How Culture Might Impact on the Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning Packages

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) packages provide generic off-the-shelf business and software solutions to customers. However, these are implemented in companies with different corporate and national cultures, and there is growing evidence that failure to adapt ERP packages to fit these cultures leads to projects which are expensive and overdue. This paper describes research which synthesises social science theories of culture to be able to model and predict the impact of culture on ERP package implementation. It describes a knowledge meta-schema for modelling the surface and the deeper manifestations of culture, and for integrating these models with more common business concepts such as processes, events and information flows. It reports data from an analysis of a recent ERP implementation in a higher education institution to validate the knowledge meta-schema. It concludes with an outline of a method for ERP implementation to ensure a fit with the customer's corporate and national culture.

[1]  R. H. Waterman,et al.  In Search of Excellence , 1983 .

[2]  Neil A. M. Maiden,et al.  Guiding parallel requirements acquisition and COTS software selection , 1999, Proceedings IEEE International Symposium on Requirements Engineering (Cat. No.PR00188).

[3]  James M. Utterback,et al.  Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation: How Companies Can Seize Opportunities in the Face of Technological Change , 1994 .

[4]  Cary L. Cooper,et al.  Chapter 1 – Introduction: mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances – a people issue , 1996 .

[5]  Jon Atle Gulla,et al.  Implementing SAP R/3 in a Multi-Cultural Organization , 1999 .

[6]  Annie I. Antón,et al.  The use of goals to surface requirements for evolving systems , 1998, Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Software Engineering.

[7]  Neil A. M. Maiden,et al.  ACRE: selecting methods for requirements acquisition , 1996, Softw. Eng. J..

[8]  Axel van Lamsweerde,et al.  Formal refinement patterns for goal-driven requirements elaboration , 1996, SIGSOFT '96.

[9]  Allan P. O. Williams,et al.  Changing culture : new organizational approaches , 1989 .

[10]  J. Kotter,et al.  Corporate Culture and Performance , 1992 .

[11]  Murray Silverstein,et al.  A Pattern Language , 1977 .

[12]  Andrew Ladd,et al.  SAP R/3 Business Blueprint - The Complete Video Course , 1999 .

[13]  C. Hampden-Turner,et al.  Riding the Waves of Culture. Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business (3rd ed) , 1993 .

[14]  B. Burrows.  Culture and organisations. Software of the mind , 1992 .

[15]  C. Cooper,et al.  Managing Mergers Acquisitions and Strategic Alliances: Integrating People and Cultures , 1995 .

[16]  R. Whittington,et al.  Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases , 1989 .

[17]  G. Johnson.  Managing strategic change--strategy, culture and action. , 1992, Long range planning.

[18]  William I. Gorden.  Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life , 1984 .