How consultants can help organizations survive the ERP frenzy

This paper discusses the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) rage. ERP represents immense investments for companies around the globe and has been promoted as a management panacea. Not surprisingly, many implementations fail to match such expectations. In this study, we: (i) propose a broader perspective to comprehend the substantive, institutional, and political factors involved in the ERP phenomenon, as an alternative to the techno-reductionism that has characterized the prevailing approach on the subject; (ii) present an exploratory survey of 28 implementation experiences, concentrating on the process of adoption, chosen implementation approaches and outcome assessment; and (iii) pose two major dilemmas consultants should address when assisting their clients through an ERP implementation.