III. Approach
In order to contribute to the research topics described in I)
an inductive research strategy was chosen [22]. This paper
aims to synthesize the existing theoretical and empirical work
in this area with new empirical work. It not aim to test certain
theories, which would require a deductive approach. Rather, it
aims to establish a detailed description of system integration,
hence using an inductive approach.
First, a literature survey was performed in which elements
were gathered that are assumed to be related to system
integration complexity. Next, case studies were performed in
which integration aspects in modularization and
standardization programs (MSP) were identified from 23
interviews about six different MSP. Because of the
exploratory character of this study, the interviewees involved
in this part of the research, were not aware of the results of the
literature survey.
A multiple-case approach according to Yin [23] was
followed in which 5 recently completed programs and 1
ongoing program within one company were studied in depth.
Per program, two different persons were interviewed 2-3 times
using a semi-structured interview approach. This resulted in
23 interviews in total.