-Taking a Dominant Design Perspective on ERP Companies-

Abstract: The dominant design concept describes the evolution from one dominant design to a new one, or in a new industry, the evolution to a set of standards and features that becomes a dominant design for that particular product or sector. Typically the dominant design is used to describe industry trends. This thesis takes the bottom up perspective, i.e. the company's perspective, to identify if, or what parts, of the dominant design model that can be used as an explanatory tool of innovation in the two ERP companies chosen. This thesis has found that some parts of the dominant design model can be used to describe innovation in our two case companies. However, the model has to be altered to fit the particular needs of the software industry and exclude the concept of process innovation, which is a part of the original dominant design model. By considering a company’s existing situation, e.g. customers, market share, partnerships etc. and fitting these facts into our altered dominant design model it should be possible to explain actions undertaken by an ERP company.