ERP and Competitive Advantage in Developing Countries: The Case of an Asian Company

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are diffusing globally. There is however little research on ERP reflecting the experiences of developing countries’ in general and on the relationship between ERP and competitive advantage in particular. This paper addresses the issues of competitive advantage and ERP by investigating a case study of an Asian company. The paper poses two questions of whether or not the implementation of ERP within the case organization contributed towards competitive advantage and the factors that facilitated the turning of ERP benefits into competitive advantage. Results of the case study demonstrate that ERP enabled the case organization to achieve competitive advantage, but the physical technology alone cannot be considered as a cause. Several factors that the implementation of ERP assisted but that are related to innovations, managerial coordination, business routines and processes contributed to this. On the basis of the result, a framework that allows evaluation of ERP from opportunistic, awareness and positioning points of view is developed. This framework can support managers in developing countries to make crucial decisions that are necessary with respect to an ERP that has been (or is to be) implemented. Some managerial and theoretical implications of the study to IS research in general and that of developing countries in particular are highlighted.

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