BACKGROUND

While information systems management (e.g., Yahya, 1993) and implementation (Nidumolu & Goodman, 1996; Kirlidog, 1997; Lin & Berg, 2001) in developing countries has received some attention in the literature, there are few reports of cases of information systems development processes (e.g., Madon, 1992). Most efforts are focused on problems of infrastructure (Odedra, Lawrie, Bennett, & Goodman, 1993; Moyo, 1996). The call for more case study research by Montealegre (1999) was again focused on implementation issues. The activities of the indigenous software developers and companies have not received proper attention and make the possible lessons that could be learned from them limited. Information systems research has traditionally focused on organizations in the US and Western Europe without considering how this could be applied and extended to developing countries (Dasgupta, Agawrwal, & Ioannidis, 1999). The actual implementation in developing countries has not been able to benefit from this kind of results, as the local factors pose significantly different circumstances. Several systems have been developed where only the context of region of origin has been taken into account. This has resulted in information systems solutions that are not sustainable, even if they meet the needs of organizations in developing countries.

With globalization and internationalization of labor, it becomes important that we begin to have more contextual knowledge of information systems development in developing countries. In this regard, a locally oriented information systems methodology has even been proposed (Korpela, 1994; Korpela, Soriyan, Olufokunbi, & Mursu, 2000), yet comprehensive knowledge of the IS development activities from a real-life example could broaden our understanding of the processes and methods.