The Multinational Dimension of ERP….Reality or Illusion?

Organizations thought the world are sacrificing big capital investments for the implementation of ERP systems. Implementation has been proved to have a level of difficulty and this is mainly because of business problems and not technical obstacles. The technical part which is mainly related with the installation and the existing systems integration is considered to be a critical phase, but the management aspect of ERP system could have an even greater impact on the success of the system or use.

C. Sheu et al. (2004) attempted to investigate the dimensions of natural differences. Some of those which play a vital role in the ERP Implementation are language, culture, politics, government regulations, management style, and labor skills

Based on what was mentioned above, it can be supported the view that no universal ERP system can be implemented in different counties successfully without resolving obstacles that are driven from national differences. The business models, including operating processes underlying most ERP software packages, reflect European and US industry practices. Such operating processes are likely to be different in Asian countries, having evolved in a different cultural, economic, and regulatory environment.

Both European cases suggest that ERP implementation in Europe is a very challenging task due to national differences between countries in Europe. Specifically, ERP implementation in Europe is more complex because companies have diverse national cultures that influence corporate culture, thereby making the implementation of multinational ERP solutions difficult. This study supports previous evidence that ERP implementation in the US has been more effective that in Europe because of the more complex European corporate and national cultures (Krumbholz & Maiden 2000), (Vernon M., 1999).

The analysis is focusing on the cultural diversity which is considered to be a factor which may affect the implementation of ERP. However, this fact standing itself does not help very much on resolving the problem. It needs to be addressed which are the impacts on the implementation strategy per national difference.

Initially, it can be considered the factor which is related with the culture of language which might cause problems like; technical problems in entering data, cultural resistance, communication barriers between facilities due to different languages, localized implementations and alteration of training programs in different site. We can also consider the Management Style factor which is more related with problems like; differences in priority settings, implementation style: either “big bang” or “piecemeal” approach to the implementation and project duration.

There are many more national differences which might be analyzed and a lot of research has been done for that topic as it considers being one of the most critical issues which need to be resolved for the successful implementation of ERP.

References

Chwen Sheu, Bongsug Chae, Chen-Lung Yang, (2004), National differences and ERP implementation: issues and Challenges, The International Journal of Management Science Omega 32, pp 361 – 371

Krumbholz M, Maiden NA. (2000,) How culture might impact on the implementation of enterprise resource planning packages. CAiSE pp 279–93.

Vernon M. (1999), ERP endangered species? Computer Weekly, pp 32–35.

Ioannis Belekoukias : 05 May 2013 18:41 |  Tags: Differences Erp Implementation National |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem