Abstract
The adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems by organizations from developing countries has increased dramatically. The continued growth of ERP adoption in developing countries is accompanied by high failure rates which makes it impossible for these organizations to enjoy the full realization of benefits. Many ERP systems’ failures are associated with the misalignment between the ERP requirements and the expectations of the client. 70 percent of ERP implementations fail to deliver the anticipated benefits with estimates that developing countries make up some 10 to 15 percent of global ERP sales (Hawari & Heeks, 2010). ERP systems do not usually fit the requirements of the implementing organizations in developing countries because of the different business practices, and legal and government regulations. There is a sizeable gap between the assumptions and requirements built into the designs of ERP systems and the realities of the client. Until academics, organizations, vendors and consultants understand better the phenomenon of misfit, the realization of benefits from ERP systems is likely to remain difficult and unpredictable on practical perspective. This paper seeks to investigate the complexities inherent in the ERP systems, which subsequently result in misalignment and this will equip decision makers to better prepare strategies that will increase the probability of realizing the desired results. This paper will contribute directly or indirectly to the reduction of failure rate of ERP projects on developing countries associated with misfit.
Highlights
The continued high failure rates with enterprice resource planning (ERP) systems remain a great concern (Ram, Corkindale & Wu, 2013). 70 percent of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations fail to deliver the anticipated benefits with estimates that developing countries make up some 10 to 15 percent of global ERP sales (Hawari & Heeks, 2010)
The rest of this paper is structured as follows: the first section explains the phenomenon of ERP misalignment using theoretical lenses; the second explores the ERP misalignment categories; the third section gives an account of the current state of ERP adoption in developing countries and subsequently the challenges confronted by developing countries; the firth section explains the adoption of ERP in the public sector; and lastly the benefits associated with ERP systems are given
Business practices embedded in western-based ERP systems are likely to reflect European organizational or national cultures (Martinsons, 2004) so, when such systems are implemented in Africa, problems may be experienced due to the misalignment between cultural assumptions and practices embedded in the software and those of the client organization
Summary
The continued high failure rates with enterprice resource planning (ERP) systems remain a great concern (Ram, Corkindale & Wu, 2013). 70 percent of ERP implementations fail to deliver the anticipated benefits with estimates that developing countries make up some 10 to 15 percent of global ERP sales (Hawari & Heeks, 2010). Many ERP systems’ failures in developing countries are associated with the misalignment of requirements between ERP systems and implementing organizations (Roseann & Weber, 2004); Morton & Hu, 2008; Strong and Volkoff, 2010). These institutional forces are an important embodiment of institutional commitments and serve to bind organizations to fundamental choices about how organizational activities should be organized (Sia and Soh, 2007). The understanding of ERP misalignment will induce and help implementing organizations to improve their ability to implement and configure ERP systems successfully The understanding of this phenomenon will equip decision makers (management) to prepare strategies that would increase the probability of benefits realization. The rest of this paper is structured as follows: the first section explains the phenomenon of ERP misalignment using theoretical lenses; the second explores the ERP misalignment categories; the third section gives an account of the current state of ERP adoption in developing countries and subsequently the challenges confronted by developing countries; the firth section explains the adoption of ERP in the public sector; and lastly the benefits associated with ERP systems are given
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