferability, the results also revealed interesting findings which we finally consolidated and integrated to develop two contributions (i) a software development process adoption theoretical framework which provides new insights of understanding software development and (ii) a 3-point guideline for research quality.

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