European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570

www.elsevier.com/locate/dsw

Using soft OR in a small company––The case of Kirby

Lene Sørensen a, Ren
e Victor Valqui Vidal b,*
, Erik Engstr€
om c

a
Center for Tele-Information, Richard Petersens Plads Technical University of Denmark,
Bygning 321 DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
b
Informatics and Mathematical Modelling, Richard Petersens Plads Technical University of Denmark,
Bygning 321 DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
c
Riversoft, Lyngbyvej 20, DK 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Received 1 July 2001; accepted 9 September 2002

Abstract

High demands are placed on traditional small companies to make technological adaptations and push forward
global digital markets. For small companies, this is not a simple task: they lack knowledge about the technology options
and on strategic management of information technology (IT). This paper discusses the practical experiences of applying
soft OR methodologies to a small company facing this complex situation. Applications of SWOT analysis and the
strategic choice approach were made in the company for evaluation of such methodological support to a small com-
panyÕs learning process. It is concluded that soft OR can be an important factor for developing IT strategic man-
agement in small companies.

2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Keywords: Strategic planning; Soft OR; Technology adoption; Small and medium sized enterprises; Strategic choice approach

1. Introduction The increasing usage of the Internet and devel-

During recent years, technological changes have
formed world agendas on how to develop and
carry out business. The global society is taking its
form through electronic networks. Technologies
are constantly evolving to provide more opportu-
nities for users and a growing percentage of busi-
nesses and private people who on a daily basis are
using the Internet for a large variety of purposes.
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +45-45-25-5170/3353; fax:
+45-45-96-3171/88-2673.
E-mail addresses: lene@cti.dtu.dk (L. Sørensen),
vvv@imm.dtu.dk (R.V.V. Vidal), erik.engstrom@riversoft.com
(E. Engstr€om).
opment of powerful Internet platforms create a
large variety of electronic networks in which for
example companies may communicate directly to
make ordering, billing, etc. more efficient and less
error filled. The electronic networks can, for ex-
ample, be based on an Internet platform. Alterna-
tively, they can be specially designed to support
communication between two or more companies
and make use of the specific service referred to as
electronic data interchange (EDI, a service in which
computer systems can exchange standardized
documents). Each network solution is based on a
specific technology standard and programming
language, where each combination makes up a new
technology solution. In the following case study a

0377-2217/$ - see front matter
2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.

doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(03)00057-2
556 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570
number of technology related solutions are men-
tioned. A short explanation on these can be found
in Appendix A. For further detail on these and
other network related technologies, we refer to
May (2000).
These days, traditional small companies are
facing a complex situation: the surrounding envi-
ronment is constantly changing; new competitors
and markets are forming and specific demands are
placed on these companies to change accordingly
(OECD, 2000). Small companies make up a large
fraction of most nationsÕ total number of enter-
prises: they represent around 95% of total enter-
prises and cover about 60–70% of jobs in OECD
countries (OECD, 2000) 1 which make small
companies a significant player in national econo-
mies. Governments expect technological change to
have a positive impact on the economy while small
companies regard such expectations with caution.
The companies do not see the benefits in the same
way and they are reluctant to make specific tech-
nology changes.
Information technology (IT) has become a
central part of the world and somehow traditional
small companies 2 must adapt to this trend if they
are to survive on a longer-term basis (OECD,
2000). However, many small companies are not
particularly technologically strong: microcomput-
ers are used widespread for routine tasks such as
editing and formatting. Spreadsheets and data-
bases are used as more advanced applications
while Internet adoption is much slower. Small
companies are not willing to change, they lack
sufficient finances for the investments needed to be
technologically upfront, and they lack know-how
(Da Costa, 2001). Therefore many small compa-
nies have a tendency to wait and see––in spite of
trends towards a more electronically connected
1
It should be mentioned that the figures refer to small and
medium sized enterprises (SMEs). In this paper we use Ôsmall
companiesÕ as the general term covering companies with
employees up to 50 employees. For a more accurate definition
on SMEs see Da Costa (2001).
2
This paper only addresses the traditional small companies
often employed in retail, services and manufacturing sectors
(OECD, 2000). The so-called IT start-ups or technology
intensive companies are not considered here.
Society. Because of this reactive strategy, they are
in danger of being overtaken by stronger com-
petitors conducting business through electronic
markets (Kendall et al., 2001). Furthermore, tra-
ditional small companies are in danger of being
forced by more powerful members of supply
chains to adapt to special technologies and net-
works developed for large company purposes.
In short, the reactive strategy followed by
many small companies may create a situation in
which they cannot operate freely since all other
players in the market set the agenda (OECD,
2000).
For small companies strategic management is
often an adaptive process, carried out to achieve
positional and resource advantage. Decisions are
taken from day to day, as needed, which is the way
for meeting most small environmental changes
(Beaver and Ross, 2000). The significant environ-
mental changes taking place now call for a more
structured way of thinking strategically.
IT and electronic business are considered to be
strategic assets that may be compared to the
overall strategies of the company (Junghagen,
1999). However, generally small company IT
strategy management is not always sufficiently
strategy-related (Savoiz and Blum, 2002). Fur-
thermore, IT is often used with the intentions to
reduce complexity but it has in many situations
instead caused the opposite (Keen, 1991).
Lack of formal strategy development and
planning in small companies is something we have
experienced in a number of case studies (see for
example Sørensen and Vidal, 2001). In all of the
case studies in Denmark we have been involved in,
the small company or organisation in question had
neither experience using soft OR methodologies
nor had they heard about soft OR. In our expe-
rience, soft OR and strategy development are not
well known to small companies or organisations.
It seems as if the usage of soft OR is highly de-
pendent upon tight bonds to the OR society in the
UK (Munro and Mingers, 2000) which means that
small companies often need to learn first about
soft OR to be able to use it. However being in-
troduced to soft OR, in our experience, small
companies seem to benefit from the structural
support provided. The features of soft OR, such as
 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570
transparency, ease of use and being group based,
combined with the support that a facilitator can
give, will in many cases be able to provide the
employees of small companies with the basis
for learning about the complexities of their situa-
tion and in the longer term provide them with a
sound foundation for developing proactive strat-
egies.
The main purpose of this paper is to discuss the
use of soft OR methodologies in small companies
that are seeking to develop strategies to cope with
the challenges they face both currently and in the
future. The focus here is on one particular case
study involving a small company, referred to as
Kirby. KirbyÕs situation was similar to the one
described above and the company needed some
way of dealing with these complex IT related
issues. The SWOT analysis (Weihrich, 1982) and
strategic choice approach (SCA; Friend and Hic-
kling, 1997) were applied to provide an overview
of the situation and for structuring the discussions
with Kirby. The methodological mix was created
as the dialogue and interaction progressed between
one member of KirbyÕs staff (a sales manager) and
one of the authors (referred to as the facilitator).
Due to our experience working with small Danish
companies and organisations, we think that Kirby
in many respects represents the Ôgeneral small
company and its problematic situationÕ, and that it
is somewhat a representative of the difficulties of
applying soft OR within small companies.
In this paper we assume that the reader is fa-
miliar with the OR methodologies used in the
applications. Full details (definitions, examples
and illustrations) of the methodologies are given in
Rosenhead and Mingers (2001), Rosenhead
(1996), Mingers and Gill (1997), Sørensen and
Vidal (2002, in press) or Ormerod (1998, 1999).
The paper has the following outline. Section 2
presents the background for the case study in
terms of a factual description of the company and
its situation just before the authors made contact
with Kirby in 1999. The use of SWOT and SCA
are described in Section 3. We focus on the ap-
plication process and on the results of the appli-
cations that played a role in KirbyÕs learning
process. We use the term application process to
refer to the process of using a methodology for a
557
special task. Section 4 includes reflections about
the difficulties and experiences of this case study.
Focus is placed on the role the soft OR method-
ologies played in the process and on the roles
played by the facilitator. The conclusions are fi-
nally presented in Section 5.
2. Kirby’s background
Kirby is a Swedish retail business situated in the
Oresund region. It functions as a distributor to
major re-sellers in Scandinavia. The business owns
agency agreements for several kitchen and hair-
style products and performs distribution, service,
pre- and post-sales and marketing where the
products themselves demand physical distribution.
KirbyÕs revenue in 1998 was more than 15 million
SEK (around 1.6 million EURO).
Three persons founded Kirby in 1994. In 1999,
the firm had 10 employees: six full time employees
and four sales managers working on commission.
The six full-time employees worked in turn as sales
managers (three at a time), accountant, secretary
and store man. One of the sales managers worked
as part time administrator.
In the years 1998–1999, an emerging external
pressure was put on the firm to engage in elec-
tronic communication with partner re-sellers and
producers. KirbyÕs bigger partners in the supply
chain had for years been using EDI for parts of
their businesses and they now wanted to be able to
integrate all business processes electronically,
which placed a demand on Kirby to engage in
these activities as well. The alternative for the
company could be to find other re-sellers and
producers––an alternative that would have a lim-
ited validity since the tendency clearly goes to-
wards establishing electronic networks (Krauss
and Rupp, 2001).
Also in 1999, the company obtained a new
agency agreement for Scandinavia on a new
product: bikes. After starting promotion of the
bikes via the Internet, a new customer segment
showed interest in KirbyÕs Internet homepage. For
Kirby, this was a new business option. It addressed
a potential new market segment and was a stand-
ing opportunity to have direct contact with other
558 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570
re-sellers and customers. This placed the firm in a
special situation: on one side, they were part of
a supply chain having close contacts with other
re-sellers and distributors. On the other side, the
bikes could become a new market segment and
in time create a different, yet undefined, role for
Kirby.
In the surrounding environment outside Kirby
the market was visibly changing: the so-called
dotcom businesses created new competition with
direct sale to customers via the Internet. Already,
the firm had felt this competition by experiencing
dotcoms trying to press prices down by directly
contacting some of KirbyÕs partners in the supply
chain. This presented an imminent risk: over time,
the company might be excluded from the supply
chain. Such a risk had always been present but up
until now had not been that visible. The Internet
however also opened for the upcoming of pro-
ducers entering the local sales chain. For Kirby
this could mean an exclusion from the supply
chain some time in the future.
Generally speaking, the supply chain itself was
changing. The position of the distributor in the
middle between producers and re-sellers was
changing into a sort of marketplace structure
where expectations were that the distributors
would have to adapt a new, yet undefined, role to
survive. Furthermore, technology was in focus.
The developments in Internet technologies placed
the focus on possibilities for small companies to be
part of the electronic commerce networks (OECD,
2000). Till now these activities had been supported
by specially designed processing systems, such as
EDI and large enterprise resource systems (ERP,
see May, 2000). Due to high prices these systems
had mainly been implemented in large enterprises.
The demand now from the large partners in supply
chains to the smaller distributors, therefore, cre-
ated fear amongst the smaller distributors that
they would have to invest in technologies to adapt
to the systems from their partners. Not only would
that be economically impossible for many distrib-
utors but it would also create a situation in which
they would, perhaps, be locked to the partners
since the specially designed systems would not be
readily compatible with other specially designed
systems.
3. Application of soft OR
When the analyses of Kirby started in 1999, it
was clear that the question of which technologies
to adapt to and implement was central and closely
related to the general strategic business aims and
visions of the firm. On the one side, the company
wanted to pursue their new customer segments and
perhaps in time create themselves a different
business role in the changing supply chain. On the
other side, the relatively comfortable position as a
distributor to major re-sellers in Scandinavia was
not a position Kirby would be willing to throw
away just like that. At least in the short term, the
firm was dependent upon good contacts for their
business.
Technology was a central factor influencing
Kirby. Decisions had to be taken about which
technologies to adopt and implement. At that
time, Kirby did not run their business using elec-
tronic communication (except e-mail, a home page
and an old ERP system not compliant with others)
and the company would have to invest in, adopt
and implement some kind of updated technology
rather soon. The question was just which tech-
nology? The purpose of the analyses would be to
point towards a technological solution which
would support electronic communication with
their present re-sellers and would also support the
company in pursuing new business areas.
In the beginning of 1999, Kirby was ap-
proached by one of the authors looking for a case
for his MSc thesis. This author knew one employee
in Kirby (the sales manager). The author and the
sales manager had on earlier occasions discussed
KirbyÕs problems and they had agreed on making
a more formal analysis of the situation and the
companyÕs options. The case study was based on a
non-profit, non-contracted application. From the
managerÕs side, the analysis was based on interest
and an urge to understand the firmÕs options. The
sales manager was at the time not interested in
involving the rest of Kirby since that was consid-
ered to be too time consuming for the small
company.
The study took place over a period of 4 months.
It was built up through interviews and analysis
sessions between the sales manager and the facili-
 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570
tator. Each session was constrained in time and
took no more than 2–3 hours.
After the first meeting with the sales manager,
the facilitator discussed the situation with the
other two authors (who were supervisors in
the MSc project) and it was decided to start the
analysis by applying the SWOT analysis. This
would be easy to explain to the sales manager and
it would provide some structure to the unclear
situation. It was left until later to decide if any
methodological applications should follow.
It should be mentioned that since the case study
was carried out new technological developments
have taken place. Therefore, the following solu-
tions may seem slightly outdated. It should be
emphasised that this aspect is not important when
discussing the soft OR application. More details
concerning the technology related options are
found in Sørensen and Vidal (2001).
3.1. Situational analysis
The study was initiated by a situational analysis
of the firm––a so-called SWOT analysis. The
SWOT analysis was applied to give an overview of
KirbyÕs present situation in terms of the companyÕs
internal strengths and weaknesses and external
opportunities and threats. For more details on the
process of carrying out a SWOT analysis, see
Sørensen and Vidal (1999).
The fundamental reason for choosing SWOT
analysis as the initial methodological support for
analysing the situation was a mixture of different
considerations that were taken in the interaction
with the manager. First, it was clear that the em-
ployees had a blurred view of their situation and
clearly had no idea of how to get out of this mess.
SWOT was chosen since it is easy to use, is
transparent, it provides an initial overview of a
situation and can easily identify important prob-
lem areas. Furthermore, it is well recognised and
broadly used and it creates a good ground for
learning about the situation and for reflecting on
what can be done––stages which are seen as nec-
essary for thinking strategically. Finally, SWOT is
so simple that everyone can participate and even
use the principles for themselves later on––alone or
in a group without an external facilitator. We
559
thought this perspective was important since small
companies in general have no tradition for hiring
consultants or advisors, and they therefore need
some methodological tools or approaches to sup-
port their problem understanding and strategic
learning.
Contacting Kirby, it soon became evident that
this company had little knowledge of the relevant
technological options and the linkage between
special technological solutions and the possibilities
they would give for the business. As mentioned
above, only the sales manager participated in the
SWOT analysis. His reasons for participating in
the analysis were several: he would like to find a
way of maintaining a good and personal relation
to KirbyÕs re-sellers, to ensure that the communi-
cation processes to and from Kirby would carry on
seamlessly, and to understand more of the tech-
nological solutions possible for supporting these
goals.
The main purpose of the SWOT analysis itself,
therefore, became to identify the strategic issues
facing the firm in terms of engaging in electronic
communication of some kind with both existing
partners and new customers through economically
proper and feasible technologies. Factors with a
direct relation to how business integration could
take place, either inside or outside the company
were ruled out to focus on the technological issues
alone. The analysis took place through several
consecutive discussions between the sales manager
and the facilitator. At first the external influences
of the changing markets were discussed. Secondly,
the internal influences on Kirby were elaborated.
The external influences were identified mainly
from the facilitatorÕs insight and knowledge of the
general situation for small companies adapting to
electronic business. It was clear that the sales
manager lacked this kind of knowledge. In terms
of identifying the internal influences, the manager
was the expert and the facilitator just structured
the discussion. Each discussion was performed
twice. This was to allow the manager to reflect on
the issues discussed and to come up with more
issues (which he did).
Table 1 outlines the issues found. The issues
are organised in the so-called SWOT categories:
internal strengths and weaknesses, and external
560 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570

Table 1
Selected internal and external issues characterising Kirby
Internal strengths
S1. Strong product-brand/agency agreement
S2. Flexibility in business, technology and partnership
S3. Local layer/service functions
S4. Offers adjacent products
External opportunities
O1. Strengthen customer relations
O2. Create new customer relations
O3. Automate business processes
O4. Create professional interface
Factors in bold were considered to be most important.
Internal weaknesses
W1. Non-existent interface for SPCS to EDI
W2. Lack of technical know-how
W3. Do not have a technology sponsor––no owner
W4. Lack of time for obtaining know-how
External threats
T1. Re-seller chooses distributor with EDI
T2. Losing control/power due to tight technology integration with partners
T3. Re-seller turns directly to producer
T4. Losing flexibility/customer contact

opportunities and threats. At the same time, each
factor was evaluated in terms of importance and
impact. The factors considered most important
and having most impact on the situation are in
bold.
The factors considered most important were
those that have potentially large impacts on the
company if not addressed. Also, it was considered
that the threats identified were of a permanent
character and outside KirbyÕs influence to change
directly, while the firmÕs strengths were considered
rather stable.
The identified SWOT points were now used to
discuss different strategies to fulfil the goals of
continuing good relations with partners and to be
able to communicate electronically with the supply
chain partners. Different strategies were formu-
lated by combining the SWOT categories in order
to maximise internal strengths and external op-
portunities and minimise internal weaknesses and
external threats. Because of the sales managerÕs
relatively low knowledge about relevant techno-
logical options, the facilitator, in practice, formu-
lated different strategies. The sales manager then
criticised and transformed these to fit with KirbyÕs
objectives. It turned out to be a series of fruitful
and constructive interactive discussions with much
involvement from the sales manager.
Examples of strategies discussed can be seen in
Table 2. It is organised as a typical SWOT matrix,

Table 2
SWOT-matrix for Kirby
SWOT matrix Internal strengths Internal weaknesses
External opportunities Maxi–maxi strategies Maxi–mini strategies
Start integration process with major customers Outsourcing of technology platforms (O3, W1)
(O1, S4)
Increase technology maturity (O2, S2) Identifying customer/processes to automate (O1, W4)
ÔOne-to-one marketingÕ (O1, S4) Collaborate with major partnersÕ technicians (O1, W2)
Increase quality control and service (O1, S1)
Effectiveness Ôtime-to-marketÕ (O3, S3)
Develop homepage with Ôup-to-dateÕ information
(O4, S3)
External threats Mini–maxi strategies Mini–mini strategies
Offer fast delivery, local service and greater Prepare the organisation for using EDI with manual
flexibility (T2, S2) retyping to SPCS (T1, W1)
Establish clear agency agreements with produc- Educate or hire personnel for technology tasks (T2,
ers (T3, S1) W2)
Implement electronic transaction systems (T1, Invest in new ERP-system (T1, W1)
S2)
Gather experiences from colleagues (T4, W4)
Abbreviations in parentheses relate to the SWOT categories outlined in Table 1.
 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570
where maxi–maxi strategies are seeking to maxi-
mise both strengths and opportunities, where
maxi–mini strategies are seeking to maximise op-
portunities and minimise weaknesses, etc. The
overall goal for formulation of the strategies was
to support the idea of a technological adaptation
that would allow for the firm to integrate with
other companies (perform digital communication
with re-sellers) and would allow Kirby to pursue
new business opportunities such as the bikes.
Most of the strategies mentioned are self-
explanatory, but a few require further explanation.
The Ôone-to-one marketingÕ strategy means that
Kirby potentially could market their products in a
rather individual way focusing on the needs, in-
terests and buying patterns of individual custom-
ers. In order to secure a strong product brand,
obtain agency agreements and strengthen cus-
tomer relations, it may be necessary, and a good
idea to Ôincrease quality control and serviceÕ of
products and their business processes. ÔEffective-
ness time to marketÕ means that Kirby will have to
focus on the time it takes to introduce new prod-
ucts on the market. This time includes develop-
ment of products, transportation, etc., until the
customer can hold it in his hand. Optimisation of
this process could secure a higher success of the
product. In order to secure automation of business
processes and at the same time deal with the fact
that the company had not an existent interface for
EDI, one strategy could be to rent technology
platforms in other companies––these companies
being responsible for the technology running effi-
ciently. This is referred to as Ôoutsource their
technology platformsÕ. In that way, they would not
have to buy and implement an expensive EDI so-
lution and could let others outside Kirby secure
the automation. The need to obtain flexibility and
to deal with the fact that partners in the supply
chain use EDI would have to be dealt with by
Ôimplementation of electronic transaction sys-
temsÕ––at least being compatible with the EDI
solutions larger partners have.
3.2. Which strategies?
After the SWOT analysis, it was clear that some
possible strategies were identified without any
561
clear indication of which best served the purposes
of the firm. From this analysis, it was not possible
to make a clear decision on which technology
to adapt or to figure out the organisational and
business perspectives associated with such a deci-
sion. Additionally, the problem situation was char-
acterised by large uncertainties due to market
changes, to technological changes, to KirbyÕs own
business goals, etc. These uncertainties made it
even harder to identify ÔbestÕ alternative strategies.
It was then decided to conduct some further
analysis in order to evaluate the different options
and discover any associated opportunities.
The SCA was then applied. This methodology
aims at structuring possible decision options given
different uncertainties. SCA makes it possible to
analyse the situation and to evaluate possible
strategies given a limited number of decision op-
tions.
SCA was selected due to the following rea-
sons: it can support analyses of a situation by
considering a number of different possible deci-
sions given different fulfilment criteria. The
SWOT analysis had revealed a number of dif-
ferent decision areas and options but it was not
clear which ones to include in a strategy. After
the SWOT analysis, there was a need to identify
alternatives of some kind. This was necessary,
since Kirby would have to actually make some
decisions soon, and the analysis should support
in limiting discussions to only relevant decisions.
In that way, SCA was used as a consultancy
tool, to point towards alternatives the firm could
use for their own strategy development process.
SCA and the results of the application should
not be seen as a way of Ôfinding the solutionÕ but
as a way of providing new input to the start of
KirbyÕs learning process about the problem and
the strategic way of thinking.
This analysis was again carried out through a
dialogue between the facilitator and the sales
manager also involved in the SWOT analysis. The
sales manager represented viewpoints on the
business perspectives while the facilitator was able
to act both as technological advisor and as facili-
tator of the learning process. The analysis was
carried out in large following the modes of SCA.
These are now described.
562 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570
3.3. Shaping mode
First, relevant and possible decision areas were
identified. These represent alternative courses of
action that may be adopted. The strategies iden-
tified from the SWOT analysis were used as input
for identification of the decision areas. In addition,
the decision areas were discussed in terms of their
internal relations and importance. An overview of
these aspects can be found in Fig. 1.
A few comments shall be given to the figure. The
decision area Ôwhich technologyÕ was important for
creating added value to the organisation when
implementing a business integration system. This
decision area was closely connected to the other
two technology related areas Ôintegration levelÕ and
Ôwhich communication levelÕ. The purchase of any
technology was of course a vital decision for a
small company with small funds and would have to
be timed carefully, which is why the connection to
Ôwhen to invest in new technologyÕ exists. The de-
cision area Ôincrease technology maturity among
personnelÕ was relevant for the acceptance of the
new technology and its implementation success.
The personnel have to understand how the new
system works, and how it affects the working pro-
cesses and organisation of the company (they have
to learn about this) if successful implementation
could be expected. Therefore, it was important to
Which
communication
Partnership channel?
with whom?
Which
processes
Integration
level?
to include?
Increase tech.-
maturity among
personnel?
Fig. 1. Decision areas and their interrelations. The focus of the
decision area is en-circled and the decision route marked with
arrows. The decision area with double circles was considered
of higher importance.
understand Ôwhich processes to includeÕ in the
business transformation, and to get an overview of
which functions Kirby would be able to operate
itself and which functions had to remain in Ôpart-
nershipsÕ.
It was considered that all decision areas could
be characterised as important and urgent. How-
ever, the decision area Ôwhich technologyÕ was seen
to be a starting point for all other decisions and
was, therefore, considered to be of the highest
importance.
In order to limit the issues discussed the deci-
sion areas Ôpartnership with whomÕ and Ôincrease
technology maturity among personnelÕ were ex-
cluded from the rest of the analysis. This was done
since the technology maturity would have to be
increased in any case and the partnership issue not
was something Kirby would be able to decide on
alone.
3.4. Designing mode
From each of the remaining decision areas, a
number of options were identified. The options
had to be dealt with before the question/decision
area could be answered/decided on. Table 3 out-
lines the decision areas and relevant options.
By comparing the various decision areas and
options there may be situations in which incom-
patibilities exist (when selecting two infeasible
options at the same time). To identify these deci-
sion areas and options comparisons were carried
Which out; for each combination, it was asked whether
technology?
this option would be feasible when the other op-
tion was implemented. The comparison can be
seen in Table 4. If both options were simulta-
neously feasible a ÔdÕ was used for indication. If a
combination of two options was infeasible, an Ô·Õ
indicated the incompatibility. And lastly, if dis-
When to
invest in new
agreements or doubts existed about the compati-
technology? bility a Ô?Õ was used.
Incompatibilities and feasibilities were found
through discussing technological and economic
constraints on the specific solutions for Kirby. The
question mark between the option Ôuse of old ERP
systemÕ to the option ÔExtranet/XMLÕ was made in
consideration of high development costs of using
XML for web-integration with the old ERP sys-
 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570 563

Table 3
Options and decision areas
Decision Which processes? Communication Integration level? Technology When to implement
areas channel? business integration?
Decision Ordering! EDI/leased line! Full integrationa ! Local Web-serverb ! Now!
options Invoices! EDI/VANS! Semi-integrationc ! Use old ERP-systemd ! Later!
Payment! EDI/Webe ! Manual ‘‘Back-end’’f ! Out-sourcingg !
One-to-one marketing! EDI/XML! New ERP-system!
Product Info/search!
Explanations on abbreviations and terms can be found in Appendix A.
a
Full integration with back- and front-end between partners.
b
A local––more or less in-house––web-server can be installed to run the system.
c
Part integration between back- and front-end between partners.
d
Kirby has an existing ERP system––old however.
e
EDI/Web this solution is attached to using EDI over the Web based on EDIFACT and HTML.
f
No integration––system only runs on manual machine/system in the back-end.
g
Specific areas of the business functions can be outsourced and in that way ÔremovedÕ from Kirby itself.

Table 4
Comparison of options and decision areas
Communication channels Integration level Decision point
EDI/leased EDI/ EDI/ Extranet/ Full Semi Manual Now Later
lines VANS Web XML
Integration Full integration d d d d
level Semi-integration d d d d
Manual ‘‘back-end’’ d d d d
Processes Ordering d d d d d d d
Invoices d d d d d d d
Payment d d d d d d d
Product search/info · · · d d ? ?
One-to-one market- · · · d d ? ?
ing
Technology Local web-server · · · d d d d d ·
Old ERP system · · · ? ? ? d d d
New ERP system d d d d ? ? d d d
Outsourcing · d d d ? ? ? d d
Incompatibilities are indicated with a Ô·Õ, doubts with a Ô?Õ, and feasibilities with a ÔdÕ.

tem. A few more arguments for the construction
can be found in Sørensen and Vidal (2001). In this
exercise, the sales manager and the facilitator
started taking in limiting criteria for the analysis.
In this way technological constraints and eco-
nomic issues were incorporated into the compari-
son. This is not the intension of working with SCA
but it helped the discussions and the involvement
of the sales manager and were seen as a necessity
to carry out the dialogue.
3.5. Comparing and choosing modes
In order to get a more comprehensive overview
of the different alternative strategies, an option
tree was created. The decision route determined
the order of decision areas in the tree. The process
of creating the tree was an iterative process going
back and forth between discussing the different
decision areas, the decision links, and the decision
route and identifying the options. Both the sales
564 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570

manger and the facilitator participated in this
construction and obtained a far better under-
standing of the problem situation. The option tree
is outlined in Fig. 2. The symbols Ô·Õ and Ô?Õ are
used again to indicate infeasible and questionable
strategies. Feasible options and strategies are un-
marked (it was not possible to place the ÔdÕ in the
figure).
After the construction of the option tree it soon
became apparent that there were still too many
options and strategies to work with. In order to get
closer to more concrete actions, the different al-

Local Web-Serv.X
Process Full Integr.
EDI/Leased lines Use SPCS X
Ordering Outsourcing X
Now
Invoices New ERP-Syst. Later
Payment Local Web-Serv.X
Semi Integr.
Use SPCS X
Outsourcing X
Now
New ERP-Syst. Later
Local Web-Serv.X
Manual Now
Use SPCS Later
”Back-End”
Outsourcing X
New ERP-Syst. X
Local Web-Serv.X Now ?
Full Integr.
EDI/VANS Use SPCS ? Now
Later X
Outsourcing Now
Later
New ERP-Syst. Later
Local Web-Serv.X
Semi Integr. Now ?
Use SPCS ? Later X
Now
Outsourcing Later
Now
New ERP-Syst. Later
Local Web-Serv.X
Manual Now
Use SPCS Later X
”Back-End”
Outsourcing X
New ERP-Syst. X
Local Web-Serv.X
Full Integr.
EDI/Web Use SPCS X
Now
Outsourcing Later
Now
New ERP-Syst. Later
Local Web-Serv.X
Semi Integr.
Use SPCS X
Now
Outsourcing Later
Now
New ERP-Syst. Later
Local Web-Serv.X
Manual Now
Use SPCS Later
”Back-End” Now
Outsourcing Later
New ERP-Syst. X
Local Web-Serv.X
Full Integr. Now ?
Extranet/XML Use SPCS ?
Later X
Outsourcing Now
Later
New ERP-Syst. Now ?
Later X
Local Web-Serv.X
Semi Integr. Now
Use SPCS
Later
Outsourcing Now
Later
New ERP-Syst. Now
Later
Local Web-Serv.X
Manual Now
Use SPCS
”Back-End” Now
Later X
Outsourcing
Later
New ERP-Syst. X Now
Local Web-Serv. Later
Full Integr. Now ?
Product Use SPCS ? Later X
EDI/Leased lines X Now ?
Info/search Outsourcing ? Later X
Now ?
’one-to-one’ New ERP-Syst. ? Later X
EDI/VANS X Now ?
marketing Local Web-Serv. Later ?
Semi Integr. Now ?
Use SPCS ? Later ?
EDI/Web X Now ?
Outsourcing ? Later ?
Now ?
New ERP-Syst. ? Later ?
Extranet/XML Local Web-Serv.X
Manual Now ?
Use SPCS Later X
”Back-End” Now ?
Outsourcing ? Later ?
New ERP-Syst. X

Fig. 2. Decision schemes for feasible alternatives.

 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570
ternatives were then investigated. For this pur-
pose, four comparison areas were identified. The
comparison areas were closely associated with the
basic criteria Kirby had for their business and in
adapting new business technology. The areas were:
I. Expansion potential––in a short term.
II. Expansion potential––in a long term.
III. Flexibility.
IV. Capital costs.
Regardless of technological decisions, the firm
wanted to keep the possibility of expansion both in
the short and long term. This meant that they
would not let the technological solution constrain
their business prospects. Flexibility had always
been important for them. Flexibility was impor-
tant in two areas. First, the company had several
different customers/partners and would like to
continue these good partnerships. This meant, that
the technology solution must be flexible enough to
support this. Secondly, Kirby had a rather flexible
working structure and was able to determine its
own working routines etc., which the company
would also like to keep in the future. Lastly, the
capital costs were important for the firm: the costs
of resources (time, professional skills, etc.) and the
costs allocated to waiting for decisions to be taken.
The actual selection and evaluation of the al-
ternatives in the option tree never took place in a
structured way (or along the lines of SCA). The
comparison areas were still far too broad and the
evaluation of different uncertainties associated
with each decision area and option were far too
difficult. However, looking at the option tree and
comparing it with the criteria of low capital costs,
the options associated with Ôfull integrationÕ could
immediately be removed. A full integration into a
new ERP system that has an integration interface
to EDI (as is used by the bigger partners) or de-
veloping an interface for the existing ERP system
or for web-integration was considered to be too
costly for Kirby. As an immediate consequence of
this, the Ôsemi-integrationÕ options could be re-
moved as well. This left behind the Ômanual-backÕ
as the only alternative.
Discussions now took place more freely. The
comparison areas were used as absolute criteria for
565
understanding advantages/disadvantages for the
technological solutions EDI (either of the options)
and the Extranet solution.
At the time Kirby was of the impression that
the flexibility to be able to work with as many
different partners in the supply chain was one of
their central assets. This flexibility will be even
more important in the future if Kirby is able to
satisfy a broader mix of customers and partners.
Being locked into one communication system
could easily become a controlling factor for the
ability to change business and explore new busi-
ness options.
It was however clear that the sales manager
(and as he expressed it: Kirby) saw the costs and
the investment for any technology as being of
considerable concern. Actually, the company had
a tendency to view the entire situation from an
economic angle. It was clear that no investments
would be made unless they could create revenue in
the near future.
The overwhelming use of EDI in KirbyÕs busi-
ness market made this an attractive short term
option. The long term expansion potential that lies
in the Extranet and XML technology was on the
other hand the technology needed in order to
capture new markets.
This discussion as well as the two analyses ap-
plied clearly showed the sales manager that all
possibilities had to be analysed further in detail
before any solution would be obvious. Also the
sales manager expressed a need to go back to his
colleagues and start a general debate about tech-
nology related problems and options. He now felt
that he was able to initiate this debate.
4. Reflections
The case of Kirby did not go further. No spe-
cific solutions were identified and no decisions
were taken at the time. The global economic dif-
ficulties that have had a significant impact on In-
ternet based companies in particular, since the
beginning of 2000, had also affected traditional
small businesses. The firm felt no urge to take any
decisions and their large partners did not place
additional pressure on it to adapt to the electronic
566 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570
network. The learning processes stopped and
Kirby had a reason to revert back to a more re-
active strategy. Also, the firm did not continue
discussions in a structured way since they have not
had the structural insight and support needed to
do so.
However with the case study in mind, reflec-
tions should be made on the soft OR application
process: the methodological application, the ap-
plication process and barriers experienced in the
application process.
4.1. The methodological application
The methodologies and their mix were not
planned before the applications. It was the situa-
tion, need and application process that more or
less determined which methodologies to apply.
SWOT was used simply because the first contact
with the firm made it clear that the sales manager
had no idea of how to structure the complex sit-
uation. SWOT was the immediate methodology to
provide this overview initially and to illustrate for
the sales manager how this could be established.
Since the sales manager only was involved in the
application and he knew relatively little about the
problems, SWOT was considered to be suitable
at least for a start.
As the authors see it, there were not real alter-
natives to SWOT. With only one participating
person, a rather restricted time frame (for inter-
views and the number of interviews that could be
expected), and the authorsÕ ambition to leave be-
hind at least one tool or idea Kirby could work
with alone, SWOT seemed as the best option.
As mentioned earlier, the application of SWOT
was made through several meetings allowing the
sales manager to reflect on both the issues and the
situation and on the methodological approach for
structuring the problem. The time between meet-
ings made up a more productive and interactive
analysis. By starting out discussions one day, the
sales manager became more attentive to the
SWOT factors discussed, and at next meeting he
could always add on new relevant issues. However,
it was also clear that the analysis could not have
been applied without the technological knowledge
of the facilitator. Application of SWOT requires a
good information and sound knowledge base to
succeed. The sales manager did not have sufficient
knowledge especially about the external SWOT
factors, and the direct engagement of the facilita-
tor as an expert was a requirement for carrying out
the analysis.
In terms of using SWOT with an illustrative
purpose, it is the authorsÕ perception that the
manager did get so much insight into SWOT
methodologically that he could be able to apply it
himself or take on a facilitator role. This of course
would assume that he or others from the company
would have the necessary insight of possible tech-
nology options.
The application of SCA was made for two
reasons: the sales manager wished to look at dif-
ferent alternatives after having worked with
SWOT, and he wanted to have a more visible
output from the exercise to present to the others in
Kirby. In this case it was not the authorsÕ intention
to teach the sales manager about the methodology.
SCA involves far too many concepts and tech-
niques and it demands a certain experience and
insight for understanding the different steps. In
concrete terms this application was carried out by
the facilitator acting more as a consultant only
involving the sales manager when needed. The
sales manager had no wish or time to go more
deeply into the SCA application. However both
the manager and the facilitator wished for a bit
more clarity on the possible solutions and there-
fore SCA was applied in this way.
SCA was chosen as the appropriate method
since it could be mixed immediately with the
findings of the SWOT analysis. Also SCA is able
to handle multiple decision areas as the sales
manager felt Kirby had, and it can take into
consideration the enormous uncertainties associ-
ated with the technology and business develop-
ment today. Of course SCA could not be applied
in the sense it has been developed by Friend and
Hickling (1997); with only one person participat-
ing and a need for the facilitator to act more as a
consultant. Referring to the dimensions (orienta-
tion and guidelines in strategic choice) of SCA, as
Friend and Hickling refer to as the ATOPP
framework, these were compromised. ATOPP is
short for Approach: Technology, Organisation,
 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570
Process and Product. The idea is that the four el-
ements are intended to represent the overall ap-
proach viewed in a multi-dimensional way (see
Friend and Hickling, 1997, for more detail). The
application in Kirby was made in a more tradi-
tional, linear way similar to the application of
traditional OR techniques. However, elements
from the soft OR paradigm was followed as far as
possible. This means that the technology in this
case was applied as a semi-open technology where
each step was explained but carried out by the
facilitator. It therefore became less interactive and
less associated with a learning process. However,
the sales manager expressed himself that he had
learned about options, possibilities and uncer-
tainties in the process. The learning process and
the participation aspects of SCA were enforced
by the more unstructured debate following the end
of the SCA application. As an example of an SCA
application used in a small organisation in a group
and with more concern to the ATOPP framework,
we refer to Thurnhurst and Richie (1991).
Other methodologies were considered to mix
with SWOT (leaving out SCA). SODA/cognitive
mapping (Eden and Ackermann, 2001) was con-
sidered but would have required more people to be
involved in the process for getting significantly
further than the SWOT analysis. Scenarios (Van
der Heijden, 1996) would have provided Kirby
with a future perspective that would be valuable in
discussing strategies. But the authors considered
this approach to be too challenging at this time of
the problem analysis. Also robustness analysis
(Rosenhead, 2001) could have been applied to
provide some structure into the number of deci-
sions facing Kirby. However, robustness analysis
requires a relatively good idea of the possible end-
states of various commitments, and that seemed
too uncertain and difficult to establish.
In Munro and Mingers (2000) a survey is made
of the use of multimethodology (Mingers and Gill,
1997) in practice. This survey is made in the UK and
reveals that the combination mixing SWOT and
SCA is not common (actually it is not registered in
the survey). The most common mix with SWOT is
SSM (Checkland, 2001). It is however our view and
experience that SSM not is easily applied in small
companies. The shift between the modelling and
567
the real world takes a lot of experience in systems
thinking. An experience we have not found in the
small companies we have worked with.
4.2. The application process
Seen from a methodological point of view the
application process was carried out through dia-
logue and interaction between the sales manager
and the facilitator. It was not a participatory
group process as most soft OR methodologies re-
quire but a dialogue in which the facilitator played
a significant role. We think it is rather obvious that
the facilitator in this particular situation had to be
part of the process and in a way play a rather
dominant, expert-like role.
Central to the application process was the re-
flection time available to the sales manager. It was
clear that between meetings, the sales manager
thought of the issues and enriched the analyses
results in that way. Reflection time was needed
both for the learning process of the sales manager
but also for him to tune into the methodological
way of thinking.
Interactivity was not secured by the method-
ological application itself. Informal/unstructured
debates were used to find the balance between
degrees of engagement the sales manager could/
would take. Also the facilitator supplied the
methodological mix with creative techniques such
as brainstorming (Vidal, 2001). These were used
especially in the beginning of the SWOT analysis
to create a good atmosphere for the sessions. Both
the manager and the facilitator contributed to the
brainstorming sessions that opened up the dia-
logue and created a good foundation for the two
getting to know each other.
4.3. Barriers
The case study reveals several barriers to the
applications of soft OR in small companies. We
will here mention the barriers we found most dis-
turbing.
The lack of people who would actually take
time to be part of the study was a constraint on the
process. We think this lack of general support is
linked to a quite characteristic feature of small
568 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570
companies: lack of time. In small companies time
is a limiting factor for all activities. Employees are
normally very busy and cannot leave the company
to itself for a very long time. With only 10 em-
ployees as in Kirby, there are never enough people
to cover for a large group not working.
On the other hand, we are sure that the firm and
any other small companies would be able to create
this spare time at for instance a weekend work-
shop, if the issue of change and strategy develop-
ment was highly prioritised and the employees
were ready for this change. We found that the sales
manager, who actually had the most insight into
the situation, became open to change and strategic
thinking while the exercise took place. He ex-
pressed the view that the firm in general still was
running as usual and at the time had not faced the
fact that they needed to do something right now.
Kirby and other small companies are not ex-
perienced or used to applying soft methods for
solving their strategic problems. In this case, the
sales manager was relatively open towards the
methodological approach and had no reluctance
towards them. However, there may be one or more
people in the company reluctant towards these
approaches, which could limit the application
possibilities. In such cases, it is necessary that the
facilitator has a good insight to alternative meth-
odologies and also has the social and pedagogical
insight into how they can be presented and applied
for such a group. In few words how to change
reactive attitudes into proactive actions.
We think that the illustrative effect of a suc-
cessful application is absolutely necessary for a
small company. If the methodological applications
in the Kirby case had not brought the sales man-
ager anywhere, he would be resistant to try such
an approach again and would certainly not rec-
ommend this for the others in the company.
Again, this puts much emphasis on the facilitatorÕs
skills and abilities but also on the social construct,
power relations and conflicts of the group.
The Kirby case study showed that our purpose
of illustrating how soft OR methodologies can
support the strategy developing process and
change their way of thinking worked––at least
partially. The case study showed, that it will take
some experience and insight of members in the
firm to be able to go through such a process
themselves without a facilitatorÕs help. As such, we
think that small businesses need the support of a
facilitator when starting a change process and for
obtaining a good knowledge base. When they have
established these, it may be possible for the em-
ployees themselves to work through such a meth-
odological application for considering strategic
issues. Learning is a time consuming process and
small companies such as Kirby need to learn both
about technologies, new options and about how to
deal with them strategically.
The last barrier is costs! In any company strat-
egy development is a costly process (in time and
money). If the company furthermore needs to al-
locate an external facilitator or consultant to sup-
port the process, it becomes even more expensive.
This can be hard to deal with in a small company.
Probably, KirbyÕs sales manager would never have
participated in such an exercise if the opportunity
was not presented to him free of charge. It is our
experience that free-of-charge community work is
highly important in securing the propagation of
soft OR to small companies. Also Thurnhurst and
Richie (1991) touch upon this aspect.
5. Conclusions
Technological adaptation in small companies is
not an easy task; permanent technology develop-
ment, market changes and uncertainties dominate
the situation. The Kirby case study illustrates
some of the obstacles and ways of coping with
technology related problems in a small business. It
is in our view clear that the soft OR methodologies
were useful and created grounds for dealing with
the complexities and changing the Ôwait-and-seeÕ
way of handling the problems.
The case study also showed that the soft OR
intervention is highly dependent upon the facili-
tator and his understanding of the situation in the
company. Without the insight and skill of the fa-
cilitator engaged in the Kirby case, we are sure
that the company would never have learned from
the intervention. For more general descriptions of
intervention processes see for example Ormerod
(1997).
 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570 569

Generally speaking, soft OR methodologies are
valuable in terms of supporting problem structur-
ing and finding alternatives in different stages of a
problem solving process (see Ormerod, 1997, 1999,
for other examples). It is however also clear that
this process is not always straightforward. Not
being ready to think differently and lack of infor-
mation are major barriers. It is necessary for the
facilitator to realise the responsibility he has for
the whole process. The facilitator must be multi-
skilled in the mixing of methodologies for dealing
with complex problems. However, pedagogical
and technological insights are qualifications that
are also needed.
Small companies need to engage in learning
processes and be able to deal with complex tech-
nological problems. We think soft OR can become
a strong tool in this process and hope that more
small companies will become open to this meth-
odological possibility. However, we also recognise
the limitations present in small companies and
encourage more OR workers to take on work for
the propagation of the soft OR methodologies, as
we do with our students.
Acknowledgements
The authors are indebted to two anonymous
referees for their constructive comments and sug-
gestions on making the paper acceptable for pub-
lication.

Appendix A

EDI/XML EDI based on XML-eXtensible Markup Language, an Internet programming

language following HTML. XML is a means to define Internet documents with
associated structure and semantics
EDI/VANS EDI based on VANS
EDI/Web EDI based on HTML––Hyper Text Markup Language, an Internet program-
ming language to create web-pages
EDI A means whereby computer systems can exchange standardized documents
relating to transactions across dedicated communication networks (May, 2000)
ERP system Enterprise resource planning system, an administrative software application
Extranet An extension to an intranet (network running inside an organisation using
Internet protocols) allowing third parties to access some corporate resources
(May, 2000)
VAN (value added A data communications network predating the rise of the Internet used for
network) transmitting EDI messages (May, 2000)
VANS (value added Value added services carried out over a VAN
network services)
Local web-server Web-server which is locally placed within a company
Manual back-end Administrative tasks related to procedures within an organisation are based on
manual work
Full integration Systems between different organisations are fully integrated between both front-
end and back-end
SCA Strategic choice approach
Semi-integration Systems between different organisations are integrated to only a certain extent
SODA Strategic option development and analysis
SPCS Stored program control system that stores a large proportion of telephone lines
and offices
SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
570 L. Sørensen et al. / European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 555–570
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