Barriers to the successful exploitation of ERP systems in Chinese state-owned enterprises

Abstract

Adopting a systems perspective, the research presented in this paper aims at identifying, assessing and discussing potential cultural, organisational and system barriers to the successful exploitation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in the context of Chinese State Owned Enterprises (SOE). The study adopted a deductive research design by using a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. The questionnaire design was based on a theoretical ontology of barriers drawn from a systematic literature review. The questionnaire was sent to 118 selected Chinese SOEs, from which 42 valid and usable responses were received and analysed. The findings of this study identified that managers in Chinese SOEs often perceived system barriers as most critical to ERP exploitation, but they seemed to overlook the fact that organisational barriers are the mainly triggers of the complicated network of ERP barriers and thus are in reality more important than the system ones. KEYWORDSInformation Systems; Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems; ERP Post-Implementation; Barriers; Systems Perspective; China; State-Owned Enterprises. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTESDr. Guo Chao Peng, BSc, PhD, is a Lecturer in Information Systems at the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield. Dr. Peng has published regularly in the field and presented refereed papers at a number of international conferences (e.g. HICSS, UKAIS and EMCIS) and international journals (e.g. IJBSR, IMDS and JEIM) in information systems. He also constantly conduct peer review of submissions to a range of IS journals (e.g. IJPE, IMDS and JEIM) and conferences (e.g. HICSS, ECIS, PACIS and IBIMA).Dr. Miguel Baptista Nunes, BSc, MSc, PhD, MBCS, FHEA, FIMIS, is a Senior Lecturer in Information Management and the Head of the Knowledge and Information Management Research Group at the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield. Dr Nunes has been involved in research in information systems for the last 15 years. He has published widely in the field (more than 150 academic articles) and participated in a number of EU and UK funded projects.

Understanding of ERP systems in Chinese SOEs: A case study

“…Other typical causes contain uninvolving affected employees in planning and developing stages, insufficient training for the users, and data conversion and testing failures [4]. Furthermore, reference [9] identified organizational barriers, such as inefficient collaboration and communication between functional department, short-term behavior of top managers, low user involvement, low-skilled and ill-trained users are main triggers of the occurrence of other ERP post-implementation risks in China. This paper aimed to test the understanding of managers and users on ERP system in postimplementation stage in a typical SOE group, moreover, the main organizational barriers are explored.…”

Exploring Cultural Impact on Long-Term Utilization of Enterprise Systems

“…The discrepancy between the Western and Chinese culture has been reported to have profound impact on ERP innovation [7,10,13]. In particular, data format and language are identified as typical cultural issues influencing the adoption and usage of Western ERP packages in the Chinese context [17,7,18].…”

“…According to Hofstede's study [20], the Chinese culture is characterized by high power distance, high collectivism, low uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation. An extensive review of the IS literature [8,13,21,22,23] suggested that Hofstede's dimensions of power distance, uncertainty avoidance and collectivism often have essential effects on IS adoption and usage in Chinese companies. These three Hofstede dimensions were thus selected to be explored intensively in this ERP study.…”

“…These staff also often tend to adhere to the directives of their superiors, but are reluctant to propose solutions and initiate new ideas to address the problems at hand [22]. These working behaviours may prevent Chinese managers and in-house IT experts from efficiently reviewing and enhancing their ERP systems in the long run [13].…”

“…In particular, cultural differences, between Western countries where ERPs are originated and China where these systems are operated, can raise substantial challenges, difficulties and barriers to ERP implementation and usage [8,13]. The effects of cultural issues on ERP implementation in China has received considerable attention from IS researchers [7,8,9,10].…”