ERP Systems in Humanitarian and Private Sectors’ Supply Chains: Challenges and Success Factors

Abstract

Purpose: This paper investigates and compares challenges and success factors within different supply chain ERPs used globally across humanitarian and private organizations in Africa, Asia, Canada, Australia, Europe, and the Americas. Eighteen challenges and 27 success factors were selected from literature published between 2015 and 2020 to determine whether they are equally relevant globally in the private and humanitarian sectors. Design/methodology/approach: The research utilized an anonymous online questionnaire advertised on different social media websites and completed by 50 humanitarian supply chain professionals and 53 private sector professionals worldwide. The collected data was analyzed using a descriptive statistic–crosstabulation analysis to show the differences or similarities in supply chain professionals’ opinions from humanitarian and private organizations. Additionally, the hypotheses were tested by using the Mann–Whitney Test. Findings: Findings revealed that all the examined success factors were supported except one, which was similar in both sectors. However, the challenges during the implementation of ERPs differ in these two sectors — with four success factors not supported in the humanitarian sector and nine not supported challenges in the private sector. Originality: This study’s significance is that, as per the researchers’ knowledge, such a comparative study was never done before, and it will allow both sectors’ professionals to understand all the elements mentioned above better and integrate them while implementing supply chain ERPs.