Computing and Information Systems - Theses

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Type: PhD thesis × Start date: 2000 × End date: 2009 × Subject: data processing × Subject: business ×

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    Explaining difficulties in realisation of benefits from ERP systems in developing countries
    Rajapakse, R. K. Jayantha B. ( 2007)
    Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system adoptions by organizations in developing countries such as China, India, Thailand and Sri Lanka have struggled to achieve their intended benefits. The objective of this thesis is to explain why such adoptions have failed to produce intended benefits. To do this, a model is developed that integrates (a) the factors that affect realization of benefits from ERP systems in developed countries, and (b) Hayami's technology-transfer model. With respect to the latter, Hayami argues that misfits related to three factors - culture, institutions, and resources – often inhibit effective adoption of imported technologies in developing countries. The contribution of this thesis is the theoretical model developed using literature and empirical data from the seven in-depth case studies, four in Sri Lanka and three in three developed countries (Australia, Canada and Sweden). No prior published study has proposed a mechanism through which country-contextual factors such as culture and institutions lead to reduced organizational benefits from ERP systems in organisations in developing countries. The mechanism proposed in this study is that (a) misfits between deeply rooted factors such as culture, institutions and resources on the one hand, and assumptions impounded in the western-developed software on the other, often reduce the level or outcomes for the benefit drivers such as ERP module integration, functional fit, and effective use, and (b) that these less-than-desired outcomes, in turn, lead to reduced benefits from ERP systems for organizations in developing countries. By opening up what has hitherto been a "black box" relationship between culture, institutions, and resources on the one hand, and reduced organizational benefits from ERP systems on the other, the model proposed in this thesis lays a foundation for theory testing and further research.