Partial abandonment as an exit strategy for troubled IT projects: Lessons from a smallandmedium enterprise

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conduct a stakeholder analysis to find out what factors contribute to partial abandonment and also to examine stakeholders' roles and role conflicts in a partial abandonment implementation process. Design/methodology/approach A case study of a partially abandoned electronic procurement system project is discussed and analyzed within a smallandmedium enterprise in Australia. Semistructured interviews, onsite observation and documentation were the data collection method adopted in this study. Findings Based on the findings derived from the study, this paper proposes a stakeholder assessment framework of partial abandonment to examine stakeholders' roles and role conflicts in influencing organizational decisions to partially abandon troubled IT projects. Originality/value The framework will help both researchers and practitioners to shed light on stakeholderrelated issues of partial abandonment, as it offers the flexibility to accommodate understanding of various causes that may have contributed to the partial abandonment decision. © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited