Successful Enterprise Resource Planning for Large Chinese Construction Companies

Abstract

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is successfully implemented in the manufacturing industry. It provides efficient sharing of business information across internal departments, external vendors and suppliers.In the past few years, a lot of researchers attempted to extend the application of ERP to other business sectors like the construction industry, and recommended ways to implement the system successfully. Nevertheless, much of the studies were related to the desired system features only. None of them investigated the impact of human-related factors especially when applying the system in Chinese enterprises. This paper examines the impact of human-related and system-related factors affecting the successful implementation of an ERP system in a large Chinese construction company. Results show that human-related factors are more important. Administrators and users of the system were interviewed to identify methods to deal with the cultural clash embedded in ERP system and Chinese business culture.

Critical success factors for ERP implementation in Chinese construction companies

“…Regarding the ERP usage in the construction firms, technical features of the system [23,24] and acceptance from staff [25] are the most critical attributes leading to successful implementation.…”

“…Questionnaire survey was chosen to serve the purpose of study. The first part of the survey is to collect demographic information about the respondent, his/her satisfaction level regarding the ERP usage (measured by a five-point likert scale ranging from 1 (very unsatisfactory) to 5 (very satisfactory) [25], and his/her perceived characteristic of each construct (measured by a 7-point likert scale from extremely low to extremely high). In the second part, the importance of each variable is studied, which is measured by a 7-point likert scale ranging from extremely insignificant to extremely significant.…”