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.