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1. Introduction to ERP
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) can be defined as "a software system with integrated functions for all major business functions across an organization such as production, distribution, sales, finance, and human resources management. A single package typically replaces many different previous packages" ([8] Bocij et al. , 2003, p. 47). The intention is that an ERP system provides a single locus for real-time access to virtually all significant organisational data that only has to be entered once into the system ([41] Minahan, 1998).
ERP is intended to deliver a significant improvement over the non-holistic nature of earlier organisational information systems. There are therefore reports of ERP systems providing benefits such as cost reductions, improved productivity, better managerial decision making, and facilitation of process or structural change ([57] Shang and Seddon, 2000; [5] Barki and Pinsonneault, 2002; [34] Kamhawi, 2008; [21] Federici, 2009).
However, there are also frequent reports of ERP failure:
... many ERP systems still face resistance, and ultimately, failure ([2] Aladwani, 2001, p. 266).
... between 50 percent and 75 percent of US firms experience some degree of failure ... One recent survey revealed that 65 percent of executives believe ERP implementation has at least a moderate chance of hurting their business. ([65] Umble and Umble, 2002, p. 26).
... three quarters of the ERP projects are considered failures and many ERP projects ended catastrophically ([53] Rasmy et al. , 2005, p. 1).
... failure rates estimated to be as high as 50 per cent of all ERP implementations ([45] Muscatello and Parente, 2006, p. 61).
... 70 percent of ERP implementations fail to deliver anticipated benefits ([68] Wang et al. , 2007, p. 200).
These reports are drawn from industrialised country settings. ERP take-up has been much lower in developing countries (DCs), with estimates that these countries make up some 10-15 per cent of global ERP sales ([32] Huang and Palvia, 2001; [51] Rajapakse and Seddon, 2005a). However, developing countries look set to become the locus for a major expansion of ERP implementations ([42] Molla and Bhalla, 2006). Yet, at the same time, reports have emerged of ERP failures in these countries (e.g. [3] Al-Mashari and Zairi, 2000; [52] Rajapakse and Seddon, 2005b) including suggestions that developing country...