Open Source ERP, What Opportunity for Moroccan SMEs? Case Study of a Moroccan Agribusiness SME

Abstract

Although there is no universal definition for Small and medium sized enterprises (SME), they represent the majority of the economic sphere worldwide. As large enterprises, profit maximization is SMEs major goal, so here emerges the need for effective information management and efficient decision making through integrating business processes, and this is the role of Enterprise Information Systems (EIS). Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are one facet of modern EIS, that were, until recently, targeted to Large Enterprises only, due to the expensive costs of an ERP project as well as to organizational issues for the case of SMEs.This ongoing research paper aims at doing a mix of both theoretical and practical research. On the one hand, we conduct a literature review of what has been advanced as academic and professional published works concerning the subjects of Free/Libre & Open Source (FLOSS) ERP systems, Cloud ERP systems, ERP systems adoption: motives, benefits and barriers. On the other hand, a practical research is conducted through observation of a Moroccan agribusiness SME, adopting, implementing and using an Open Source ERP system.