The choice of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) must be made judiciously by the high costs involved in the acquisition of such systems. Managers in areas such as accounting, financial and information technology need support and tools that help in selecting an appropriate ERP for their business. With this article, we present a study aimed at investigating the possibility of a Decision Support System (DSS) to be used for this selection interrelating evaluation criteria, which could allow to contemplate the strategic alignment between Business and Information Technology. From the literature review 28 factors related to the selection of software packages, with special emphasis on ERP were identified. For the research procedures, the qualitative ones were adopted, in that the 18 factors considered relevant to a good selection of ERP were classified with the Delphi technique and used as input in a DSS: Analytical Network Process (ANP), applied as a Case Study in a small business that hired the ERP. The results showed that the ANP was efficient in interrelated criteria and evaluated the strategic alignment between Business and Information Technology.

Vários estudos indicam que inovações levam à competitividade. Baseado nessa justificativa, este trabalho procurou entender as relações entre inovação tecnológica e competitividade presentes na indústria de equipamentos eletromédicos e determinar quais os possíveis fatores que influenciam essas relações. Realizaramse duas pesquisas de campo com metodologias de pesquisa de natureza qualitativa e exploratória: a primeira baseada na técnica de Grounded Theory e a segunda, na análise de conteúdo. As análises dos dados da primeira pesquisa apontaram as evidências de uma teoria que relaciona a importância da inovação na cadeia produtiva como meio de conquistar competitividade. A segunda pesquisa identificou os seguintes fatores que exercem influência sobre essa relação: estratégias empregadas para inovar; condições ambientais externas favoráveis à inovação; estímulos geradores de inovação e influência das condições internas sobre a geração de inovação. Estes fatores convergem para a obtenção dos benefícios esperados pelos fabricantes para a inovação, que, por sua vez, evolui para a obtenção de vantagens competitivas. O estudo mostrou que é viável a hipótese de que os fabricantes se apóiam em inovações tecnológicas para conquistarem vantagens competitivas.

Several studies indicate that innovation increases competitiveness. Based on thisstatement, the current paper is focused on the understanding the relationship between technological innovation and competitivity observed in the electromedical equipments industry and on the identification of major factors that may influence that relationship. Two exploratory researches were conducted using qualitative methodologies: one was based on the Grounded Theory and the other using Content Analysis. The first research brought evidences of the importance of technological innovation on the production chain to achieve competitivity. The second research identified the following factors that influence that relationship: strategies employed to innovate; external environmental conditions that favor innovation; favorable stimuli of innovation; and internal conditions that favor innovation. These factors converge to obtain desirable benefits from innovation that lead to competitive advantages. The study confirmed the hypothesis that manufacturers use technologicalinnovation to get competitive advantages.