An ERP implementation case study from a knowledge transfer perspective

An enterprise resource planning (ERP) application is an enterprise-wide pac kage that tightly integrates all necessary business functions into a single system with a shared database. An ERP implementation often entails transfe rring the business knowledge incorporated in the basic architecture of the software package into the adopting organization. This article proposes a ne w approach to analysing ERP implementations from a knowledge transfer persp ective. It also contributes to a better understanding of competitive advant age based on process knowledge when standardized business processes are imp lemented by an organization. The article begins by identifying the types of knowledge transferred during an ERP implementation and the factors affecti ng this transfer. It then investigates how conflicts between the business k nowledge transferred from the ERP package and the existing organizational k nowledge are resolved. During our investigation, we used in-depth interview s, process analysis and documentation analysis in order to analyse an early implementation stage of ERP. The results indicated that the business proce sses which are incorporated in an ERP package are transferred into an organ ization along with the business rules inherent in the processes due to proc ess automation, the limited flexibility of such packages and the cross-func tional nature of an ERP package. The results also suggested that an organiz ation's adaptive capability concerning role and responsibility redistributi on, the development of new types of required knowledge and the introduction of a different knowledge structure influence an organization's ability to internalize these standardized processes into business routines that provid e a competitive advantage.