ERP Implementation and Forms of Organizational Change

This material is based on the author’s doctoral dissertation proposal. It is prepared for classroom use only and should not be copied or used. Copyright 1999 by Marie-Claude Boudreau Introduction Enterprise-wide software solutions, more commonly called “enterprise resource planning” (ERP) packages, provide a promising means for companies to achieve business breakthroughs. ERP packages aim to provide a single, integrated software system handling a host of corporate functions, including finance, human resources, materials management, and sales and distribution (Slater, 1998). The thoroughness of ERP packages is also revealed by their multilingual capabilities, as well as their ability to work across different time zones and to cope with multiple currencies. Obviously, such characteristics are very appealing for large organizations desiring to expand their activities worldwide. In fact, a report from Merrill Lynch notes that nearly 40% of all companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue have already implemented ERP systems (Caldwell and Stein, 1998). However, according to some analysts, the most promising avenue of growth for ERP companies is the middle-market -business with annual revenues between $50 million and $500 million (Brown, 1997). It is indeed expected that ERP systems will make inroads into middle-market companies since they too will be swept up by globalization and the benefits of consolidation (Huppert, 1999).