## 3 Literature Review and Research Questions
### Barriers to IS Adoption  
Although there are more than enough good reasons for the manufacturing industry to adopt IS, at the same time there are enough obstacles which prevent them from implementing one. Since only six barriers are chosen to be explored in detail, the authors of this paper acknowledge the subjectivity of their choice and the framing of these six particular barriers. Due to the fact that the research was conducted in Greece, it was deemed appropriate to include the current financial crisis in the country (since 2009) as a possible barrier.  
High cost of technology is considered as a major inhibitor for ICT widespread adoption and use as it poses additional cost to the companies which is why--especially SMEs--avoid implementation [6; 32]. Cost forces smaller enterprises to implement a mid-range ERP compared to the large-scale ERP that is more probably implemented by medium or large companies. That is the reason why ERP's predecessors (MRP, MRPII etc.) are still very popular among SMEs [10]. Human factor sometimes plays a significant part in a company's decision to adopt IT or not, especially in SMEs. Employees can occasionally be reluctant to change and resist on new IT implementation. Lack of training on the specific system that is about to be installed or generally in new technologies can be a significant reason for employees' opposition to IT adoption. Thus, the management should communicate and justify the reasons the company needs the new IT and find motives for their employees to go along. On the other hand, it is possible for the administration to prioritize the investment in another field in comparison to the implementation of a new IT because that field seems more problematic or more interesting to them (e.g., educate employees in new technologies) [5; 33]. Over the last decade (since 2009) Greece's economy was severely hit by a financial crisis that led to a period of prolonged recession with very visible results in industry too. That peculiarity in Greek region poses an additional research interest that leads scholars and policy-makers to emphasize on the fact that ICT/IS can perform a crucial role on the attempts the country makes to recover from that financial crisis and start to develop again taking also into consideration that the company was not severely hit by that crisis [6]. The size of an enterprise plays a significant part regarding IT adoption and can become an important discriminator between those which adopt or not-adopt a form of IT. When the need to communicate and store information is low, companies feel the need for advanced IT adoption less compelling [15]. Thus, it is more probable for them to prefer to operate with their current system--regardless if it is an IS or not. The current financial crisis also contributes to that effect.  
Taking all the above into account the fourth research question can be posed as following:  
RQ4: Cost of IS, financial crisis, systems that satisfy completely or at a sufficient level, other priorities and employees' resistance have been recognized, among others, as possible obstacles to adopt IS. Which of those are the main barriers to a broader adoption of IS in (Northern Greek) industry?  
Before we proceed it is pertinent to assess that there was an \"open type\" option included in the questionnaire. In this case the respondents were given the opportunity to mention any other motive/barrier they consider equally important. None of the respondents opted to take into consideration this \"open choice\" and write down any additional motive/barrier.