شکست اجرای ERP در چین : مطالعات موردی با مفاهیمی برای عرضه کنندگان برنامه ریزی منابع سازمانی (ERP)

Chinese enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors have been able to defend the challenge from global ERP leaders such as SAP and Oracle. This article seeks possible reasons for major international ERP vendors not being able to dominate the Chinese ERP market. Taking an ensemble view of technology, we conceptualize ERP systems as being embedded in complex social contexts, which heavily influence ERP implementation and use. Based on this conceptualization, we contend that a historical perspective and a social-cultural perspective can offer a rich understanding on ERP implementations in China. From the historical perspective, this paper describes China's ERP evolution and compares it with the ERP evolution in Western countries. From the social-cultural perspective, five cases in which foreign ERP vendors have failed in their Chinese implementations are presented and analyzed. Eight factors are identified which have contributed to ERP failure. Implications of the findings for future ERP implementations in China are discussed.

Although information systems help streamline individual business functions, disparate information systems across business units may in fact impede an organization's long-term development. To take advantage of information systems, information must be shared easily, correctly, and on time among business units. If each business unit of a large enterprise implements independent or incompatible information systems, communication between business units can become much more complicated and error-prone. The enormous costs of maintaining various incompatible systems then becomes a nightmare for executives (Davenport, 1998). Managers realized that more efficiency and effectiveness could be achieved if operations are easily coordinated across the “silo” systems that developed in the organization. An early attempt by manufacturers to obtain the advantages of better communications across the incompatible systems was called computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM). CIM was a philosophical integration of the systems needed in manufacturing. The idea was to have interoperable systems that were an essential part of the manufacturing process. Many of these systems were only marginally interoperable because of incompatible equipment, operating systems, etc. CIM sought to integrate most systems such as material requirements planning (MRP), manufacturing resource planning (MRP II), JIT, etc., of the time (see McGaughey and Snyder (1994) for a CIM definition). The philosophy envisioned for CIM was incorporated into the vision of enterprise resource planning (ERP): the enterprise connected and the systems integrated and interoperable. ERP systems include a set of software modules linked to a common database, and these modules can handle basic corporate functions such as manufacturing, finance, human resources, materials management, sales, and distribution (Slater, 1998). ERP systems focus on integrating all internal enterprise transaction processing to balance demand and supply (Wallace and Kremzar, 2001). Through cross-functional integration, businesses can improve their productivity and customer service while lowering costs and inventory. Hence, ERP systems hold the promise of providing companies with greater competitive advantage.

The results of this study have implications for both academic researchers and ERP practitioners. For academic researchers, this study provided insights into the Chinese ERP market and environment. The authors believe that historical and cultural perspectives must be included as important issues for IS researchers. Since Chinese managers are reluctant to talk about the negative aspects of their companies, it is very difficult to collect information regarding unsuccessful IS initiatives, especially when “domestic shame should not be made public” is an important cultural value. It is regarded as offensive and rude to ask someone about “losing face”. Therefore, the data presented in this article should be of great value to researchers. In addition, this study identified eight cultural and environmental problems in ERP implementation. This expands the range of cultural and environmental concerns previously found in the literature in explaining the factors affecting ERP implementation. Once the reasons for ERP implementation failures are better understood, future execution should be enhanced. Our findings can help ERP practitioners to predict likely weaknesses in their company's ERP implementation plan and lead to better planning. The eight problems reveal a set of key areas for foreign ERP vendors to pay attention. The failing cases in China suggest that ad hoc remedies will not save an ERP vendor. Instead, strategies to address cultural barriers should be developed before an ERP vendor enters a foreign market. Based on our findings, ERP vendors may develop appropriate cultural solutions. Under such a strategy, chances of successfully implementing ERP and consequently taking more market share will likely be increased.